The act establishes that if a managed care entity receives federal funds or state money from the department of health care policy and financing and pays those funds or that money to the department of human services, the funds or money received by the department of human services is not included in the calculation of state fiscal year spending.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law requires the general assembly to annually appropriate $50,000 to provide vouchers to individuals living in rural and frontier communities in need of behavioral health-care services. The bill repeals the requirement to appropriate money for that purpose. The act:Repeals the requirement that the BHA contract with an independent third party to provide services and supports to behavioral health providers seeking to become behavioral health safety net providers;Repeals the building substance use disorder treatment capacity in underserved communities grant program;Repeals the recovery support services grant program;Transfers the balance of the high-risk families cash fund (fund) to the general fund and repeals the fund on July 1, 2026; andReduces appropriations to the behavioral health administration for the affected programs and services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The excess federal Title IV-E reimbursements cash fund (cash fund) exists in current law and includes federal revenue in excess of the amount required to reimburse certain eligible foster care, prevention, and permanency services. The act renames the cash fund as the federal Title IV-E reimbursements cash fund and updates the permissible uses of the money in the cash fund to align with current federal requirements, which permit the state to apply savings associated with federal funding increases to a range of child welfare services. The act specifically authorizes the use of cash fund money for services to support a positive permanency outcome for a child or youth who might otherwise enter or reenter foster care.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act corrects a statutory reference related to depositing bond forfeiture money in the judicial stabilization cash fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act relocates in statute the disability support fund (fund), which finances the work of the Colorado disability opportunity office (office). The fund receives revenue from fees paid for license plates in a retired style and from the sale of unique vehicle registration numbers. The act makes the office responsible for administering the sale of these unique vehicle registration numbers, which was previously a duty of the Colorado disability funding committee (committee) housed within the office. The act repeals the committee on July 1, 2027. The fund is subject to annual appropriation to support the office and, for state fiscal year 2026-27 only, the fund is also subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly to the department of labor and employment (department) for vocational rehabilitation. Beginning on October 1, 2026, the $25 annual fee paid for license plates in a retired style is replaced by a one-time and annual fee of $2.50 credited to the fund and a one-time and annual donation of $22.50 remitted to the Colorado disability funding authority (authority), which is a newly created special purpose authority. The authority is governed by a board of 13 members appointed by the governor, the majority of whom are individuals with disabilities, individuals with immediate family members with disabilities, or individuals who are caregivers to a family member with a disability. In making the appointments, the governor must ensure that the authority board has members with experience in or knowledge of:Business and business management;Nonprofit entities and managing nonprofit entities;Advocacy for individuals with disabilities;The practice of medicine, with experience working with individuals with disabilities; andThe practice of law, with experience working with individuals with disabilities. The authority is required to invite nonprofit entities, independent living centers, county departments of human services, county departments of social services, and other state and county agencies to submit proposals for programs to aid individuals with disabilities in accessing disability benefits. Beginning on July 1, 2027, the authority is required to award a contract or grant to one or more of the entities that submitted program proposals. When adequate funding is available, the authority may also:Accept and review proposals to fund projects or programs that study or pilot new and innovative ideas that will lead to an improved quality of life or increased independence for individuals with disabilities; andMake grants or develop, implement, or deliver education programs concerning reserved parking that is available to an individual with a disability affecting mobility. On or before December 1, 2027, and on or before each December 1 thereafter, the authority is required to prepare and submit a financial and performance report to the joint budget committee. In addition to this annual report, the state auditor may also be required to conduct or cause to be conducted postaudits of the authority. By October 1, 2026, the state treasurer is required to issue a warrant in the amount of $523,343 from the fund to the authority. On June 30, 2026, the state treasurer is required to transfer $21 million from the fund to the general fund. For the 2026-27 state fiscal year, the act decreases by $100,000 the appropriation from the disabled parking education and enforcement fund to the department for use by the office for operating expenses. For the 2026-27 state fiscal year, $1 million is appropriated from the fund to the department for use by the division of vocational rehabilitation and independent living services. For the 2026-27 state fiscal year, $27,000 is appropriated from the fund to the department of revenue for use by the division of motor vehicles for DRIVES maintenance and support.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Pursuant to existing law, a school district (district) may direct, by written instruction to the state board of education (board), that a specified portion of its monthly payment of the state's share of the district's total program for the budget year be paid to the department of labor and employment to cover the district's costs for participation in school-to-work alliance programs. The board is required to certify to the state treasurer on a monthly basis the amount, if any, to be transferred directly to the department of labor and employment instead of paid to the district. The act clarifies that the amount of money transferred from the state public school fund directly to the department of labor and employment for school-to-work alliance program costs instead of paid to a district is not state fiscal year spending for purposes of section 20 of article X of the state constitution.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act directs the state treasurer to annually transfer no more than $3 million from the severance tax perpetual base fund to the species conservation trust fund. The act also directs the state treasurer to, beginning on June 30, 2027, annually transfer from the severance tax operational fund to the general fund the lesser of $14.2 million or the difference between the amount of severance tax revenue projected to be deposited in the operational fund in the current fiscal year and the amount appropriated from the operational fund for certain programs in the same fiscal year. The cash funds appropriation from the severance tax operational fund for the 2026-27 state fiscal year to the department of natural resources for use by the executive director's office for the species conservation trust fund is decreased by $3,000,000.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

In current law, a person who is a member of the Colorado National Guard who is accepted for enrollment at a designated institution of higher education (member) has all their tuition costs waived. All tuition waiver costs are currently funded by the state from money in the Colorado National Guard tuition fund. The act changes the funding mechanism of the Colorado National Guard tuition waiver program by requiring each designated institution of higher education to waive the remaining balance of a member's tuition cost in excess of the amount of any private, state, or federal financial assistance received. The act requires the department of military and veterans affairs to reimburse each institution for 50% of the cost of tuition waived by the institution and requires the general assembly to appropriate money to the Colorado National Guard tuition fund to cover the reimbursement.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act eliminates the requirement that the general assembly annually appropriate money to the department of public health and environment for the comprehensive human sexuality education grant program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act makes the following changes to the disaster emergency fund:Requires the office of state planning and budgeting (office) to include in its quarterly reports to the joint budget committee an identification of disasters that have been closed out and the amount of unencumbered money that the office has transferred back to its original source;Institutes a timeline for closing out a disaster based on the type of disaster, 3 years for a federally declared disaster or 8 years for a state-only disaster; andLimits the annual maximum unencumbered balance of the disaster emergency fund to $200,000,000 and directs the office to transfer money in excess of that amount to the general fund after August 12, 2026, and on June 30 each year thereafter.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

If approved by at least 55% of the voters of the state voting on the issue at the 2026 general election, the concurrent resolution amends the Colorado constitution to prohibit a person from being a state representative or senator for a term of office that immediately follows a term for which the person was appointed to fill a vacancy in the general assembly for that office.(Note: This summary applies to this concurrent resolution as introduced.)