May 6, 2026 · 1,917 words · 11 speakers · 96 segments
Capital Development Committee will come to order.
Mr. Almazad, please call the roll. Senators Bright.
Excused.
Henriksen.
Here.
Lindsay.
Here.
Winter.
Here.
Storey.
Here.
Mr. Chair.
Here.
Members, we will now discuss two property transaction proposals from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife CPW has requested that the committee go into executive session pursuant to section 246402.3A1. CRS that requires a two-thirds vote.
Madam Vice Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the Capital Development Committee go into executive session to consider personnel matters pursuant to section 246402.3A1 of the Colorado Revised Statutes.
I wondered about that. Okay. I move that the Capital Development Committee go into executive session to consider property matters pursuant to Section 246402.3A1CRS. As a proper motion, Mr. Almazad, please call the roll.
Senators, or committee members, Bright, excused. Henrickson?
Aye.
Lindsey?
Yes.
Winter?
Yes.
Story?
Yes.
Mr. Chair?
Yes.
That passes 5 to 0. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. We are back from executive session. Executive session is complete, and we will now move to voting on
these proposals. Madam Vice Chair. I move to recommend CDC support for the fee title acquisition
of 21 acres of land in El Paso County. That is a proper motion. Mr. Al-Mazad, please call the roll.
And real quick, before you call the roll, Mr. Al-Mazad, let the record reflect that Senator
Bright has graced us with his presence. Committee members Bright. Pass. Henrickson. Aye. Lindsey?
Yes.
Winter?
Yes.
Story?
Yes.
Bright?
Yes.
Mr. Chair?
Yes, and that passes unanimously.
Madam Vice Chair. I move to recommend CDC support for the fee title acquisition of 39 acres of land in Adams County.
That is a proper motion. Mr. Almazad, please call, I'm sorry, Representative Winter.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to explain my vote on this. I'm going to vote no based on the 10% above praised value and also where I believe that the cash fund is coming from. So I just want to explain my vote on the record.
Thank you, Representative Winter. We do have a motion on the table. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Omza, please call the roll.
Committee members Bright?
No.
Henriksen?
Aye.
Lindsay?
Yes.
Winter?
No.
Story?
Yes.
Mr. Chair?
Yes, and that passes four to two. Next up, we have consideration of Senate Bill 149 with Senator Simpson and Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker. Good morning. Good morning, committee. As I am sure you are well aware, Senate Bill 149 addresses our challenges with the competency system here in the state of Colorado. As a very brief overview on the capital expenditures, you will see in the fiscal note that as we have developed a policy that addresses both reforms on the criminal justice side as well as changes on the civil treatment side there is a significant need for additional contract and construction of beds. So in particular on pages 15 and 16 and 17 of your fiscal note, you will see the investment that comes for the construction of beds. We anticipate a need of an additional 32 beds in the state, particularly for individuals placed on enhanced protective placement or those with neurocognitive needs, IDD, et cetera. Happy to answer any questions and certainly turn it over to my co-prime.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Mr. Minority Leader.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, committee members. Good to be back with Capital Development Committee. Yeah, this bill's been quite an exercise. It started last summer, and to watch the district attorneys and the public defenders engage in really meaningful conversation to get us to a bill finally, really within just the last month, that gets introduced in the Senate, amended at least 50 times. But it's a measure of this is a relatively simple issue to think about, but complex in its solution. having folks that are incompetent to proceed and non-restorable. The state has just not done a good job historically of accommodating those folks and protecting their constitutional rights. You can't just lock people up forever in those conditions. So this was a collaborative effort to get to this point and DHS has been instrumental in trying, because it's been a little challenging sometimes to even figure out the numbers, the volume of folks we're talking about has been, it's not just abundantly clear what we're trying to solve for. So it made it a little challenging in that space and recognition that Joint Budget Committee knew this was coming and set aside dollars to accommodate stuff in this fiscal year where we're either DHS is largely either going to refurbish units at in Pueblo or at Fort Logan to accommodate the missing, the gap that we have currently and or maybe some contracting to fill an immediate need and then you can see year after year for a little while we've got to build more capacity and that's where CDC would get involved.
Thank you, Mr. Minority Leader. Does the committee have any questions or discussion on this bill? Madam Vice Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So it's so obvious in trying to pour over the bill and the fiscal note that there's an immense amount of work and study and research and analysis that's gone into prepping this. I appreciate that there is this huge foundation of information and attempts to really compartmentalize what needs to be done for various different elements in this process. And I think it's incredibly important that this is happening, and I can't believe that it's taken us this long. But I'm glad that district attorneys and the defense realm were very engaged in trying to put this all together, and I appreciate the work that's gone into it. So thank you.
Perfect. Any further questions or comments on this? With that, Madam Vice Chair.
So in this case, CDC may offer an advisory recommendation, a letter of recommendation in regards to this bill. I understand that this one is on third reading in the House coming up, but CDC staff could put together a letter for us. So the motion would be I move to draft a letter of support for Senate Bill 26-149 to the full House, and we can have discussion.
Any discussion on what the committee would like to be included in the letter? And Ms. Forbes is saying that we could just have it say that we are supportive of the bills. Does the committee find that appropriate? With that, you have that on record, Ms. Forbes and staff. Mr. Amazad, please call the roll.
Committee members Bright?
Yes.
Henriksen?
Yes.
Lindsay?
Yes.
Winter?
Yes.
Story?
Yes.
Mr. Chair?
Yes. Congratulations. That passes unanimously. I'm going to pass the gavel. Next up on our agenda is consideration of Senate Bill 26-183, state funding for Colorado School of Mines, capital construction costs. And with us today, we have Senator Demolica.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Members this bill essentially if you all remember when we used the COP dollars several years ago for the new medical school at UNC the new veterinary school up at CSU I believe there was one or two other projects in there that were slipping my mind Anyway there was some dollars left over that has the ability to issue up to million in more COPs Colorado School of Mines approached several sponsors of the previous COP bill to use those dollars to refurbish the Guggenheim Hall on the School of Mines that we are all very familiar with on the CDC. And so that's what this bill essentially does, is it provides the $13 million in COPs to refurbish the Guggenheim Hall at the School of Mines. Any questions, thoughts?
School of Mines is not chatting with us today. School of Mines is not here. They were at a committee yesterday. They're very supportive, very, I think, thankful. They recognized our committee in the finance committee yesterday with all the work that we have done, that they have presented this to us and spoke about how we've looked at it. But obviously, I think with where we are from a budgetary standpoint, understood that they haven't been able to get the project done. And so having this route, I think, was something that they were very appreciative of. Any other thoughts?
I'll just say I'm very familiar with this project, and it has been on the list for an extensive period of time. And I think most of us know that there's an incredible volume of capital needs in the state, and there are so many projects that are hanging that we can't get around to. So I appreciate their efforts to move forward with this project, and it is a relatively minimal amount compared to the total amount that's needed. So I will be in support.
So anybody else? All right. So in this case, we also are in a place where CDC may provide an advisory recommendation relative to the bill. And so actually we could pass this off to Senator Heinrichsen.
Happy to. Yes, Madam Chair, I move to draft a letter for support of Senate Bill 26183 to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
That is a proper motion. Any discussion? Ms. Forbes, please call the roll. Or Mr. Alameda.
Oh, my gosh. I'm sorry. Alamzada. Committee members Bright?
Yes.
Henriksen?
Yes.
Lindsay?
Yes.
Winter?
Yes.
Mullica?
Yes.
Madam Chair?
Yes. That passes unanimously in a six to zero vote. Members, before we leave, we do have one other piece of business. Mr. Pogue has served this committee for a number of years in the state for a number of years, and we were lucky enough to have him come back. I don't know if it was a contract or how it worked, but all I know is we were lucky enough to have him staff this committee during this session. And I don't even think luck is probably the right word. Just how valued you are to this state, Beau, and what you mean to us who have served on this committee. It really matters the work you've done and the knowledge that you bring every day, no matter what questions we have. And so I really wanted to make sure, this being probably our last meeting of the session, knock on wood, that you knew how much we appreciated you and appreciate your work and everything that you've done for us and for this state and for this committee. It truly matters and you really are going to be missed. But there is an expectation that you bring back some whiskey and share it with this committee because I think we're going to need it. But really appreciate everything you've done, Bo. Madam Vice Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ditto on all of that. A number of years is hardly specific enough. How many years have you been here? Really? 20? Okay. That's a good long time. And really, really do appreciate all your work over the years. And hopefully at some point this committee is going to get back to traveling and then, you know, but we'll miss you on those trips as well. And I think we should commit to a meeting in Kentucky at some point in the future time and at a particular location to be defined at a later date. So thanks so much for all you do for us.
Thank you, Bo. With that, the Capital Development Committee is adjourned.