HB 25-1313

HB 25-1313 is a Colorado bill that updates the rules for the Capital Development Committee (CDC), which oversees major construction projects in the state. The bill changes when CDC members are appointed and how they elect their leaders each year. It also simplifies reporting requirements for higher education institutions by removing some outdated rules about submitting capital project projections and reports to the CDC. Additionally, it clarifies deadlines for spending money on approved projects and allows for extensions if needed. Since the bill has been signed into law, these changes are now in effect and will impact how state agencies and educational institutions manage their construction projects moving forward.

Official Summary

The act amends the statutes governing the capital development committee (CDC) and its purview to: Require CDC members to be appointed no later than the December 1 before the general assembly at which that CDC member will serve convenes and requires annual election of the chair and the vice-chair at the CDC's first December meeting; Align the statutes with current practices by changing from January 1, which is always a state holiday, to January 2 the date for the office of state planning and budgeting to submit to the CDC its updates to its recommended priority of funding for capital construction projects as part of the November 1 budget package; With respect to the Colorado commission on higher education's (commission) annual requests to the governing board of each state institution of higher education (institution) for a 2-year projection of certain capital construction projects, which is submitted to the CDC for review and approval: Require that projections be reviewed at the commission's next available meeting; Repeal the requirement that an institution amend the projection prior to commencing a project if the project is not in the institution's most recent projection; Repeal the requirement that the commission annually prepare a unified, 2-year report for capital construction or capital renewal projects acquired or constructed and operated and maintained solely using cash funds held by an institution that are not for new acquisitions of real property or new construction and are estimated to require total project expenditures exceeding $10 million; Repeal the requirement that the commission annually prepare a unified, 2-year report for capital construction projects for new acquisitions of real property or for new construction that are estimated to require total project expenditures exceeding $2 million; Clarify deadlines for the CDC to hold a hearing to review projections; Repeal the requirement that the CDC hold a hearing regarding projections whenever a projection is amended; and Repeal the requirement that the CDC review and approve guidelines prepared by the office of the state architect regarding the classification of facilities as academic facilities or auxiliary facilities. The act also specifies that agencies and institutions must encumber money for their capital construction projects within 6 months after the date on which the appropriation that includes the project becomes law or on or before November 1 of the state fiscal year for which the appropriation that includes the project is authorized, whichever is later. If an agency or institution will not encumber money for its capital construction project within the period specified, it may request that the CDC recommend to the controller that the deadline be extended for not more than a 6-month period , or, in the case of fee title acquisitions by the division of parks and wildlife in the department of natural resources, the deadline may be waived. The act also: Removes the requirement that the transportation commission annually submit capital requests to the CDC; Extends the deadline for the state treasurer's office to submit to the CDC and other agencies its annual report on the fiscal health of institutions from September 1 to March 1 of each state fiscal year, beginning with the report that is due for the 2025-26 fiscal year; Clarifies that any capital construction project that the CDC, in consultation with the council on creative industries, agrees does not meet the original purpose of the art in public places program may be exempt from the requirements of the program; and Clarifies that when a capital construction project receives a supplemental appropriation, it is available for the remainder of the state fiscal year for which the supplemental appropriation act was enacted and for the next 2 state fiscal years.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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