General Assembly passes eight bills in three-day special session

The Colorado General Assembly came back to the State Capitol last week for a three-day session in which they passed eight bills tied to COVID-19 relief, worth up to $336 million.

The money comes from better-than-expected income tax revenues, revealed in a September 2020 revenue forecast. 

Governor Jared Polis has already signed a measure that will put $100 million into the State’s disaster emergency fund, designed to help cover State costs of the pandemic.

Polis is likely to sign the other seven measures, plus two others lawmakers passed not tied to pandemic relief, in the coming days. The intention is to get the funds into the hands of State agencies and select non-profits as soon as possible. Most of the bills direct aid to already-existing programs so that funds will become available quickly.

Polis and lawmakers have said the intent of the aid is to provide relief while Congress and the White House continue to dither over another aid package. The most recent aid package proposed by House Democrats would put nearly $1 trillion into unemployment and other assistance. 

The other bills adopted by Colorado lawmakers include:

Aid to restaurants, bars, cultural organizations and minority-owned businesses. Senate Bill 1 would direct $37 million toward small businesses — primarily restaurants, bars, gyms, rec centers and movie theaters impacted by capacity restrictions and with less than $2.5 million in annual sales. The bill also allows for the suspension of license fees for a year. 

Senate Bill 1 was not without controversy because it also required that to be eligible for aid, those businesses must be in counties that follow State and local public health orders. Weld County’s Commissioners have voiced defiance of those State orders. However, a last-minute amendment allows aid to go to businesses in municipalities that follow those orders, Greeley, for example. The bill also directs $4 million in aid to minority-owned small businesses and $7.5 million to arts and cultural organizations. 

Senator Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling attempted to add $3 million to the bill for the National Western Stock Show and other farm shows, an amendment initially adopted by the Senate Appropriations Committee. However, Polis’ legislative director rallied Democratic opposition to the amendment and it was later eliminated. Democrats said Sonnenberg’s number was not based on any particular estimate and that they were not comfortable directing aid to a specific organization. They also said the National Western and other farm shows would be eligible for aid under the bill’s provision for arts and cultural organizations. 

A second bill to aid small businesses, House Bill 4, allows restaurants, bars and food trucks to retain the State’s 2.9 percent sales tax for four months, to a maximum of $2,000 per month.

House Bill 1 would provide $20 million in grants to help students and teachers who are spending time in remote learning. The money would go to local education providers, including Boards of Cooperative Services, which can then be spent on providing broadband service for students, teachers and other staff; providing devices to access the internet, purchasing data plans for students and teachers; increasing internet access through Wi-Fi, mobile hotspots, satellite connections or other technologies; and providing funds for broadband infrastructure where it is either significantly limited or unavailable.

Childcare providers in danger of closing due to the pandemic would be eligible for $45 million in aid through House Bill 2. Two programs — one for existing providers and another for new providers or those who want to expand their capacity — will be funded under the bill.

Food pantries that have faced unprecedented demand due to the pandemic are eligible for $5 million that will be routed through the food pantry assistance program in the State Department of Human Services, under House Bill 3.

Senate Bill 3 would provide $5 million to Energy Outreach Colorado, a non-profit that helps Coloradans pay utility bills.  

Senate Bill 2 devotes $60 million to the Division of Housing within the Department of Local Affairs, to help Coloradans affected by the pandemic pay rent or mortgages. 

Two other bills not addressed in the Governor’s call also made it to his desk. House Bill 5 would allow local governments to cap the fees charged to restaurants already struggling to stay afloat by food delivery companies. 

House Bill 6 fixes a problem stemming from a bill passed in the 2020 regular session, dealing with a small business loan program. Under the CLIMBER Act, premium insurance tax credits go up for sale later this month, intended to bring in up to $250 million for the CLIMBER program, administered by the State Treasurer’s Office. The program is intended to provide up to $100,000 to small businesses that have a track record of success prior to the pandemic.

The 10 bills passed by the General Assembly was far from everything lawmakers, especially Republicans, sought during the special session. Four bills were introduced by conservative House Republicans, intended to allow families to obtain tax credits for educational expenses tied to remote learning. But the bill never gained traction with Democrats, who called the program an attempt to provide vouchers for families with kids in private schools. Republicans also introduced legislation to rein in the Governor’s authority. That included bills asking voters to limit his ability to extend disaster declarations beyond 30 days without approval of the General Assembly and another immediately terminating the disaster declaration. 

Those bills would not have been constitutional under the special session call, which by law requires any bill passed to fit under those directives.

However, don’t be surprised if those measures surface again when the General Assembly meets for its 2021 session, which starts on Jan. 13, just five weeks away.