April 28, 2026 · Appropriations · 4,480 words · 12 speakers · 295 segments
. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. . Thank you. I think we're ready to go.
Mr. Catlett, please take the roll.
Senators Gonzalez. Good morning.
Kirkmeyer.
Good morning. Apologize for being late.
No problem. Colker.
Here.
Liston.
Here.
Pelton.
Here.
Mr. Vice Chair.
I was on time.
Madam Chair.
Here. The Senate Committee on Appropriations will come to order. I don't think I said that before I said you were going to take the role. So in reverse order there. Here we go. First bill up is Senate Bill 17, and I see our bill sponsors at the desk. Committee members, do you have questions on Senate Bill 17?
Senator Kirkmeyer. Yes, could you please explain to us how there is not a fiscal note?
Yes, the fiscal note.
Senator Doherty.
I'm so sorry.
No problem.
Senator Mobley. The fiscal note came from the division, and we worked out the amendments with the division, and essentially they needed more information that would be publicly posted to go through the arbitration process, which decreased the fiscal note in any work that they thought they would have to do.
Senator Liston.
Thank you. So there's a zero fiscal note.
That is correct.
Mr. Vice Chair, will you move the bill?
I would love to. Also, I'm not – we just got this one, so I'm not sure which of these L amendments we're supposed to adopt.
You've got a lot of amendments. Okay. So you need to move L9 and L10, but not J1.
Okay, great.
Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move Senate Bill 17, L-9 and L-10.
Okay. Are there any objections to L-9? Seeing none, L-9 is adopted. Are there any objections to L-10? Seeing none, L-10 is adopted. Mr. Catlett, please poll the committee on the adoption of Senate Bill 17 as amended by L-9 and L-10. Senators Gonzales. Aye. Kirk Meyer. Aye. Colker Aye Liston Aye Pelton Aye Mr Vice Chair Aye Madam Chair Aye That bill passes unanimously and is a candidate for the consent calendar Mr Vice Chair
May I suggest the consent calendar?
Any objections? Oh, seeing an objection, we will not put that on the consent calendar. All right, next up we have Senate Bill 45 and Senator Liston.
Very good, Madam Chair. I will move Senate Bill 45 and also the L2002 Amendment. And do you want me to explain the amendment?
Sure.
What it does is that it's to be funded by gifts, grants, and donations, but if by September 1st of 2027, if we don't have, if we haven't raised the sufficient funds, the bill will be repealed and the money will be returned to the donors or gifts, grants, and donations. And I ask for an aye vote.
Okay. Committee members, any objection to L2?
Not objection, questions.
Okay. I'm sorry.
Senator Gonzalez. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would appreciate understanding why this requires legislation.
Senator Liston. Sure. Well, what we're trying to do, thank you, Senator Gonzalez. What we're trying to do with the advent of potentially nuclear energy here in Colorado, there's a lot of people feel that it's important that we have a trained workforce that will be able to build, maintain, and run the variety of nuclear plants that may be built here in Colorado. So we want to have a trained workforce for this type of energy that will be coming to Colorado in the future.
Committee members, any further questions? Okay, so I think we first need to adopt L2. Are there any objections to L2? Seeing none, L2 is adopted. Mr. Catlett, please pull the Committee on the Adoption of Senate Bill 45 as amended by L2. Senators Gonzalez. Aye. Meyer. Aye. Coker. Aye. Liston. Aye. Pelton. Aye. Mr. Vice-Chair. Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That bill passes unanimously and is also a potential consent calendar. Mr. Vice-Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. May I suggest the consent calendar? Are there any objections? Okay. Senator Pelton is again objecting. He just would like us to spend more time on the floor. Okay. So that won't be on the consent. I'm not. Okay. There's no explanation. Next up, we have Senate Bill 49, which I have a note that we are laying over. Okay. Yes.
Senator Snyder. Yes, we are laying it over until Thursday, I believe, in the hopes that we can reduce or eliminate the out-year fiscal impacts.
Okay. Thank you. Thanks for coming. We didn't actually, well, you're up next also. So okay we going to lay over Senate Bill 49 until Thursday Next up we have Senate Bill 91 And we have the bill sponsor here. And committee member, well, Mr. Vice Chair.
Take it out, Chair. Take it out, Chair. I move Senate Bill 91, and I think $32,000 can be absorbed by this department.
It seems that this should not be, there should not be a J on this. So I will not move the J. Okay. All right. Committee members, are there, I don't know, is there any, Would anybody like to move the J Amendment?
No.
Nobody would like to move the J Amendment. Okay. Are there questions about Senate Bill 91? All right. Mr. Catlett, please poll the committee on the adoption of Senate Bill 91.
Senators Gonzalez.
No.
Kirkmeyer.
Aye.
Coker.
Aye.
Liston.
Aye.
Pelton.
Aye.
Mr. Vice Chair.
No.
Madam Chair.
Aye. That bill passes 5 to 2. Thank you, committee. All right. Next up, we have Senate Bill 114. And I see Senator Marchman and Senator Bright. Mr. Vice Chair, would you like to move the bill?
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move Senate Bill 114 and I believe just L005?
Yep, and L005. Committee members, are there any questions for the bill sponsors?
Senator Kirkmeyer. Just want to make, thank you Madam Chair, just want to make sure L005 removes the fiscal note completely, correct?
Senator Marchman.
Okay, Senator Bright.
Thank you Madam Chair. Yes, it does remove the fiscal entirely.
Great. Thank you.
Apparently everyone's gotten the message. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. What does it do now that it's no longer doing what it looks like most of the bill does?
Senator Marchman. Yeah, womp, womp, womp. You guys have been a fun committee to get ready for, and the bill did two things at first. One, it would expand sales rooms for manufacturer craft distillers. That would have been great because they can take one of those permits to a farmer's market or that kind of a thing. That was carrying the fiscal. So we removed that. What the other component does is a permit to pour, and it's a permit to pour other alcohol. So these are distillers. If you think about, you know, tasting at a distillery, that's generally shots. and so this would allow beer and wine and other things. And so that is what is still in the bill. So it's not the help we had hoped to provide for the craft distillers. Senator Bridges.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So this lets tasting rooms pour stuff that they didn't make on site. This has been a 10-year challenge for me, that tasting rooms can sell things they didn make on site which means they extremely limited in what they can do You can make a Manhattan without having I guess you have to make the vermouth on site which is a little strange So this allows them to sell all sorts of different things on site but what it doesn't do is let them get that second pass so they can go to farmers markets and things like that. Got it. Thank you.
Okay. Committee members, any more questions? Are there objections to the adoption of L5? Seeing none, L5 is adopted. Mr. Catlett, please poll the committee on the adoption of Senate Bill 114 as amended by L5.
Senators Gonzalez.
Aye.
Kirkmeyer. Aye.
Coker. Aye.
Liston. Aye.
Pelton. Aye.
Mr. Vice Chair. Aye.
Madam Chair. Aye. That bill passes unanimously.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. May I suggest the consent calendar?
Any objections? Okay, Senator Clinton.
I'm ready to feel how the House feels.
Okay. Next up we have Senate Bill 115, Senator Gonzalez.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move Senate Bill 115 and L002 and J002.
Okay. Okay. Committee members, any questions for the bill sponsors? Senator Kirkmeyer.
So fiscal note, does it still have two FTE and 115,000 in, or did that get removed?
Senator Weissman. Senator Kirkmeyer, net of L2, which narrows the scope of the bill, and J2, there is a small appropriate going to judicial, but then there is a negative appropriate to DOC. So the whole bill nets out to negative general fund with the adoption of L2 and J2.
Senator Kirkmeyer. Thank you. Can you tell me the impact to the Department of Corrections again, please?
Senator Weissman. So the impact, and that's the latter of the two appropriate sections, what would be section four. This is what's called a second look bill. So certain standard assumptions are made about who might be eligible for the type of post-conviction relief contemplated in the bill. With people coming out and no longer being inside, you just sort of do math about the per person per day cost. This is using the 7716, which is the new contract rate for facilities that would not be the Werfano facility, but the two that we've long had going. in southeastern Colorado. So people times that rate times days is how we get to the DOC savings in the latter part of the probe. I hope that made sense.
Senator Kirkmeyer. So thank you, Madam Chair. Just a statement then. We are perpetually behind when it comes to the Department of Corrections, and basically what this will mean is next year we'll just have to make it up probably in a supplemental. so I guess I don't know where it's actually saving us any money or I think there will still be an impact to the general fund so I'm going to be a no vote.
Senator Weissman. Sorry if my first answer didn't help. The mechanism here and the fiscal note contemplates that some very, very, very small number of people will be effectively granted a kind of new sentence with the result that on net the DOC population would be a tiny bit lower. Ceteris paribus. Obviously there's lots we don't know, but this bill will not operate to increase the DOC population. Cannot.
Senator Kirkmeyer. Thank you, Madam Chair. I understood what you said. My comment is this. We have been perpetually behind when it comes to the Department of Corrections. They're allowed to transfer between lines within the Department of Corrections, same as other state agencies. So where we fall short on being able to pay for the labor and the employees that work at the Department of Corrections, they take it from other lines and so it just means we'll have to make it up someplace else. I mean that's just how it's working with the Department of Corrections. So it will end up costing us money. And I guess my question is then specifically how many FTE will be in the public defender's office and how many will be in judicial?
Senator Weissman. So the first part of the probe contemplates .5 FTE in the public defender that popped out of the standard fiscal note process. I mean, that's what the committee has to grapple with. I have talked to folks who think that maybe, you know, the office could absorb that and are eager to take on this kind of work, but the note says half, so that's the answer.
Okay. Okay. Committee members, are there objections to L002? Seeing none, L002 is passed. Are there objections to J002? Yes, I see objections.
Mr. Catlett, please poll the committee on the adoption of J002.
Senators Gonzalez. Aye.
Kirkmeyer. No.
Coker. Aye.
Liston. No.
Pelton. No.
Mr. Vice Chair. Aye.
Madam Chair. Aye. That amendment passes 4-3.
Mr. Catlett, please pull the committee on the adoption of Senate Bill 115 as amended by L2 and J2.
Senators Gonzalez. Aye.
Kirkmeyer. No.
Coker. Aye. Liston.
No for today.
Pelton. No.
Mr. Vice Chair. Aye.
Madam Chair. Aye. That bill passes 4-3. Thank you, committee. Thank you. Okay. Next up, we have Senate Bill 148 on the calendar, and we are going to lay that over. And so, until Thursday. And that leads us to Senate Bill 154. Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move. Oh, wait. Yes, I move Senate Bill 154 and J001.
Okay. Committee members, any questions for the bill sponsor?
Senator Kirkmeyer. So with the amendments, is there no fiscal note? Or there's a reduction in general fund? Yeah.
Okay. Okay.
Senator Bridges. Thank you, Madam Chair. Were either of you on the Colorado Channel Authority Board I was Senator Mullica I was Same I wasn very good This is maybe one of my favorite bills of the Same Yeah I wasn very good at attending meetings This is maybe one of my favorite bills of the entire session Yeah I wasn very good at attending meetings so I think that where the bill comes from Okay.
So are there any objections to adoption of J-001? Seeing none, J-001 is adopted.
Mr. Catlett, please poll the committee on the adoption of Senate Bill 154 as amended by J-1.
Senators Gonzalez. Hi.
Kirkmeyer. Aye.
Coker. Aye.
Liston. Aye.
Pelton. Aye.
Mr. Vice Chair. Aye.
Madam Chair. Aye. That bill passes unanimously.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. May I suggest the consent calendar for an excellent bill that needs no further discussion?
Okay. Seeing no objection, that bill will be placed on the consent calendar. Woo-hoo! We got one. Wow. Oh, wait a minute. Is it just because Simpson's on the bill? I see how this works. Wait, wait. Now we're going to have to object. Really, man. Too late to object. Yeah, sorry. No, it's never too late in here. Yeah, exactly. All right, we're moving on. We're at Senate Bill 156. I see Senator Kipp is here.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move Senate Bill 156 and J-001.
Committee members, any questions?
Senator Kirkmeyer. So the fiscal note is for what?
Senator Kipp. The fiscal note is to reduce the amount of money that the Department of Labor and Employment is spending. They brought a streamlining bill to me that they said, we'll save you money, and we said, okay, let's do it. Okay.
A little bit. Senator Kirkmeyer. Thank you. I just wanted it on the record so people looked at it and wondered why you were here. We will be saving $46,605. Good job.
How many cents? Committee members, any objections to J-001? Seeing none, J-1 is adopted.
Mr. Catlett, please poll the committee on the adoption of Senate Bill 156 as amended by J-1.
Senators Gonzalez. Aye.
Kirkmeyer. Aye.
Colker. Aye.
Liston. Aye. Pelton. Aye. Mr. Vice Chair. Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That bill passes unanimously. Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe this bill is excellent as is and deserves no further discussion, so may I suggest the consent calendar.
Any objections? Seeing none, that would be placed on the consent calendar. Okay. Next up, we have Senate Bill 157, and I see Senator Pelton here.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Chair. I move Senate Bill 157 and J-001.
Committee members, any questions?
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senator Pelton, can you tell me what the original source of funds is in the Small Communities Water and Wastewater Grant Fund? Are those dollars that originate as general fund, or do they come from fees? Senator Pelton.
I cannot answer that.
Okay. I wonder if anybody on the staff has the answer to that question
Is it from?
Senator Kirkmeyer. It might be from severance dollars or federal mineral lease dollars, the small community, because this is in the Department of Local Affairs, and I think they manage it through there, and it's a loan grant program, actually, if I recall correctly. So what I think is interesting is the Department of Public Safety. Somehow we found $100,000 over there. But great. Good for you.
Mr. McClure, you look like you were ready to give us some kind of an answer.
Thank you, Senator Mobley. Yes, Senator Kirkmeyer is correct. This is severance tax spillover dollars. Okay.
Senator Bridges. Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, it does seem like an appropriate use of funds from the Small Communities Water and Wastewater Grant Fund, given that this is about water and wastewater for small communities. So I appreciate that in some ways this bill is bypassing the grant process and just saying, when this occurs, these dollars shall be appropriated for this purpose. I think that is an appropriate use, and so I'll be a yes. Thank you.
Okay. Committee members, any objection to J001? Seeing none, J1 is adopted.
Mr. Catlett, please poll the committee on the adoption of Senate Bill 157 as amended by J-1.
Senators Gonzalez. Aye.
Kirkmeyer. Aye.
Colker. Aye.
Liston. Aye.
Pelton. Aye.
Mr. Vice Chair. Aye.
Madam Chair. Aye. That bill passes unanimously.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. May I suggest the consent calendar?
Any objections? Trying to figure out the pattern here. Seeing none, that bill will be placed on the consent calendar. Thank you, committee. Keeping you on your toes. Next up, we have Senate Bill 170, and I see President Coleman is here with Senator Bright. Committee members, any questions for the bill sponsor on Senate Bill 170?
Move to PI? No, never mind.
Okay. Seeing no questions, Mr. Catlett, please pull the committee on the adoption of Senate Bill 170.
Did I move it? Oh, we didn't move it. I'm sorry. I was ahead of myself.
It's okay.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. Despite Senator Bright's presence at the table, will he be joining this bill? Okay. I still move Senate Bill 170 to the committee of the whole.
Okay, Mr. Catlett, please pull the committee on the adoption of Senate Bill 170.
Senators Gonzalez. Aye.
Kirkmeyer. Aye.
Colker. Aye.
Liston. Yes, for today.
Pelton. Aye.
Mr. Vice Chair. Enthusiastically, aye.
Madam Chair. Aye. Neither here nor there, aye. Okay, that bill passes unanimously.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. It was not unanimous in committee, so .
No, it was actually.
Oh, it was.
It was unanimous, but okay. Oh. No problem.
I was going to object anyway.
Okay, what's the pattern?
Do you see Senator Bright?
Oh, oh, it's a bright thing.
Okay.
Senator Bright. All right next up we have Senate Bill House Bill 1109 and we are going to lay that over until Thursday Did he say something about Morgan County And that leads us to Senate Bill House Bill 1123 I see Senator Weissman is here, and Mr. Vice Chair, maybe you'd like to take over.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We are to Senate Bill 1123.
Senator Mowoy. I move.
It's House Bill 1123. Oh, sorry, House Bill 1123.
Senator Mobley.
Can you move it?
I did. I moved it.
Great.
Senator Kirkmeyer. Thank you. So explain the fiscal note.
Senator Weissman. Senator, the fiscal note is from the post-cash fund, presuming some amount of investigative work in the event that folks do what the bill says they are not supposed to do. Post cash fund is created in 2431-303, funded by post fees. You might pay for a copy of information that post publishes. There's a small fee that you pay if you're going through a post examination. Some amount of vehicle registration fees per 423-304 are also credited to the post cash fund. Thank you.
Any further discussion of House Bill 1123? Seeing none, please poll the committee. Senators Gonzalez. Aye. Kirkmeyer. Aye. Coker. Aye. Liston. Aye. Pelton. Madam Vice Chair. Aye. Mr. Chair. Aye. That bill passes unanimously. Seeing a head shake on the consent calendar. Senator Weissman. Also a no over there. So with that. Oh, you got another one up. We are to House Bill 1214. Senator Mobley.
I move House Bill 1214.
Is there any discussion? Senator Kirkmeyer.
Sure. Please explain the fiscal note in 2728.
Senator Mobley.
So this is a sunset, and so in 2627, there's no appropriation because it's already in the budget, and it just continues on in the way that it has. Thank you.
Seeing no further discussion, please poll the committee. Senators Gonzalez.
Aye.
Kirkmeyer.
Aye.
Coker.
Aye.
Liston.
Aye.
Pelton.
Madam Vice Chair.
Aye.
Mr. Chair.
Aye. That bill passes unanimously. Senator Mobley.
I would like to suggest we put that on the consent calendar.
Is there any objection, Senator Pelton? Seeing none, that bill will be placed on the consent calendar. Okay. Woo-hoo. All right. Next up, 1242. I see Senator Roberts has joined us. Committee members, any questions? Oh, Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 1242.
Committee members, any questions about House Bill 1242? Seeing none, Senator Kirkmeyer.
Yeah, again, just for the record, so where I'm consistent, could you just explain the fiscal note real quick? I know we discussed it yesterday.
Senator Roberts.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Senator Kirkmeyer. So the only appropriation needed is a $15,225 cash fund transfer from the drives cash fund to DOR. Thank you.
Okay. Mr. Catlin, Senator Liston.
I had one question. Senator Roberts, for these types of devices that go on the cars, how much do they cost? Can you explain that just a little bit to the drivers?
Iver. Senator Roberts.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Senator Liston. It depends slightly on where in the state they are and which vendor they're using, but they're about anywhere between $150 and $300. This bill actually, though, expands the affordability assistance program for lower-income individuals who need to get one, so they would receive a discounted cost to get them installed.
Senator Gonzalez.
Thank you. Do you have a sense of the fund balance in the Drives Cash Fund at this time?
I do not.
Okay.
The Drives Cash Fund is, you know, we could get the exact balance, I think. And I don't think anybody thinks we're doing great with the Drives Cash Fund, but this is $15,000, and that was felt to be completely absurd.
Senator Gonzalez. Thank you, Madam Chair. Message from Mr. Reed at the Department of Revenue is that the Drives Cash Fund is operating at a deficit of
several million dollars currently. Do you have the answer Mr. Catlett? Thank you, Madam Chair, Senator Gonzalez, that's correct. It's currently projected to finish this year with a $16.4 million balance, but it has $13.1 million negative cash flow. Thank you.
Senator Bridges.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Agreed, the Drives Cash Fund, long-term, big, big problems over there with Drives. We've been talking about it for years on the Budget Committee. But $15,225 is not going to make or break this cash fund. I think it's an appropriate place to pay for this from. Also, totally fine if the $15,000 were just not allocated and they just had to do it because they'd just do it with money from there anyway. But there's no JMMN on this. It's already been decided in the House. This seems very appropriate to me as a source of funds. So I'm comfortable moving this forward with that $15,000 cost. Thank you.
Okay. Any other comments? Mr. Katlebb, please poll the committee on the adoption of House Bill 1242. Senators Gonzalez.
Aye.
Kirkmeyer.
Aye.
Colker.
Aye.
Liston.
Aye for today.
Pelton.
Aye.
Mr. Vice Chair.
Aye.
Madam Chair. Aye. That bill passes unanimously. It's not a candidate. Okay. Next up, we have House Bill 1258, and I see our sponsors are here, and we have an L amendment, which I assume you would like to – Senator Roberts.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we would appreciate if the committee could consider the L Amendment. What it does is remove a felony classification for abuse of a corpse, which was added in the House and created a fiscal note. So we think there's other ways to hold these bad actors accountable and don't need that in there right now.
Okay. Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you Madam Chair I move House Bill 1258 and L011 Senator Kirkmeyer Thank you Madam Chair I just want to know where the title came from Concerning death
It wasn't me.
Interesting. Thank you.
It wasn't me.
Okay. Any objection to L011? Seeing none, L011 is adopted.
Mr. Catlett, please poll the committee on the adoption of 1258 as amended by L011, otherwise known as L11.
Senators Gonzalez.
Aye.
Kirkmeyer.
Aye.
Colker.
Aye.
Liston.
Aye.
Pelton.
Aye.
Mr. Vice Chair.
LO11.
Aye. Madam Chair. Aye. That bill passes unanimously.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you.
Oh. We have one amendment we need to do on the floor. Okay.
Sorry. Thank you, though. We appreciate it.
Is it about death?
Thank you.
I think it fits under the title. I just wanted to ask. These people are already dead. Really, anything besides taxes, I think, fits under this bill. I mean, I was thinking maybe we should kill the bill because it's not concerning. Taxes, fees, it's all the same. Oh, that's true. If we kill the bill about death. Madam Chair? Okay.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move House Bill 1260.
Committee members, any questions for the bill sponsor on House Bill 1260? Senator Kirkmeyer.
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to ask you to tell us about the fiscal note.
Senator Bright.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the purpose of the bill is to push off the implementation of 24-12-23 for two years. And so we are removing essentially the appropriation that was put forward then because it's not going to happen. Okay.
Any other questions? Seeing none, Mr. Catlett, please poll the committee on the adoption of House Bill 1260. Senators Gonzalez.
Aye.
Kirkmeyer.
Aye.
Coker.
Aye.
Liston.
Aye.
Pelton.
Aye.
Mr. Vice Chair.
Aye.
Madam Chair. Aye. That bill passes unanimously.
Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. May I suggest the consent calendar?
Seeing any objections, that bill will be placed on the consent calendar. Right. What is the pattern? What is the pattern? I thought maybe he said complimented the roads. The Morgan County Amendment. Are we building some roads? Yes, the Senate Committee on Appropriations is adjourned. Thank you
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.