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.)
Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Finance
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.)
The bill creates the remote instruction family stipend program (program) within the department of revenue (department). The program provides stipends to the parents of students who participate in remote instruction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The parent must use the stipend to cover education-related expenses for the student, which may include child care. The bill establishes eligibility criteria for receiving a stipend and requires an applicant to submit a sworn affidavit attesting that the applicant meets the criteria and describing the education-related expenses for which the applicant expects to use the stipend. The department must pay a stipend to each applicant, subject to available appropriations. The bill specifies the amount of the stipend. Each parent who receives a stipend must retain for one year the receipts for the services and items that the parent purchases using the stipend. The department must conduct a representative sample audit of the stipend recipients to confirm eligibility and the use of the stipends. The department must bring legal action to recover any amount that is illegally distributed or used for an illegal purpose. The program is repealed, effective July 1, 2023. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill provides noncompetitive grants to school districts and boards of cooperative services that include rural school districts (local education providers) to retain a licensed physician to provide medical assessments and advice and to act as a liaison between the local education provider and state and local public health agencies with regard to implementing health protocols and requirements pertaining to COVID-19, with the goal of stabilizing the learning environment and advocating for the interests of the local education provider and its students and their families. The department of education (department) shall allocate grants in the order requests are received, so long as there are available appropriations; except that the department may prioritize the award of grants to local education providers located in counties that are experiencing high or rising levels of COVID-19 or that are managing significant or complex exposure and quarantine protocols for students or staff. The term of the physician contracts must not exceed 30 days following the expiration of the governor's executive orders and any school-related public health agency order or protocols related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The department may award grants of up to $50,000 per local education provider or group of providers, up to a cap of one million dollars. The bill gives the commissioner of education discretion, as specified in the bill, relating to the award of grants. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill permits the majority of the board of county commissioners of any county (board), by adoption of a resolution, to reject all or any portion of a disaster emergency order applying to the county that has been issued by the governor under the governor's emergency management powers. Upon the enactment by the board of such a resolution, the order that is the subject of the resolution, or any portion of the order that is discussed in the resolution, has no legal force and effect within the unincorporated portions of the county. The bill requires the board to notify the governor and any affected state agencies of the adoption of such resolution. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
The bill limits the power of the governor and other state and local officials with respect to emergency orders, decrees, regulations, or other mandates (emergency orders) that bind or regulate the public by: Requiring emergency orders that bind, curtail, or infringe the rights of private parties to be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling public health or safety purpose and limited in duration, applicability, and scope in order to reduce any infringement of individual liberty; Stating that state courts have jurisdiction to hear cases challenging the lawfulness of state and local emergency orders, requiring courts to expedite consideration of such challenges so that they are heard within 72 hours of being filed and to apply a strict scrutiny standard of judicial review when reviewing such challenges, and stating further that inequality in the applicability or impact of emergency orders on analogous groups, situations, and circumstances may constitute a ground for a court to invalidate or enjoin an emergency order, or some of its applications, as not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling public health or safety purpose; Allowing only the governor to issue an emergency order that infringes constitutional rights in a nontrivial manner and specifically identifying as constitutional rights the rights to travel, work, assemble, and speak; freedom of religious exercise; the nonimpairment of contract and property rights; freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures; and freedom to purchase lawful firearms and ammunition; Further limiting such infringing emergency orders by: Making an emergency order expire in 7 days unless the general assembly is in a regular legislative session and has at least 15 days to consider and vote to ratify, by a 2/3 supermajority vote, or terminate, by a simple majority vote, the emergency order or the governor calls the general assembly into a special legislative session for the purpose of considering and voting on the emergency order; and If the 7-day expiration does not apply, making any such order expire in 30 days unless: The governor or the general assembly terminates the order sooner; or The general assembly, by a 2/3 supermajority vote, adopts a joint resolution ratifying the order during the 30-day period; Authorizing each house of the general assembly to vote to ratify or terminate emergency orders by remote debate and electronic or other means; and Stating that if, during the pendency of a given emergency, the governor reissues any emergency order or issues another emergency order that is substantially similar to an emergency order that expired without legislative approval or that the general assembly terminated, the reissued or substantially similar emergency order shall not take effect unless the general assembly, by a 2/3 vote of the members of each house, adopts a joint resolution ratifying the emergency order. The bill also states that state and local officials may issue nonbinding recommendations and guidelines that do not include provisions for enforcement or surveillance and that they may help coordinate public and private action to prevent or respond to an emergency. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)
