Summary of major bills this session:
Budget Reform
— House Bill 228—Phases out the limit that allows spending on general state services to grow by 6 percent a year. Replaces it with a new 5 percent personal income limit, which would allow spending on state services to go up when the economy recovers. Over five years, money must be also set aside for transportation, building projects and a reserve fund.
Jobs and the Economy
— House Bill 1001—Provides tax incentives to businesses that create 20 or more jobs. Signed into law.
— Senate Bill 67—Provides small businesses with direct access to capital. Signed into law.
— Senate Bill 171—Strengthens the relationship between businesses, industry and community colleges by improving job training and retraining programs. Signed into law.
— House Bill 1276—Would give homeowners and their lenders 90 days to avoid foreclosure by working with certified mortgage counselors to regain solid financial footing.
Health Care
— House Bill 1293—Charge hospitals a fee based on their size to raise $600 million a year. The state will also qualify for an additional $600 million in federal matching funds. Backers say it will provide coverage to nearly 100,000 Coloradans and provide some guarantee that hospital care is available to the other 700,000 people. Critics say hospitals could chose to pass the fee onto health insurers. Signed into law.
Transportation
— Senate Bill 108—Imposes new fees on all vehicle registrations to ultimately raise $250 million a year to repair unsafe bridges and maintaining roadways all across. It will also impose a $2 daily fee on all car rentals and open the door to tolling on existing highways if surrounding communities back the idea. They could use some of the money raised by tolling to pay for mass transit.
New Energy Economy
— House Bill 1149—Requires homebuilders to offer prospective home buyers the option of having their home prewired for solar or having a system installed, making it easier to finance renewable energy with a home mortgage.
— House Bill 1312—Creates a loan program to help schools pay for renewable energy projects, as well as hybrid and electric buses.
— House Bill 1331—Provides tax credits for fuel-efficient vehicles.
— Senate Bill 51 – Provides treasury bonds to participating banks and lenders for renewable energy and efficiency projects. Signed into law.
Education
— House Bill 1319—Creates the nation’s first statewide dual enrollment plan that allows high school students to simultaneously earn a high school degree and a college associate’s degree.
House Bill 1243—Creates the Office of Dropout Prevention and Student Re-engagement to reduce the student dropout rates and increase graduation rates.
House Bill 1057—Allow parents to take time off from work to attend school activities
Taxes
House Bill 1342—Charge state sales tax on cigarettes for the next two years, which would mean an extra 15 cents on a $5 pack. Part of a package of bills to balance the state budget, it would bring in $30 million a year.
Elections
House Bills 1135—Declares that any new voting equipment purchased by counties should rely on paper ballots and requires that the secretary of state sign off on them. Also allows counties to continue using electronic voting machines certified for the 2008 election. Gives counties four more years to equip touch-screen machines with paper printouts of votes. The current deadline is January 2010.
