Modify Laws Within Purview of the Capital Development Committee

Capital Development Committee. Section 1 of the bill modifies procedures for election of a chair and a vice-chair of the capital development committee (CDC) to require that the chair and the vice-chair be elected annually at the CDC's first December meeting. Additionally, the bill clarifies how the role of chair and vice-chair are served. In even-numbered years, the chair is a member from the senate and the vice-chair is a member from the house of representatives and in odd-numbered years the chair is a member from the house of representatives and the vice-chair is a member from the senate. Section 1 also requires that the appointment of members to the CDC be made no later than December 1 prior to the convening of the general assembly at which that committee will serve. Section 2 removes the requirement that the transportation commission annually submit capital requests to the CDC.

Current law 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 of certain capital construction projects to be undertaken by an institution which is then submitted to the CDC for review and approval. Section 3 adjusts law to align with current practice by:

• Requiring that projections be reviewed at the commission's next available meeting;
• Repealing 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;
• Repealing 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;
• Repealing 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;
• Clarifying deadlines for the CDC to hold a hearing to review projections;
• Repealing the requirement that the CDC hold a hearing regarding projections whenever a projection is amended; and
• Repealing 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.

Section 4 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 year, beginning with the report that is due for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Section 5 specifies November 1 of each year as a date certain by which 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 . Under current law, 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 waived for that project. Section 5 modifies this allowance so that an agency or institution may request that the CDC recommend 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. Section 6 adjusts law to align with current practice by changing the date from January 1, which is always a holiday, to January 2 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. Section 7 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. Section 8 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 subsequent state fiscal years.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)