State Higher Education Capital Construction Long-range Planning

Capital Development Committee. Current statute requires the Colorado commission on higher education (commission) to request annually from the governing board of each state institution of higher education (institution) a 2-year projection (projection) of capital construction projects to be undertaken by an institution that is estimated to require total project expenditures exceeding $2 million if the capital construction project is for new acquisitions of real property or new construction and funded solely from cash funds held by the institution or the project is funded through the higher education revenue bond intercept program, or exceeding $10 million if the project is not for new acquisitions of real property or new construction and is funded solely from cash funds held by the institution.

The bill adjusts the law to current practice and instead requires the projection to be reviewed at the commission's next available meeting and repeals 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.

The bill repeals 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 from cash funds held by the institution that are not for new acquisitions of real property or new construction and are estimated to require total project expenditures exceeding $10 million.

The bill repeals 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, estimated to require total project expenditures exceeding $2 million.

Current law requires the capital development committee (CDC) to review the projections at a hearing but does not specify what to do when the legislature is not in session. The bill clarifies deadlines for when such hearings must be held. The bill also requires each state institution of higher education, for informational purposes only, to annually present its current projections at the capital development committee's December hearings.

Current law requires the CDC to have a hearing regarding projections whenever a projection is amended. The bill repeals this requirement.

Current law specifies that the CDC is required to review and approve guidelines prepared by the office of the state architect regarding the classification of facilities as academic facilities or auxiliary facilities. The bill repeals this requirement.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)