It was a wild ride to the finish but the General Assembly finally got there around 11:30pm on the 120th and last legislative day of the session.
Spending Federal Money
The overarching theme of the 2022 legislative session was spending all of the federal stimulus money. Remember these grand old days of spending mountains of money the federal government gave us, because it’s probably never going to be this good again. The national debt was increased to accommodate economic problems caused by the pandemic. The paragraphs below detail how Colorado spent their share of the largess.
The federal government passed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in early 2021. That bill gave Colorado approximately $3.82 billion dollars. The General Assembly spent or transferred $1.25 billion during the 2021 legislative session. Additionally, the last session created five cash funds and placed the remaining $2.64 billion into those cash funds to be spent in the 2022 or later legislative sessions.
Keep in mind, under the federal rules governing ARPA money, the funds must be obligated by the end of 2024 and the money must be spent by the end of 2026. Leftover funds can technically be spent in the 2023 or 2024 legislative sessions, but there won’t be that much left for future legislatures to spend.
The General Assembly spent about $2.33 billion out of the $2.64 billion available for spending among the five cash funds. Those cash funds include: Revenue Loss Restoration Cash Fund ($990 million), Economy Recovery and Relief Cash Fund ($697 million), Behavioral and Mental Health Cash Fund ($450 million), Affordable Housing and Home Ownership Cash Fund ($400 million), and Workers, Employers, and Workforce Centers Cash Fund ($95 million).
Here is a breakdown of the spending this session out of each cash fund:
Revenue Loss Restoration Case Fund
House Bill 1335 - $24.1 million for Judicial Branch information technology infrastructure upgrades.
House Bill 1340 - $350.4 million for partial support of the 2022-23 capital construction budget.
Senate Bill 234 - $600 million to partially repay unemployment insurance fund loans from the federal government, thereby reducing need for future assessments on employers.
Economy Recovery and Relief Cash Fund
House Bill 1220 – $52 million to the departments of education and higher education to create two stipend programs..
House Bill 1356 – $35 million for a grant program to non-profit agencies based in small communities for use in infrastructure and capacity building.
House Bill 1369 – $2 million to provide services related to children's mental health programs.
House Bill 1377 – $105 million for the Connecting Coloradans Experiencing Homelessness with Services, Treatment, and Housing Supports Grant Program.
House Bill 1378 – $50 million to create the Regional Navigation Campus Grant Program to respond to and to prevent homelessness.
House Bill 1379 – $20 million to support wildfire risk mitigation and watershed resilience.
House Bill 1380 – $14 million for implementation of a new electronic benefit management system in the Department of Human Services.
Senate Bill 183 - $35 million (plus $6 million from the behavioral health fund) to award grants to government agencies and nonprofit organizations that provide services to crime victims.
Senate Bill 200 – $9.8 million to create the Rural Provider Access and Affordability Stimulus Grant Program.
Senate Bill 211 – $45 million for the Ridge View Campus to be used as a supportive residential community for people experiencing homelessness.
Senate Bill 213 – About $45 million in ARPA funds, plus additional non-pandemic federal funds, to the Department of Early Childhood for several grant programs intended to support early childhood care.
Senate Bill 226 - $61 million for multiple grant programs supporting the education, training, recruitment and retention of health-care workers.
Behavioral and Mental Health Cash Fund
House Bill 1281 - $90 million for grants to be awarded to nonprofits, community-based organizations, and local governments for community investment grants and children, youth, and family services grants.
House Bill 1283 - $44 million to create an in-home and residential respite care program, provide operational support for psychiatric residential treatment facilities, create additional substance use treatment beds, continue the crisis service program, and build a neuro-psych facility.
House Bill 1302 - $35 million to create the Primary Care and Behavioral Health Statewide Integration Grant Program.
House Bill 1303 – $29.8 million to renovate a building at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan.
Senate Bill 147 - $11.2 million to various agencies for pediatric behavioral health programs.
Senate Bill 148 – $5 million for the Land-based Tribe Behavioral Health Services Grant Program to fund the renovation or construction of a behavioral health facility.
Senate Bill 177 – $12.2 million for implementation of a statewide care coordination infrastructure.
Senate Bill 181 – $72.2 million to create and implement a plan to improve the behavioral health care workforce.
Senate Bill 196 – $61.4 million for an Early Intervention, Deflection, and Redirection from the Criminal Justice System Grant Program.
Affordable Housing and Home Ownership Cash Fund
House Bill 1282 – $13.3 million each year for three years to provide grants or loans to businesses that develop manufactured homes.
House Bill 1304 – $178 million that will provide grants to local governments for investments and infrastructure projects that support affordable housing.
Senate Bill 146 – $25 million to expand the Middle Income Housing Access Program.
Senate Bill 159 – $150 million for a revolving loan program to provide flexible, low-interest, and below-market-rate loan funding to make investments in affordable housing.
Senate Bill 160 – $12 million for a Mobile Home Park Resident Empowerment Loan Program that will be used to finance acquisitions or capital improvements for homeowners to purchase their mobile home parks.
Workers, Employers, and Workforce Centers Cash Fund
House Bill 1349 – $3 million for development of student success measures and an interactive data system for postsecondary student success information.
House Bill 1350 – $91 million for a Regional Talent Development Initiative Grant Program to develop or expand talent development initiatives.
Thank You from CLS
Finally, thank you from the CLS Team for allowing us to represent you at the Capitol. And thank you for reading all of these newsletters…
Here’s a photo of the CLS Team at nearly midnight on the second to last day of the session and another photo in our traditional matching t-shirts on the last day of session.
(If you don’t get the reference then you need to check out Yellowstone)
Have a good break from the legislative session.