REES CONSULTING AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, INC Effective Governmental Affairs The 2015 General Assembly was a busy one with each houses killing onerous bills sent over from the other as Rees Consulting monitored, supported or opposed more than 50 bills for the Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete and Colorado Stone, Sand and Gravel Associations. The Legislature passed a balanced budget and worked on ways to provide refunds to Colorado taxpayers. While there is some transportation funding, it falls short of the needs. Highlights and lowlights are below. Transportation For the first time since FY 2007-08, Colorado will provide meaningful General Fund support to transportation needs. In accordance with Senate Bill 09-228, there will be a transfer of $102.6 million to the Highway Users Tax Fund to support critical road construction and transit projects. This is half of what SB 09-228 was to generate because of TABOR refund requirements. TABOR Refunds Under current law, Coloradans will receive rebates of excess revenue per the provisions of 1992's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. From FY 2014-15 to FY 2015-16, it is estimated that direct refunds to taxpayers will be between $186.5 million and $340.2 million. This budget also includes the potential liability for a separate rebate of new taxes collected under Proposition AA. State Infrastructure The FY 2015-16 budget contains over $240 million in investments to maintain and improve critical state buildings and systems. Fifty-two million dollars has been set aside to complete the DRIVES project in the Department of Revenue, which will overhaul the IT systems used for drivers' licenses and vehicle registrations. In addition, this budget provides support for critical building refurbishments in departments ranging from Human Services to Higher Education, located all across the state. While thrilled to have any transfers for transportation projects, the $102.6 million transfer is half of what had been expected when the SB 228 passed in 2009. Because TABOR refunds were expected, a number of conversations were held last fall and, more recently, this spring as a means to keep $532.3 million this fiscal year and $688.5 million in the fiscal year 2015-16 by creating a Hospital Provider Fee enterprise. The Hospital Provider Fee is a charge on patient revenue remitted by hospitals to the state so that we can receive matching federal funds. These funds largely pay for expanded Medicaid populations for which previously hospitals were receiving insufficient compensation. In its current form, the fee counts toward the State’s revenue cap under TABOR. In order to create the enterprise, the HPF would have had to have been repealed and then re-enacted. After weeks of meetings with Senate Republicans, the decision to scrap the idea was made. There was not enough vocal support for the idea. Then the House Speaker acted. 1640 Logan St. • Suite 200 • Denver, CO 80203 • Phone 303-534-8999 • FAX 303-534-6511 HB 1389, by Speaker Dicky Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder County, Rep. Lois Court, D-Denver, and Sen. Pat Steadman, D- Denver, was introduced and would have given the Hospital Provider Fee enterprise status, thus releasing millions from the TABOR cap. That would have freed up dollars for transportation projects, education and the earned income tax credit. The bill left the House unamended. It died in the Senate. We have the Speaker's word that she will work with us -- the governor's office, hospitals, transportation and education advocates the interim and a bill will be introduced in January. SB 272, by Sen. Randy Baumgardner, R-Grand County, and Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, the TRANS II bill, was assigned to the House State Affairs Committee to die. This would have extended the bonds that the state is paying off for TRANS. Those dollars built T-REX. The associations did not support this bill as there were no new revenue streams identified and no one group came forward to say they would pay for the campaign seeking voter approval. Two large, multi-year, metro-area construction projects were saved. SB 284, by Senate President Bill Cadman and Majority Leader Mark Scheffel, both Republicans would have eliminated the Gaylord Rockies project in Aurora. It died on Second Reading in the Senate last week. The bill would have required a municipality to hold an election of all voters in the municipality if seeking, as of May 7, 2015, to adopt a new urban renewal plan or amend an urban renewal plan that would generate tax increment finance (TIF) revenue from property taxes on certain agricultural land. After hours of debate on another issue, SB 284 was laid over in the late days of the session effectively killing the bill on the calendar and saving more than 10,000 construction jobs and more than 2,500 permanent jobs accredited to the project. HB 1344, by House Majority Leader, Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, Rep. Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan, and Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, and Sen. Pat Seadman, D-Denver, allows the state to use certificates of participation for payment of Colorado State University buildings at the National Western Complex and the restoration of a number of state buildings. It is estimated that there will be close to 4,000 construction jobs during the build out of the CSU buildings. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, after a year of stakeholder meetings, proposed HB 1249, sponsored by Rep. K.C. Becker, D- Boulder and Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton. The bill passed with CCA and AGC amending it with their fee increase request. The bill puts the new fee structure into place. We expect the department to ask for a fee increase for all permit holders next year. Workforce Development Eight of the 10 bills in the workforce development package have made it to the Governor’s desk. The Governor has signed SB 82, by Sens. Vickie Marble, R-Larimer County, and Mary Hodge, D-Adams County, and Reps. Dominick Moreno, D-Adams County, and Polly Lawrence, R-Douglas County, which allows counties to create workforce development programs in conjunction with local colleges and offer tax credits for people who donate to them. He also has signed HB 1271, by Reps. Susan Lontine, D-Denver, and Millie Hamner, D-Summit County, and Sens. Marble and Kerry Donovan, D-Eagle County, which allows the state to fund mobile learning labs that provide training areas on the sites of colleges and companies. The other bills that he will have the opportunity to sign are: HB 1170, by Reps. Tracy Kraft Tharp, D-Jefferson County and Jim Wilson, R-Chaffee County, which creates a post-secondary and workforce-readiness statewide coordinator position within the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to work with schools and businesses on improving student pipelines. HB 1230, by Reps. Pete Lee, D-El Paso County, and Mike Foote, D- Boulder County, and Sens. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder County, and John Cooke, R-Weld County, which pays as much as $5,000 per job to advanced-industry companies who bring in Colorado students for internships. HB 1270, by Reps. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, and Mike Foote, and Sens. Nancy Todd, D- Arapahoe County, and Laura Woods, R-Jefferson County, which authorizes the creation of Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools that could graduate students with both high school degrees and an associate’s degree. HB 1274, by Reps. Alec Garnett, D-Denver, and Jovan Melton, D-Arapahoe County, and Sens. Andy Kerr, Jefferson County, and Laura Woods, which directs the state to design more career pathways for students wanting to get into careers like construction or health care that are needing an increased workforce. HB 1275, by Rep. Faith Winter, D-Adams County, and Sens. Rollie Heath and Vickie Marble, which allows high schools to award credits to students that they can put toward apprenticeships in tech careers. HB 1276, by Reps. Dan Pabon and Angela Williams, Denver Democrats, and Sens., John Cooke and Rollie Heath, which creates a grant program for organizations that attempt to link unemployed Coloradans to open jobs and to training courses. Rees Consulting would like to thank Ben Frei, David Hagerman, Keith Minor, Garrett Varra, Annelise Shepard and of course Todd Ohlheiser for their participation and guidance this year through the Legislative Committee. As always, it has been an honor to represent the Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association and the Colorado Stone, Sand and Gravel Association. .