Colorado Bills

The bill declares the intent of the general assembly to not reduce the amount of total program funding and the state share of total program funding that was calculated during the 2020 regular legislative session, regardless of changes in the overall student count, the at-risk student count, local property tax revenue, or specific ownership tax revenue during the supplemental appropriations process during the 2021 regular legislative session.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill exempts a business from a public health agency order or executive order requiring businesses to close if: The products sold or services offered by the business are also available at a business that has not been required to cease or limit operations by the order and the open business is operating at a physical location in the area affected by the order; and The business that was required to limit or cease operations complies with any safety precautions that the order requires of businesses that are permitted to continue operations.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Senate Bill 20-205, enacted in 2020, required each employer with 16 or more employees to provide paid sick leave to employees beginning January 1, 2021, and every employer to provide paid sick leave beginning January 1, 2022. This bill delays each of these requirements by one calendar year. The amount of wages paid to an individual employee on which an employer is required to pay premiums into the unemployment compensation fund is scheduled to increase in the calendar year beginning January 1, 2021, and each year thereafter pursuant to Senate Bill 20-207, enacted in 2020. This bill delays the first increase until the calendar year beginning January 1, 2022, and delays each subsequent increase thereafter by one year. Senate Bill 20-207 also prohibited the division of unemployment insurance in the department of labor and employment from assessing a solvency surcharge against employers to be paid into the unemployment compensation fund for the calendar years 2021 and 2022. This bill extends this prohibition through the calendar year 2023. Senate Bill 20-215, enacted in 2020, required that the health insurance affordability enterprise assess and collect fees from health insurance carriers each year starting in 2022. This bill delays the assessment and collection of the fees by one calendar year. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Sections 2 and 3 of the bill: Repeal the add back to federal taxable income related to section 2303 of the March 2020 "Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act" (CARES Act); Repeal the add back to federal taxable income tax related to section 2304 of the CARES Act; Repeal the add back to federal taxable income related to section 2306 of the CARES Act; and Delay an add back to federal taxable income in an amount equal to the deduction for qualified business income for an individual taxpayer who files a single return and whose adjusted gross income is greater than $500,000, and for an individual taxpayer who files a joint return and whose adjusted gross income is greater than $1 million. The delay keeps the provision that the add back is not required for a taxpayer who files a schedule F, profit or loss from farming, or successor form as an attachment to a federal income tax return. Section 4 repeals the section that specifies that for net operating losses incurred after December 31, 2017, the 80% limitation set forth in federal law applies without regard to the amendments made in section 2303 of the CARES Act. Section 5 delays the increase to the earned income tax credit to tax years beginning in 2025. Section 5 also repeals the earned income tax credit that will be available on or after January 1, 2021, to taxpayers filing with an individual taxpayer identification number.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Under current law, a cooperative electric association with an electric easement on real property is authorized to install or to allow a commercial broadband supplier to install broadband facilities on the real property, subject to notice and procedural requirements. The bill expands the authorization to also apply to either of the following entities with an electric easement: A generation and transmission cooperative electric association; or The federal western area power administration within the United States department of energy.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill repeals the earned income tax credit available for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2021, for taxpayers filing with an individual taxpayer identification number. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill establishes immunity from civil liability for small businesses for any act or omission that results in exposure, loss, damage, injury, or death arising out of COVID-19 if the small business attempts in good faith to comply with applicable public health guidelines. The bill is repealed 2 years after the date the governor terminates the state of disaster emergency declared on March 11, 2020. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill prohibits the governor from renewing a state of disaster emergency declared in response to any infectious disease, medical, or other health-related situation beyond 30 days, as current law allows, and instead authorizes the general assembly, by adopting a joint resolution, to extend the state of emergency for up to 60 days. The general assembly may continue, by adopting a joint resolution for each extension, to extend a state of disaster emergency for periods of up to 60 days for as long as it deems it necessary to do so. If the general assembly is not scheduled to convene in a regular session when a state of disaster emergency will end as required by the bill, the governor or a 2/3 majority of the members of each house of the general assembly, in accordance with applicable state constitutional provisions, may call the general assembly into an extraordinary session to consider extending the state of disaster emergency. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill creates the small business paycheck protection loan program (program). The program provides loans to eligible small businesses that have received a loan from the federal paycheck protection program, created in the federal "Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act" ("CARES Act") and expanded in the "Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act", and that continue to face economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A loan issued to a small business may not exceed the lesser of 20% of the business's approved federal paycheck protection loan or $100,000. Each loan is deferred until the loan's maturity date and may be forgiven if the small business uses the loan solely for qualified purposes. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill creates the nonessential small business pandemic grant program (program). The program compensates nonessential small businesses for up to 50% of revenue that was lost due to an order or rule issued to address the COVID-19 pandemic that lowered the business's revenues. In connection with creating the program, the bill authorizes small businesses to apply for and use the grant money for any reasonable business expense that helps the small businesses to remain solvent. The office of economic development (office) administers the program and the director of the office is authorized to promulgate rules. The office will consult with the Colorado economic development commission. The rules must: Specify the time frames for applying for grants and distributing grant money; Establish the application form and information needed to apply; Specify the qualifications to be awarded a grant; and Establish accounting categories for operating a small business and within which the grants are required to be spent. A small business needs to follow the application process and be qualified to receive a grant. A small business qualifies for a grant under this section if the small business: Has not declared the type of bankruptcy that results in liquidation of the business; Has been ordered to shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic within the 90 days before the application is submitted; Has lost revenue because of economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The office must distribute the grant money within 30 days after awarding the grants. The office may use an agent from within or outside state government to administer all or a portion of the program. A grant recipient must submit a report from 60 to 90 days after receiving a grant with the following information: The date the grant was received; The total amount of the grant and the total amount of the grant money spent to date; and Each accounting category within which the grant was spent and the amounts spent within each accounting category. If the first report submitted by the small business does not cover all expenditures, another report is required. By January 1, 2022, the office must submit a summarized report about the program to the business, labor, and technology committee of the senate, the business affairs and labor committee of the house of representatives, and the governor. The program is funded by an appropriation and repeals September 1, 2022. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)