Section 2 of the act requires CollegeInvest to provide the department of revenue (department) with a secure electronic report of CollegeInvest account holders who are also Colorado taxpayers who made distributions between January 1, 2017, and January 1, 2021. The department is required to examine a risk-based sample of such taxpayers to substantiate that the distribution was made for authorized purposes. The department is also required to regularly example a risk-based sample of distributions on or after January 1, 2021, and determine if the taxpayer paid the correct amount of income tax. The executive director of the department is required to provide a report of the examinations as part of the department's presentation to its legislative committee of reference.Section 3 of the act modifies how taxable income is determined for individuals for purposes of the state income tax. Specifically, it:Extends the limit on the federal deduction allowed under section 199A of the internal revenue code; Imposes a cap for taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes equal to or exceeding $400,000 on certain itemized deductions claimed under the internal revenue code; Requires individual taxpayers to add amounts of federal taxable income that are equal to the enhanced federal deductions for food and beverage in a restaurant for the 2022 income year (this is also required for corporate taxpayers in section 7 of the act); Repeals, for social security income earned by individuals who are 65 years of age or older that is included in federal taxable income only, the cap on the deduction for pension and annuity income received; and Adds an annually adjusted cap, per taxpayer per beneficiary, on the income tax deduction for contributions made to 529 plans, and requires CollegeInvest to provide the department with a secure electronic report containing specified information for the 529 plans account owners and third-party contributors necessary for the administration of the income tax deduction. Section 4 of the act increases the earned income tax credit to 20% for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2022, but before January 1, 2023, and income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2026. Section 3 also increases the earned income tax credit to 25% for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2023, but before January 1, 2026. Finally, section 4 of the act applies the lowered minimum age for individuals without a qualifying child in the federal "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021" to the state credit for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2022.Section 5 of the act funds the child tax credit for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2022, and allows a child tax credit in the state regardless of the federal requirement that a qualifying child must have a social security number for the federal child tax credit. Section 5 of the act also specifies that if the changes to the federal child tax credit in the "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021" are no longer in effect, the percentages of the state child tax credit are increased.Section 6 of the act modifies the computation of the corporate income tax receipts factor to make it more congruent with combined reporting and also prevents corporations from using tax shelters in foreign jurisdictions for the purpose of tax avoidance.Section 7 of the act functions to prevent corporations from using tax shelters in foreign jurisdictions for the purpose of tax avoidance and additionally modifies how taxable income is determined for C corporations for purposes of the state income tax. Specifically, it requires corporate taxpayers to add amounts of federal taxable income that are equal to the enhanced federal deductions for food and beverage in a restaurant for the 2022 income year.Section 8 of the act limits the state subtraction for certain capital gains incurred by allowing the subtraction to a taxpayer who is required to file a Schedule F, profit or loss from farming, as an attachment to the taxpayer's federal income tax return for the tax year in which the net capital gains arise for the sale of real property, not tangible personal property, that is classified as agricultural land for property tax purposes.Section 9 of the act creates a temporary income tax credit for a business for a percentage of the conversion costs to convert the business to a worker-owned coop, an employee stock ownership plan, or an employee ownership trust.Sections 10 through 13 of the act address the avoidance of income tax by certain captive insurance companies.Section 14 of the act adds an appropriation to:The office of the governor for use by the office of economic development for the administration of the income tax credit for a business converting to a worker-owned coop, an employee stock ownership plan, or an employee ownership trust; and The department of revenue for administration and support.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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To be deemed to maintain a home office or regional home office and pay the insurance premium tax at a rate of 1%, the act requires a company to have a minimum percentage of its total domestic workforce in the state. This percentage is 2% for 2022, 2.25% for 2023, and 2.5% for 2024 and thereafter. The act also narrows the tax exemption for annuities considerations. For the purpose of auditing a company's tax statement, the commissioner of insurance may appoint an independent examiner to conduct an examination on behalf of the commissioner.For purposes of imposing the property tax, the act specifies that the actual value of real property reflects the value of the fee simple estate and the actual value of personal property is determined based on the property's value in use, which will be defined by the property tax administrator. The act also increases the per schedule exemption for business personal property from $7,900 to $50,000, adjusted for inflation, and the state is required to reimburse local governments for lost property tax revenue caused by the increase. Assessors are required to provide an estimate of the exempt business personal property along with the certifications to local governments.The state sales and use tax is imposed on the sale and use of tangible personal property. The act codifies the department of revenue rule that the definition of "tangible personal property" includes "digital goods" and specifies that the state sales tax applies to amounts charged for mainframe computer access, photocopying, and packing and crating. Beginning January 1, 2022, a retailer whose total taxable sales were greater than $1 million for a filing period is not permitted to retain any portion of the sales and use tax collected as compensation for the retailer's tax-collection expenses.The act limits the allowable deductions, which are used to determine the taxable amount of oil and gas subject to the severance tax, to direct costs actually paid or accrued by the taxpayer for those purposes. Beginning with the 2022 taxable year, the act phases out the quarterly exemption and the tax credits for the severance tax on coal. The additional revenue that results from changes to the coal severance tax is credited to the just transition cash fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
In 2019, the general assembly extended the office of public guardianship (office) until 2023. The act corrects dates that should have been extended. The repeal of the article creating the office and the repeal of the office's cash fund are extended to June 30, 2024, to allow additional time for the office to wind up its affairs if it is not further extended.The general assembly increased certain court fees to fund the office. If it is not further extended, the office is required to notify the joint budget committee that those fees can be reduced.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act establishes the office of gun violence prevention (office) within the department of public health and environment to coordinate and promote effective efforts to reduce gun violence. The office is required to conduct public awareness campaigns to educate the general public about state and federal laws and existing resources relating to gun violence prevention.Subject to available money, the office may establish and administer a grant program to award grants to organizations to conduct community-based gun violence intervention initiatives that are primarily focused on interrupting cycles of gun violence, trauma, and retaliation that are evidence-informed and have demonstrated promise at reducing gun violence without contributing to mass incarceration.The office is required to create and maintain a resource bank as a repository for data, research, and statistical information regarding gun violence in Colorado. The office must collaborate with researchers to improve data collection in Colorado and use existing available research to enhance evidence-based gun violence prevention tools and resources available to Colorado communities.The office is required to issue a report to the general assembly every 5 years summarizing gun violence prevention measures adopted by local jurisdictions. This reporting requirement is contingent upon Senate Bill 21-256 being enacted and becoming law.The act appropriates $3,000,000 to the department of public health and environment for program costs related to family and community health for the office of gun violence prevention.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Currently, 50% of state severance tax revenues are deposited into the severance tax trust fund, which is then typically split between the severance tax perpetual base fund (perpetual base fund) and the severance tax operational fund (operational fund). Money in the operational fund is currently used for core departmental programs and, if there are sufficient available revenues, for transfers to funds that support natural resources and energy grant programs (grant program transfers). The act repeals the grant program transfers, with some, but not all, of the recipient programs receiving alternative funding from severance tax revenues.Subject to annual appropriation, the Colorado water conservation board is authorized to direct the state treasurer to transfer money from the perpetual base fund to the water supply reserve fund, the interbasin compact committee operation fund, and the water efficiency grant program cash fund, all of which previously received grant program transfers. The general assembly is authorized to directly appropriate or transfer money into the perpetual base fund and the water supply reserve fund.If less than 100% of the money available in the operational fund is used for the current core departmental programs, then, the general assembly may appropriate money from the operational fund to the species conservation trust fund, the division of parks and wildlife aquatic nuisance species fund, and the conservation district grant fund, all of which previously received grant program transfers. The transfers from the operational fund are subject to the same limits that they had as grant program transfers. On June 30, 2021, and July 1, 2022, the state treasurer is required to transfer $9,456,005 from the general fund to the operational fund. The director of the office of state planning and budgeting and the executive directors of the departments of revenue, natural resources, education, and local affairs, or their designees, are required to review and analyze various elements of the state severance tax and submit written recommendations for any changes to the joint budget committee. Stakeholders will be involved in the process and may submit responsive comments to the recommendations.The act also requires metropolitan districts created after July 1, 2021, to annually pay the state an amount equal to the total of all severance tax ad valorem credits claimed for property taxes that are imposed by the metropolitan district. This money will be allocated like severance tax revenues.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act declares that new technologies, such as blockchain, telemetry, improved sensors, and advanced aerial observation platforms, can improve monitoring, management, conservation, and allocation of water to fulfill obligations under Colorado water law and enhance confidence in the reliability of data underlying water rights transactions. To advance the potential use of these new technologies, the act:Authorizes and directs the university of Colorado and Colorado state university, in collaboration with the Colorado water institute at Colorado state university, to conduct feasibility studies and pilot deployments of these new technologies to improve water management in Colorado; and Appropriates $20,000 to each university from the general fund, contingent on the universities' receipt of a matching $40,000 in gifts, grants, and donations on or before June 1, 2022, for the purpose of funding the feasibility studies and pilot deployments. The universities are directed to report on the amounts and sources of money received through gifts, grants, and donations and the purposes to which those amounts were devoted, on their websites, in any published reports produced by the universities, and in the annual "SMART Act" hearings held by the general assembly.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act directs the state treasurer to make an immediate, one-time transfer of $40 million from the general fund to the energy fund administered by the Colorado energy office (CEO). The CEO may use the money for its ongoing programs plus the following enumerated purposes:Making grants to the Colorado Clean Energy Fund and the Colorado new energy improvement district totaling up to $30 million and $3 million, respectively; Increasing the amounts available through residential energy upgrade loans by up to $2 million; and Providing up to $5 million in additional funding to the charge ahead Colorado program administered by the CEO. The act requires the CEO to devote at least 75% of the transferred money to the specified purposes by July 1, 2022, and at least 85% by July 1, 2023, and to periodically report on its expenditures to the office of state planning and budgeting and the general assembly. Although money in the energy fund is continuously appropriated to the CEO, the money transferred by the act is scheduled to revert to the general fund on June 30, 2025, if not used, expended, or obligated by then.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Section 1 of the act authorizes the allocation of up to $250,000 per year of the money that the public utilities commission (commission) receives from the public utilities commission fixed utility fund for contracts with outside consultants and experts.Section 2 requires an intervenor in a proceeding before the commission to disclose, and the commission to publish on its website, any corporate affiliation, receipt of funding, or other financial relationship that exists or, within the prior 2 years, existed between that intervenor and the regulated utility in the matter.Section 3 directs the commission to adopt rules to require the commission, when considering any matter before the commission, to improve equity for, minimize impacts on, and prioritize benefits to disproportionately impacted communities.Under current law, the annual fee collected from each regulated public utility to support the fixed utility fund and the telecommunications utility fund is capped at 0.25% of the public utility's gross instrastate utility operating revenue for the preceding calendar year; except that the annual fee collected from a public utility that is a telephone corporation is capped at 0.20% of the telephone corporation's gross intrastate utility operating revenue for the preceding calendar year. Section 4 raises these caps to 0.45% and 0.40%, respectively.Section 5 requires the commission, when considering electric utilities' plans for acquisition of generation facilities, to consider the economic opportunities that such acquisitions would provide for workforce transition and community assistance plans and the benefits for low-income customers and disproportionately impacted communities.Section 6 requires the commission to promulgate rules requiring qualifying retail utilities subject to the renewable energy standard to retire renewable energy credits in a manner that benefits cities, counties, and businesses in the state, enables customers to account for the environmental benefits of the renewable energy, and is consistent with timely attainment of the state's clean energy and climate goals. Section 6 also directs that utilities plan their expenditures on renewable energy and retail distributed generation so as to address historical shortfalls in benefits to low-income customers and disproportionately impacted communities before reaching the 2% statutory cap on such expenditures, with at least 40% of new expenditures allocated to this purpose between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2028.With respect to the retirement of any electric generating facility, section 7 requires an investor-owned electric utility to submit, and the commission to consider, 2 alternative net present value of revenue requirement projections, one based on using Colorado energy impact bonds and one based on not using Colorado energy impact bonds.Section 8 requires the commission, in approving a resource plan, to include the social cost of carbon dioxide with regard to a portfolio's net present value of revenue requirements.Section 9 expands the time for the commission to issue a decision on an application that is not accompanied by prefiled testimony and exhibits from 210 days to 250 days after the commission has deemed the application complete.Section 10 broadens the purposes for which a utility may seek permission to issue Colorado energy impact bonds to include not only the retirement of electric generating facilities but also other programs or projects approved by the commission, including programs or projects to mitigate the effects of extreme weather, wildfires, climate change, or other hazards, but not to include the utility's own liability for wildfire or other damages.Sections 11 and 12 make adjustments to appropriations in related acts, and section 13 makes an appropriation for the purposes of the act to draw from the public utilities commission fixed utility fund rather than from the general fund. The total amount appropriated from the fixed utility fund is $971,839, and the total reduction in general fund expenditures is $471,849.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The requirements of the "Construction Bidding for Public Projects Act" (CBPPA) generally apply to a public project if the cost of the project is reasonably expected to exceed $500,000 for any fiscal year; except that a public project supervised by the department of transportation (CDOT) is subject to the requirements of the CBPPA if the cost of the project is reasonably expected to exceed $150,000 for any fiscal year. The act:Increases the lower cost amount for CDOT projects to $250,000, which means that the requirements of the CBPPA, including the requirement that CDOT prepare a bid estimate when it proposes to undertake a project itself rather than awarding the project to a contractor through competitive bidding, will apply to a CDOT project only if the cost of the project is reasonably expected to exceed $250,000 for any fiscal year; Increases from $50,000 to $150,000 the maximum cost for a CDOT project that is exempt from transportation commission approval; and Requires CDOT to annually identify in a report to the transportation commission and the transportation legislation review committee of the general assembly all highway maintenance projects for the reporting year costing more than $150,000 but not more than $250,000 that: CDOT is completing using CDOT employees; CDOT awarded by invitation for bids or competitive sealed best value bidding; or For which CDOT solicited but did not receive bids. The act also limits the existing requirement that CDOT pay all employees performing work on any public project local prevailing wages in accordance with specified federal acts to projects that cost more than $250,000 and requires all electrical work on a CDOT public project to be performed by licensed electricians or registered apprentices properly supervised by electricians.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act provides additional options for financing forest health projects by authorizing:A separate legal entity created by a combination of local governments as authorized by current law to establish special or local improvement districts within the boundaries of the combination and levy special assessments on property specially benefited by improvements, functions, services or facilities, including forest health projects, that the separate legal entity is authorized to provide; Counties, municipalities, special districts, water conservancy districts, the Colorado river water conservation district, and the southwestern water conservation district to conduct or participate in and finance forest health projects; and Authorizing a forest improvement district to use its sales tax revenue for forest health projects. The act also adds to the definition of "forest health project" management actions that improve the ecological health of a forest or reduce the threat of forest disease epidemics or high-intensity wildfires, and postpones the scheduled repeal of the statute that authorizes the Colorado water resources power and development authority to issue bonds to fund watershed protection projects and forest health projects from July 1, 2023, to July 1, 2033.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)