Budget & Taxes

Provides for the payment of expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of the state of Colorado, and of its agencies and institutions, for and during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026, except as otherwise noted.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act adds the Trinidad correctional facility, the Arkansas Valley correctional facility, and the Arrowhead correctional facility to the list of correctional facilities where the department of corrections may install broadband infrastructure.     The act extends the repeal date of the broadband infrastructure cash fund to July 1, 2028.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Beginning in state fiscal year 2027-28, the act requires the department of public safety (department) to submit a budget request for community corrections and to include in its budget request information regarding projected community corrections program needs, including certain data points and analysis related to residential and nonresidential bed capacity, the per diem reimbursement rate for each bed type, and other guideposts related to community corrections appropriations.     The department must include information on the budget request in its yearly 'SMART Act' hearing.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act repeals limited purpose fee-for-service contracts for: the career pathways program, the multidisciplinary health-care provider access training program, and the career and technical education and apprenticeship programs alignment, on June 30, 2028; and cybersecurity and distributed ledger technologies and the food systems advisory council, on June 30, 2026.     The act repeals, on June 30, 2028, the multidisciplinary health-care provider access training program, the career pathways program, and the state apprenticeship agency's career and technical education and apprenticeship programs alignment requirement.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

If an audit of a medicaid provider who provides nonemergency medical transportation services or pediatric behavioral therapy is initiated after July 1, 2026, for services provided from January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2023, the act authorizes the department of health care policy and financing (HCPF) to determine and recover overpayments to a provider using statistical sampling and extrapolation. If an audit identifies a statistically significant pattern of alleged overpayments to a provider, the act authorizes the state auditor to use the same statistical sampling and extrapolation methods to audit services provided by the provider from January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2025.     If the audit identifies an alleged overpayment, HCPF is required to issue a notice of the alleged overpayment within 60 days after the alleged overpayment is identified. The notice of alleged overpayment must include the basis of the alleged overpayment, the rationale for the alleged overpayment, the methodology used to calculate the alleged overpayment, and information on how HCPF identified the alleged overpayment.     If HCPF enters into a contract for the purpose of conducting an audit, the contract must not be a contingency-based contract based on a percentage of the amount of recovery collected from the provider.     After HCPF completes an audit of a provider, the state auditor's office is required to conduct an examination to determine that proper statistical sampling and extrapolation methods were used by HCPF when determining whether overpayments were made to a provider. The state auditor shall annually present a report of the findings to the legislative audit committee and the joint budget committee.     The act reduces the general fund appropriation to HCPF for medical and long-term care services for Medicaid-eligible individuals by $6,861,775 and increases the cash fund appropriation to HCPF for medical and long-term care services for Medicaid-eligible individuals by $13,723,550.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act repeals the requirement for the general assembly to appropriate money in the 2026-27 state fiscal year for the out-of-school time program grant program (grant program).     The act reduces the appropriation for the 2026-27 state fiscal year to the department of education for use by the grant program by $1,750,000.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act limits the benefits pregnant women and children with a certain family household income and citizen or immigration status are eligible for under the state medical assistance program and the medical assistance program.     Eligible pregnant women and children are subject to the following limitations on benefits:Beginning July 1, 2026, there is an annual cap on dental services in the amount of $1,100;Beginning January 1, 2027, behavioral health services offered must be provided on a fee-for-service basis only;Beginning January 1, 2027, services offered through the accountable care collaborative are no longer covered; andBeginning January 1, 2027, managed care services through the medical assistance program are no longer covered.     Beginning January 1, 2027, children under 19 years old whose family household income does not exceed 260% of the federal poverty line, adjusted for family size, and who are not eligible for the medical assistance program due to their immigration status, are not eligible for home- and community-based services, community first choice, long-term home health, private duty nursing, hospice care, and nursing home care unless those children already receive those services on or before December 31, 2026.     Beginning January 1, 2027, the act caps enrollment of children in the state medical assistance program at 25,000 children if either enrollment exceeds 25,000 or the expenditures for a fiscal quarter exceeds one-quarter of the appropriation for state medical assistance plus 5% to account for seasonality fluctuations. If one of the conditions is met, the enrollment cap begins on the first day of the month following 60 days after the department of health care policy and financing (state department) determines that the condition was met.     The act repeals provisions requiring the state department to develop an outreach and enrollment strategy for enrolling eligible groups into new coverage options and repeals the state children's basic health plan.     The act appropriates $3,378,166 from the general fund to the state department to implement the act and reduces appropriations to the state department by $14,202,723 if certain conditions are met.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act eliminates the requirement that the general assembly annually appropriate money to the department of public health and environment for the comprehensive human sexuality education grant program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act requires that the state treasurer make the following transfers of money on July 1, 2026:$131,514,555 from the general fund to the capital construction fund;$3,420,943 from the general fund to the information technology capital account in the capital construction fund;$500,000 from the general fund exempt account to the capital construction fund;$1,748,863 from the community impact cash fund to the information technology capital account in the capital construction fund;$587,318 from the motor carrier safety fund to the information technology capital account in the capital construction fund to be used for a records utilization upgrade for the Colorado state patrol; and$1,976,782 from the motorcycle operator safety training fund to the information technology capital account in the capital construction fund to be used for a records utilization upgrade for the Colorado state patrol.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act makes the following changes to the disaster emergency fund:Requires the office of state planning and budgeting (office) to include in its quarterly reports to the joint budget committee an identification of disasters that have been closed out and the amount of unencumbered money that the office has transferred back to its original source;Institutes a timeline for closing out a disaster based on the type of disaster, 3 years for a federally declared disaster or 8 years for a state-only disaster; andLimits the annual maximum unencumbered balance of the disaster emergency fund to $200,000,000 and directs the office to transfer money in excess of that amount to the general fund after August 12, 2026, and on June 30 each year thereafter.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)