The act extends for an additional 10 years the availability of the state income tax credit allowed to a taxpayer who makes a qualifying monetary contribution to promote child care in the state equal to 50% of the total value of the contribution, not to exceed $100,000, through income tax years commencing prior to January 1, 2038.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

On or before December 31, 2027, the act requires the department of higher education (department) to establish thriving institution designations and, on or before January 1, 2027, to establish an advisory committee to provide input to the department on the outcome and recognition standards and continuous improvements set by the department to identify institutions of higher education (institutions) that meet the requirements for one or more thriving institution designations. The act requires the department, with input from the advisory committee, to:Identify institutions that meet the outcome and recognition standards to be designated as a thriving institution;Notify each institution that meets the outcome standards to be designated as a thriving institution and request the institution to respond within 10 calendar days with the institution's decision of whether to be recognized as a thriving institution;Post on the department's website the names of the institutions that earn a thriving institution designation and agree to be listed as a thriving institution; andNotify the general assembly of the names of the institutions that are recognized as thriving institutions.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law allows any individual to deduct amounts, up to certain caps based on the individual's age, received as pensions or annuities from any source, to the extent included in federal adjusted gross income.Notwithstanding the caps on the deduction for amounts received as pensions or annuities from other sources, current law allows any individual who is 65 years old or older at the close of a taxable year to subtract the total amount of social security benefits that the individual received from the individual's federal taxable income, to the extent those benefits were included in federal taxable income, when determining the individual's state taxable income. This subtraction is also allowed to any individual who is 55 years old or older and has an adjusted gross income for the applicable tax year that is less than or equal to $75,000 if filing individually or $95,000 if filing jointly.For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2027, the bill removes all caps on the deduction for amounts received as pensions and annuities and allows any individual who is 55 years old or older, regardless of income, to subtract the total amount that the individual received as pension or annuity income from the individual's federal taxable income, to the extent that income was included in federal taxable income, when determining the individual's state taxable income.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill creates a targeted allocation priority within Colorado's administration of federal and state affordable housing tax credits to support development of integrated, community-based housing for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The bill requires a set aside of at least 10% of the state's annual allocation of competitive federal low-income housing tax credits (federal tax credits) for "community integration housing". To qualify, a development must comply with federal tax credit requirements, meet federal home- and community-based services settings standards, reserve at least 20% of its units for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and partner with a community-centered board or certified case-management agency. The bill authorizes the Colorado housing and finance authority (authority) to reallocate unused credits from the set aside at the end of a calendar year for allocation to any eligible project.The bill amends the state affordable housing tax credit (state tax credit) to require the authority to provide priority scoring or preference to qualified developments that have received a federal tax credit as a qualified community integration housing development and that continue to meet all requirements for community integration housing. The requirement for priority scoring or preference does not waive or otherwise limit the authority's ability to enforce all applicable eligibility requirements or to determine the amount of the state tax credit to be allocated to any qualified development.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The act creates the 'Transit Investment Area Act' to facilitate the financing of transit and rail station infrastructure. Specifically, the act:Allows a local government and a transit agency to jointly undertake a transit investment project. To finance the project, the local government may apply to the Colorado economic development commission (commission) to designate a transit investment area and an approved financing entity;Authorizes the approved financing entity, which may be a newly created transit investment authority, a county revitalization authority, a metropolitan district, or an urban renewal authority, to receive state sales tax increment revenue. This revenue consists of the state sales tax collected in the designated area above a base amount, plus an additional 20% to account for out-of-area deliveries.Permits the financing entity to issue bonds and use the state sales tax increment revenue to finance eligible improvements related to the transit project;Prohibits the financing entity from using the state sales tax increment revenue to acquire property through eminent domain;Requires projects to comply with specified hiring, apprenticeship, and workforce standards;Caps the commission's approval authority at no more than 3 transit investment projects in any calendar year and no more than 6 in total and caps the total state sales tax increment revenue dedicated to all projects at $75 million per fiscal year; andAuthorizes the commission to revoke project approval if substantial work does not commence within 5 years and requires financing entities to submit annual reports and independent financial audits. The act requires the Colorado office of economic development, in consultation with the department of local affairs and the department of transportation, to publish a transit and housing investment zone map on or before October 30, 2026. The act creates the Colorado affordable housing in transit and housing investment zones tax credit (tax credit). The tax credit is administered in the same manner as the Colorado affordable housing in transit-oriented communities income tax credit; except that the tax credit is awarded in connection with housing projects in transit and housing zones. The act authorizes the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority to allocate up to $8,333,333 in tax credits each calendar year beginning in the 2027 calendar year through the 2033 calendar year. For the 2026-27 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $213,349 to the office of the governor for use by economic development programs.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law establishes the youthful offender system (system) in the department of corrections (department) as a sentencing option that provides a continuum of services. The act:Updates references to the juveniles and young adults who are eligible for or participating in the system;Revises certain legislative intent provisions to emphasize lasting behavioral changes in preparation for reentry, trauma-informed care, addressing criminogenic risk, accountability, healthy relationship building, and system participant and staff safety;Expresses the general assembly's intent that juveniles and young adults with physical, intellectual, mental, or behavioral health disabilities or conditions receive equitable treatment in sentencing to the system and reasonable accommodations once in the system;Adds certain data related to system completion rates to an existing annual reporting requirement for the department;Adds requirements for evidence-informed rehabilitative treatment and life skills programming and for individual therapy, family therapy, or substance use disorder treatment;Establishes requirements for system participant evaluations, plans for addressing participants' needs and skills, and case manager duties;Requires the department, in consultation with relevant experts, to make and publish on its website recommendations for integrating a trauma-informed standard of care with current system practices to promote the health and safety of system participants; andExpands certain procedural protections for system participants with mental or behavioral health conditions or intellectual and developmental disabilities.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Previously, money in the diseased livestock indemnity fund could be used only to pay indemnity to a livestock owner whose herd had been sold for slaughter or destroyed because the herd was exposed to or diagnosed with an infectious or contagious disease. The act expands the permissible uses of the money in the diseased livestock indemnity fund by allowing the commissioner of agriculture to authorize using the money to prepare for and respond to certain emerging threats to livestock health. The act renames the fund the 'livestock health preparedness, response, and diseased livestock indemnity fund' to reflect the expanded scope of the permissible uses of money in the fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

Current law provides an exemption for taxation on property acquired and developed for low-income housing by nonprofit housing providers, community land trusts, and nonprofit affordable homeownership developers. The bill expands the exemption to also include property intended for low-income residential rental property.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Under current law, a person may be arrested and detained for level 1 drug misdemeanor possession. The act requires that when a colorimetric field drug test was used to test for the presence of a controlled substance and a person is solely suspected of a level 1 drug misdemeanor for possession or solely suspected of a municipal drug possession charge, a peace officer shall not arrest the person and instead shall issue a summons. The act also requires that when a colorimetric field drug test was used, before accepting a plea from a person charged with a drug possession for level 4 drug felony possession and lower, the trial court is required to issue an advisement with specified language, including language stating that colorimetric field drug tests have known error rates and that the defendant has the right to enter a not guilty plea and to request drug testing from an accredited forensic laboratory.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill allows a person who is 72 years old or older to choose to temporarily or permanently opt out of jury service. The judge or jury commissioner may require documentation in support of the opt-out.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill repeals various state laws related to firearms and other weapons. Specifically, the bill repeals provisions concerning:Unlawfully carrying a firearm at a polling location or drop box offense;The presumption that an individual engages in election-related intimidation if the individual carries a visible firearm, imitation firearm, or toy firearm while interacting with or observing specified election activities;Firearm industry standards of responsible conduct enacted in Senate Bill 23-168, enacted in 2023, and the bill restores the firearms product liability provisions that existed prior to the enactment of Senate Bill 23-168;Payment processing for retail sales of firearms;Designating as peace officers the following personnel of the firearms dealer division within the department of revenue: The director, deputy directors, agents in charge, criminal investigator supervisors, and criminal investigators;Including in a mandatory criminal protection order a requirement for a defendant to relinquish firearms and ammunition;The classification of a rapid-fire device as a dangerous weapon;Prohibitions on knowingly carrying a firearm in specified government buildings and licensed child care centers;Unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon;Unlawfully possessing explosive, incendiary, or other dangerous devices in certain legislative buildings;Unlawfully carrying a firearm at a licensed child care center; a public or private elementary, middle, junior high, high, or vocational school; or a public or private college or university;Requirements to store a firearm, including in a vehicle;The requirement for the department of public health and environment to conduct a firearms safe storage education campaign;Prohibitions on certain conduct involving an unserialized firearm, frame, or receiver;The requirement to conduct a background check on the transferee in a private firearm transfer;Setting the minimum age to buy a firearm at 21 years old;The 3-day waiting period for firearm sales;Certain prohibited activity involving semiautomatic firearms, including the prohibition on purchasing a firearm without having completed certain educational requirements, and the associated firearms training and safety course record system;Ammunition sales;Permitting local entities to prohibit carrying a concealed handgun in certain areas;Prohibiting the possession of certain ammunition magazines, and marking requirements on certain ammunition magazines manufactured in Colorado on or after July 1, 2013;The requirement to have a state permit to deal firearms in Colorado and the requirements for dealers and dealers' employees;Gun show regulations;Providing materials about gun violence prevention to parents with students in K-12 schools;The authority of the Colorado bureau of investigation to investigate particular illegal activity involving firearms statewide;The voluntary waiver of the right to purchase a firearm; andThe authority of a local government to enact an ordinance, regulation, or other law governing or prohibiting the sale, purchase, transfer, or possession of a firearm, ammunition, or firearm component or accessory.The bill repeals the office of gun violence prevention.As part of the repeals described above, the firearms training and safety course cash fund is repealed and the voluntary waiver of the right to purchase a firearm program, which is funded by gifts, grants, and donations, is repealed. The bill directs the state treasurer to return the money in the firearms training and safety course cash fund to the persons who paid fees into the fund and to return to the grantors and donors the balance of the gifts, grants, and donations made in support of the voluntary waiver of the right to purchase a firearm program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

Under current law, a political party must ensure that any person, upon request, is able to participate in a precinct caucus or a party assembly with the use of a video conferencing platform or alternative means of participation. The failure of any political party to make a reasonable effort to comply with these accessibility requirements constitutes discrimination on the basis of disability in a place of public accommodation. The act clarifies that only a person who is otherwise eligible pursuant to statute to participate in a precinct caucus or a party assembly may request video conferencing or another alternative means of participation. The act also clarifies that a person who is subjected to a violation of a political party's duties regarding these accessibility requirements may file suit only against the central committee of the political party holding the caucus or assembly. An individual, including a member of the central committee of the political party or a volunteer for a political party, may not be held liable for a violation of these accessibility requirements. Upon a finding of a violation of these accessibility requirements, a court may require compliance with the applicable accessibility requirement and either actual monetary damages or a statutory fine of $3,500 for each violation.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The act prohibits a person from:Identifying an agricultural product as being produced in the state when selling, marketing, advertising, or distributing the product unless the product is grown in the state; andUsing the Colorado proud designation or logo unless authorized by the department of agriculture. A violation of these prohibitions constitutes a deceptive trade practice. There is no private right of action to enforce a violation of the prohibitions.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

The bill creates the data center development and incentive program (program) operated by the Colorado data center development authority (authority), which is newly created in the Colorado office of economic development (office) ( section 1 of the bill). The authority consists of 9 members, as follows:2 members appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate;The director of the Colorado energy office or the director's designee;One member who has experience in water projects or water resource management, appointed by the president of the senate;One member who has experience in clean and renewable energy, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;2 members who have experience in data center development, with one member appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives and one member appointed by the president of the senate;One member representing a statewide organization that represents workers in trade crafts who construct data centers, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives; andOne member representing a statewide organization that represents contractors who construct data centers, appointed by the president of the senate.To incentivize efficient data center development, the program allows a 100% state sales and use tax exemption on qualified purchases to the operator of a certified data center. To be eligible for certification, the operator of the data center, or a data center operator collectively with participating data center tenants, must:Have initiated a preliminary consultation with the utility that will provide electricity for the data center project regarding interconnection feasibility, capacity, and infrastructure requirements;Commit to making a $250 million minimum investment in data center infrastructure within 5 years;Commit to creating new full-time jobs, including employees and long-term service and maintenance positions, that satisfy specified criteria and breaking ground on the data center project within 2 years of obtaining certification;Commit to complying, and ensure that the utility that provides electricity to the data center also complies, with craft labor requirements, apprenticeship utilization requirements, and prevailing wage requirements; andCommit to obtaining certification under one of several energy efficiency standards, implementing water stewardship strategies that optimize operational water management, ensuring that all backup power generation associated with the data center project meets specified requirements, and consulting with the department of natural resources.To obtain certification, a data center operator must apply to the authority in a form and manner to be determined by the authority. The authority is required to review a data center operator's application for certification and may award certification to a data center operator that has demonstrated that it will satisfy the certification criteria ( section 1 ).A data center operator that obtains certification for a data center project is eligible for a 100% state sales and use tax exemption on the purchase and use of qualified data center infrastructure and systems for 20 years from the date that the data center project was certified, so long as the data center satisfies ongoing post-certification requirements and submits annual compliance reports to the authority. As long as the data center meets post-certification requirements as demonstrated in the annual compliance reports, a data center operator of a certified data center may apply to the authority for an extension of the sales and use tax exemption for an additional 10 years. If the authority determines that a data center operator is not fulfilling its obligations and commitments to retain certification, the authority may revoke the certification and the data center operator is required to repay the state for the sales and use tax benefits that it received ( sections 1 and 5 ). The exemption for a certified data center does not apply to local sales and use taxes unless the exemption is expressly included at the time of adoption or amendment of the local sales tax ordinance or resolution ( section 4 ).The bill allows a utility regulated by the public utilities commission (commission) to submit a targeted resource acquisition application to the commission to propose methods of meeting emerging large-load customer needs. The bill also specifies how a utility may finance resource and infrastructure needs in connection with emerging large-load customers ( section 3 ).(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)

The bill creates the fallen firefighter special license plate. An applicant becomes eligible to use the plate by providing a certificate to the department of revenue (department) confirming that the applicant has made a donation to a nonprofit organization (organization) designated by the department based on the organization's provision of services to the families of firefighters who have died in the line of duty.In addition to the normal fees for a license plate, a person must pay 2 additional one-time fees in the amount of $25, one of which is credited to the highway users tax fund and the other to the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)