SB 23-221

Senate Bill 23-221 establishes a fund to support the Healthy School Meals for All program in Colorado, which was approved by voters in November 2022. The bill sets up an account where tax revenues will be deposited and used by the Department of Education to provide free healthy meals to all students who need them. For the fiscal year starting July 1, 2023, $115 million is allocated from this fund specifically for school meal programs, with a smaller amount going to the Department of Law. The bill was signed into law on April 20, 2023 and took effect immediately, meaning that schools can now start receiving funds to implement these free meal programs.

Official Summary

At the November 2022 general election, Colorado voters approved proposition FF. Proposition FF created the healthy school meals for all programs (program) and increased taxes to pay for the program. The act creates the healthy school meals for all program general fund exempt account (account). The department of revenue will deposit the revenue resulting from the tax increase in proposition FF into the account. The department of education (department) will use the tax revenue in the account to implement the program. To the extent that there is not enough money in the account for the department to implement the program, the department may expend money from the general fund for amounts appropriated for the program. The act also allows for expenditures in excess of appropriations from the fund for limited purposes and clarifies how the appropriations made for the program will be shown in the annual general appropriations act. Appropriations from the account are excluded from the amount that is used to calculate the statutory general fund reserve, and the unrestricted balance in the account at the end of a fiscal year is excluded from the state general fund surplus. For the 2023-24 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $115,339,107 from the account to the department of education and $14,786 from the account to the department of law. APPROVED by Governor April 20, 2023 EFFECTIVE April 20, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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