Bill passed House Education committee on Jan. 28 (vote of 13-0), as amended. Amendments do not appear to impact our position. Awaiting hearing in House Appropriations.
Bill was heard in House Public Health Care & Human Services Committee on Jan. 24. Passed, as amendmend, on a vote of 8-4. (amendments do not appear to change our position) Awaiting hearing in House Appropriations.
An action alert has been issued TPC-wide to encourage members to connect with their legislators and legislators on committees making decisions on HB 1006, HB 1043, and HB 1053 to urge support of these bills. All bills are still waiting for hearings before the Appropriations Committee.
Status
House Committee on Appropriations Lay Over Unamended - Amendment(s) Failed (06/16/2020)
Income Tax Credit For Early Childhood Education Fix
Position
Strongly Support
CCW Summary
Comment
This bill will amend the effective date of the early childhood educator tax credit. Legislation passed last session (HB 19-1005 - TCP supported) specified that bill would take effect upon voter approval of a referred measure that would generate revenue through increased cigarette and tobacco taxes. Referred measure was not passed during the 2019 session so there was nothing for voters to consider. This bill will amend the effective date and make the tax credit available for tax years 2020-2024. TPC issued an action alert prior to the hearing in House Finance on Feb. 13.
An action alert has been issued TPC-wide to encourage members to connect with their legislators and legislators on committees making decisions on HB 1006, HB 1043, and HB 1053 to urge support of these bills. All bills are still waiting for hearings before the Appropriations Committee.
Bill has passed both the House Education and House Finance committees, unamended, and now awaits a hearing in House Appropriations.
Status
House Committee on Appropriations Lay Over Unamended - Amendment(s) Failed (06/16/2020)
Suzanne provided testimony before the House Education Committee on Feb. 4 on behalf of the TPC. Bill passed, as amendmended, and was referred to House Appropriations on a vote of 8-4. Awaiting hearing date in Appropriations.
An action alert has been issued TPC-wide to encourage members to connect with their legislators and legislators on committees making decisions on HB 1006, HB 1043, and HB 1053 to urge support of these bills. All bills are still waiting for hearings before the Appropriations Committee.
TPC acting in coalition with CO Children's Campaign to amend this bill. TPC to provided testimony on Feb. 10 before the House Finance Committee. Bill was amended to narrow scope to include child advocacy centers and the age expansion is limited to youth-serving homeless shelters. This reduced the fiscal note from $15 million to approximately $1 million. Bill was referred, as amenmded, to the House Appropriations Committee on a vote of 8-2 It likely will not be set for a hearing for some time, possibly after the new budget projections are made available. Some legislators expressed concern about the expansion and the competing demands on the state budget. TPC remains concerned about the impact to the Child Care Contribution Income Tax Credit and a more complicated path to reauthorization in 2024.
Zoom conference to discuss bill status and next steps took place Wed. Feb. 19:
Stakeholders do not appear to have a strong desire to really fight this considering the need to preserve good relationships with partner organizations.
Need to remind legislators of strong bi-partisan support for expansion, and their agreement that additions are focused on worthy organizations, when it comes time to reauthorize.
May want to consider engaging in conversations with legislators about whether addition of child welfare organizations are really within scope of tax credit. Youth homeless shelters are less questionable to group.
Most groups seem inclined to monitor or remain neutral on bill.
Status
House Committee on Appropriations Lay Over Unamended - Amendment(s) Failed (06/16/2020)
Since the last TPC Advocacy Committee call on March 3, the TPC Coordinators have been doing additional research and connecting with some individuals who are working on this bill in hopes of getting more information on the rationale for the proposed changes.
The areas of potential concern for the TPC are:
- expanded definition of youth up to 25 years old
- elimination of all "at-risk" language and other language changes that seem to indicate a programmatic shift from prevention to intervention
Based on the information we have, it is our understanding that those working on the bill, including DHS, are unwilling to consider changes to the age expansion. It seems the definition of youth is a trend, not just in Colorado but nationwide over the last few years to extend the definition of youth through college and a bit beyond in many cases. Proponents do not appear to be swayed by the argument that the expanded service population could dilute funding in other areas and say the funding concern is a separate issue.
It also seems to us that the language changes in the bill that appear to shift the focus from prevention to intervention may not be intended. Apparently there is a push within DHS and the state government more broadly to get away from using the term "at-risk" because proponents think it is stigmatizing, and you will notice that it is stripped out of the bill.
Heather Tritten from Parent Possible, along with some other TGYS grantees, emailed the bill sponsors on March 10 to request an addition in the language to add “in jeopardy of” which is basically “at-risk” (without saying at-risk) to the definition of child. Senator Moreno reacted positively and said he would bring it up with CDHS staff.
Updates will be provided as soon as they are available.
Status
House Committee on Public Health Care & Human Services Postpone Indefinitely (05/27/2020)
TPC acting in coalition with the CO Home Visiting Coalition in support of this bill. TPC to provide testimony before the Senate Health & Human Services Committee on Feb. 13. UPDATE: Hearing on bill has been rescheuled for Feb. 20 at 1:30.
Amendment proposed by Governor's office eliminate grant program. Bill is expected to die and conversations about how to move forward will need to take place following hearing and into the 2020 interirm.
During the FEb. 20 hearing in Sen. Health & Human Services, the bill sponsors (Sen. Fields, Sen. Lee) explained that the Deparment/Governor want to essentially re-write the bill and they are opposed to this. Changes are inconsistent with stakeholder feedback and would eliminate the grant funded program that would expand services, instead shifting the focus of SB 144 to a study bill, which the sponsors and CHVC do not think is needed. The bill was postponed indefinitely at the request of the sponsor. Sen. Fields indicates that work will continue over the interim with an expanded group of stakeholders with the goal of developing a new bill that would expand home visiting services.
Status
Senate Committee on Health & Human Services Postpone Indefinitely (02/20/2020)