Bill Tracker

The 2017 federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act placed a cap of $10,000
on the amount of state and local taxes paid that an individual can deduct
on their federal taxes. This limitation did not apply to C corporations.
Consequently, businesses organized as pass-through entities like S
corporations and partnerships pay increased taxes on business profits
compared to C corporations because pass-through entities pay taxes on

business profits at the individual (partner or shareholder) level.
For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2022, the
bill allows pass-through entities to elect to pay their state income tax at
the entity level so that the pass-through entity can claim an unlimited
deduction at the federal level of state and local taxes paid.
While this reduces federal taxable income for the pass-through
entity, it does not reduce Colorado taxable income because, under current
law, the individual and the partnership are required to add back any state
and local taxes deducted at the federal level.

During the 2020 regular legislative session, the general assembly
enacted Senate Bill 20-123 concerning the rights of college athletes, and
in connection therewith, establishing their right to receive compensation
for the use of their names, images, and likenesses and their right to obtain
professional and legal representation. The governor subsequently signed
Senate Bill 20-123 into law.
Senate Bill 20-123 was enacted with an effective date of January
1, 2023. The bill changes this effective date to July 1, 2021.

The federal government enacted the American Rescue Plan Act
of 2021 (federal act) to provide support to state, local, and tribal

governments in responding to the impact of COVID-19 and to assist them
in their efforts to contain the effects of COVID-19 on their communities,
residents, and businesses. Under the federal act, the state of Colorado
receives over $500 million to address the housing needs of populations,
households, or geographic areas disproportionately affected by the
COVID-19 public health emergency.
The bill creates the affordable housing and home ownership cash
fund (fund) in the state treasury. To respond to the public health
emergency with respect to COVID-19 or its negative economic impacts,
the bill authorizes the general assembly to appropriate money from the
fund to a department for programs or services that benefit populations,
households, or geographic areas disproportionately impacted by the
COVID-19 public health emergency, focusing on programs or services
that address housing insecurity, lack of affordable housing, or
homelessness.
Three days after the effective date of the bill, the state treasurer is
required to transfer $550 million from the American Rescue Plan Act of
2021 cash fund to the fund.
The bill requires the executive committee of the legislative
council, by resolution, to create a task force to meet during the 2021
interim and issue a report with recommendations to the general assembly
and the governor on policies to create transformative change in the area
of housing using money the state receives from the federal act. The task
force may include nonlegislative members and have working groups
created to assist them.
For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the bill appropriates $100 million
to the department of local affairs for use by the division of housing
(division). This appropriation is from the fund. To implement the bill, the
division may use the appropriation for programs and services that provide
gap financing for projects financed through the housing investment trust
fund or the housing development grant fund to assist populations,
households, or geographic areas disproportionately affected by the
COVID-19 public health emergency in order to obtain affordable housing
by the acquisition, construction, or renovation of affordable housing
projects or land acquisition, thus enabling individuals and families to
relocate to neighborhoods with high levels of economic opportunity and
reducing concentrated areas of low economic opportunity.

Section 1: Legislative declaration. The bill explains why
appropriating money to the Colorado opportunity scholarship initiative
(COSI) and to the department of higher education (department) for
programs to incentivize students to re-enroll and complete postsecondary
credentials and degrees, and for a grant program to assist students in
completing applications for financial assistance, are appropriate and

lawful uses of a portion of the money the state receives pursuant to the
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA).
Sections 2 through 5: Distribution of federal money to support
student success. Beginning with the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the bill
directs the COSI advisory board to allocate to public institutions of higher
education (institution) an amount appropriated to the COSI fund from
money received pursuant to ARPA. To receive a distribution of its
allocation, an institution must submit a student assistance plan (plan)
explaining how the institution will use the money to provide financial
assistance and support services to students who have some postsecondary
credits but stopped attending before obtaining a credential, and first-time
students who were admitted to an institution for the 2019-20 or 2020-21
academic year but did not enroll for the 2020-21 academic year. The
provision of financial assistance and support services is designed to
decrease student debt and increase student enrollment, retention, and
completion of credentials. The COSI advisory board must review each
plan based on specified criteria and may require changes to a plan before
approving a distribution. At the end of the fiscal year, each institution
must submit a report of how it used the money and the results achieved.
The COSI director must include the information in the report that the
board annually prepares. The program to distribute the federal money in
this manner is repealed July 1, 2026.
The bill creates the student aid applications completion grant
program (grant program) in COSI. A school district, a charter school, or
a board of cooperative services that operates a high school (local
education provider) that chooses to apply for a grant must require the
students enrolled by the local education provider to complete the free
application for federal student aid and the Colorado application for state
financial aid (student aid applications) before high school graduation,
unless waived under conditions specified by the local education provider.
The bill specifies the contents of the application and requires the COSI
board to review the applications and approve the grant awards to be paid
from an amount appropriated to the COSI fund in the bill. Each grant
recipient must submit an annual report concerning use of the grant
money, and the COSI board must include a summary report in the annual
report that the COSI board submits to the education committees of the
general assembly. The grant program is repealed July 1, 2026.
Section 6: Colorado re-engaged (CORE) initiative. The bill
creates the Colorado re-engaged (CORE) initiative within the department
to award an associate degree to an eligible student who enrolls in a
baccalaureate degree program at a 4-year institution and earns at least 70
credit hours, but stops attending before attaining the degree. The bill
specifies the role of the department in implementing the CORE initiative
and the role of an institution that chooses to participate in the CORE
initiative. Each institution that chooses to participate in the CORE
initiative must annually submit to the department a report concerning
implementation of the CORE initiative. The department must review and
compile the reports and submit a summary report to the education
committees of the general assembly.
Sections 7 through 12: Bachelor of applied science degree
programs. The bill repeals the requirement that a community college or
a local district college must receive approval from the Colorado
commission on higher education (commission) to offer a bachelor of
applied science degree program. A community college or a local district
college that seeks to offer a bachelor of applied science degree program
must apply to its governing board, and the governing board may approve
the program based on specified criteria. If a governing board approves a
bachelor of applied science degree program, the governing board must
notify the commission. The bill repeals the criteria the commission must
apply in approving a bachelor's degree program for a local district
college.
Section 13: Study of role and mission and workforce
development. The bill directs the commission to convene a task force to:
  • Review the role and mission and service area of each state
institution of higher education, local district college, and
area technical college;
  • The interaction between the institutions, the local district
colleges, the area technical colleges, and the state work
force development council in supporting and improving
workforce development; and
  • Review and make recommendations concerning uses of
ARPA money for assistance for populations
disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 public
health emergency that addresses or mitigates the impacts of
the public health emergency on educational disparities.
The bill describes the membership of the task force and the issues
the task force must address. By December 15, 2021, the task force must
submit a report of findings and recommendations to the commission and
to the education committees of the general assembly. The department
must post the report on the department's website.
Section 14: Completion of student aid applications. The bill
creates within the department a working group appointed by the governor
to recommend strategies for increasing the student completion rate for the
student aid applications. The working group must submit its
recommendations to the commission, the state board of education, the
joint budget committee, and the education committees of the general
assembly by January 15, 2022.
Section 15: Classification for in-state tuition. The bill allows the
governing board of an institution to classify a qualified person as an
in-state student, for tuition purposes only, if the qualified person moves
to the state to accept employment, the employer is paying the qualified
person's tuition, and the qualified person demonstrates the intent to
establish permanent domicile in the state. The qualified person is not
eligible to receive the state stipend for the first year of enrollment.

Section 1 of the bill repeals a moratorium on changing a ratio for
valuation for assessment (assessment rate), which is the percentage
applied to a property's actual value to determine the taxable amount upon
which a mill levy is imposed. Section 2 classifies agricultural property,
lodging property, and renewable energy production property as new
subclasses of nonresidential property. The assessment rate for agricultural
property and renewable energy production property is temporarily
reduced from 29% to 26.4% for the next 2 property tax years. The law is
restructured so that, if a proposed initiative to reduce the assessment rate
for nonresidential property is approved by voters, then it would only
apply to lodging property.
Section 3 classifies multi-family residential real property as a new
subclass of residential real property. The law is restructured so that, if a
proposed initiative to reduce the residential assessment rate is approved
by voters, then it would only apply to multi-family residential real
property. If the initiative fails, then, under section 4, the assessment rate
for multi-family residential real property is temporarily reduced from
7.15% to 6.8% for the next 2 property tax years. The assessment rate for
all residential real property other than multi-family property is
temporarily reduced from 7.15% to 6.95% for the next 2 property tax
years.
Sections 5 through 8 expand the property tax deferral program to
allow any person to defer the payment of the portion of real property
taxes that exceed the tax-growth cap, which is an amount equal to the
average of the person's real property taxes paid for the preceding 2
property tax years for the same homestead, increased by 4.6%. The total
taxes that a taxpayer may defer under this authorization is $10,000, and
the taxpayer is treated like a person called into military service for
purposes of the equity the person must have in the homestead to qualify
for deferral and surviving-spouse eligibility.