Signed by Governor Jared Polis

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to amend and pass a bill that appropriates $350 million towards a support fund for law enforcement agencies in Colorado.

Highlights:

• Establishes the Peace Officer Training and Support Fund (fund) (Sec. 1-11).

• Establishes a formula by which the Department of Public Safety (department) disburses $350 million in additional funding to local law enforcement agencies from the fund for permissible purposes. Permissible purposes include the recruitment of peace officers, the hiring of additional peace officers to address specific geographic areas or specific types of criminal activity, the initial and continuing education and training for peace officers, and the compensation of peace officers (Sec. 1-11).

• Specifies that no later than January 15, 2026, the department is required to adopt policies and procedures to assist in the determination of whether the expenditure of money received from the fund is for a permissible purpose (Sec. 1-11).

• Requires that beginning July 1, 2026, the department disburse an amount to each law enforcement agency equal to the total of $15,000 and an amount multiplied by the number of P.O.S.T.-certified officers, noncertified deputy sheriffs, and detention officers budgeted by a local government for the law enforcement agency (Sec. 1-11).

• Specifies that law enforcement agencies and local governments may not use these funds to supplant or supplement other spending. Local governments must include evidence of compliance with the supplanting and supplementing requirement in their annual audit and provide a copy of this audit to the department. The department must review an audit provided by a local government for compliance with the requirements of the bill (Sec. 1-11).

• Establishes funding for the fund and requires the state treasurer to transfer $15 million from the general fund to the fund on July 1, 2026 (Sec. 1-11).

• Requires the state treasurer to issue warrants from the general fund totaling $500 million to the public employees' retirement association (PERA) between July 1, 2025, and September 30, 2025 (Sec. 1-11).

• Specifies that beginning July 1, 2027, until the state treasurer has transferred a total of $350 million from the general fund to the fund (Sec. 1-11):

• The amount of each annual direct distribution made by the state to PERA is reduced by the amount of PERA's earnings from the $500 million, up to a maximum of $35 million; and

• The state treasurer annually transfers an amount equal to the amount of PERA's earnings from the $500 million, up to a maximum of $35 million, from the general fund to the fund.

• Specifies that beginning July 1, 2027, and each July 1 thereafter until the state treasurer has transferred a total of $350 million from the general fund to the fund, the state treasurer is required to transfer at least $15 million from the general fund to the fund regardless of the amount of PERA's earnings from the $500 million (Sec. 1-11).

• Amends and clarifies that the $500 million in the warrants that the state treasurer issues to PERA are included in the general fund reserve. Accordingly, the bill prohibits a future general assembly from lowering the general fund reserve to an amount less than $1 billion (Sec. 1-11).

• Specifies that if the general assembly does so, reduce the reserve, the general assembly shall also make corresponding reductions to the direct distributions made by the state to PERA (Sec. 1-11).

• Requires the governor to adjust general fund expenditures so that they do not result in the general fund reserve being reduced to an amount less than $1 billion (Sec. 1-11).

• Establishes a process by which the department distributes a $1 million death benefit to the family of a first responder who dies on or after November 5, 2024, as either the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained while performing official duties as a first responder or because of an occupational disease arising out of and in the course of the first responder's employment or service as a first responder (Sec. 1-11).

• Specifies that these payments are paid out of the death benefit fund, which is created in the bill. The bill requires the state treasurer to transfer $5 million from the general fund to the death benefit fund on both July 1, 2026, and July 1, 2027, and to make annual transfers from the general fund thereafter as necessary to ensure that the fund maintains a balance of $10 million (Sec. 1-11).

• Requires a survivor of an eligible first responder to deduct an amount equal to these payments from their federal taxable income to determine their state income tax liability unless the survivor qualifies for a corresponding federal income tax deduction (Sec. 1-11).

• Requires the department to provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies and local governments in complying with the requirements of the bill and allows the executive director of the department to adopt rules as necessary to implement the bill (Sec. 1-11).

Full Bill Text