Lawmakers in the Colorado House and Senate face a time crunch as the end of the legislative session approaches on Wednesday and are working to pass bills on property tax relief, gun regulations, housing, land-use policy, transportation and other priorities.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
Updated at 11:18 a.m.: Senate President Steve Fenberg said during a news conference Monday morning at the State Capitol that if the new proposal to deliver property tax relief passes the legislature, he doubts there will be a need for a special session this year.
That threat had been hanging heavy over lawmakers for the past week, especially as talks on a property tax deal seemed to drag on with no resolution in sight — including on Sunday. But by Monday morning, the final day lawmakers can introduce new bills with enough time for them to pass by the end of the regular session on Wednesday, a deal emerged.
An advocacy group for county governments weighed in with support for the deal, which is aimed at delivering relief from rising property taxes and defusing some — but not all — of the reform ballot measures that outside groups have been working on.
Colorado Counties Inc. voted Monday to support the proposal, said its executive director, Kelly Flenniken. “This is meaningful property tax relief that is far less painful than the proposed ballot initiatives,” she said.
Flenniken acknowledged that there is always some heartburn when local governments don’t realize as much revenue as they projected. But she praised the emerging bill for keeping whole those counties that would lose money under the proposal. The bipartisan work on the bill also was heartening to her members, she said.
Updated at 10:45 a.m.: Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy said Monday that there has been a breakthrough on property tax policy, and he hopes that it will disarm a looming battle at the ballot box.
The new proposal, introduced early Monday as Senate Bill 233, was negotiated by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and the business group Colorado Concern. It would cut commercial property tax rates and would allow residential property owners to exempt 10% off the first $700,000 of actual value. It would give most homeowners an effective assessment rate of 6.5% of value, down from more than 7%, according to an analysis by the Bell Policy Center, a progressive think tank working on the issue.
Gov. Jared Polis and a bipartisan group of lawmakers were set to speak at a news conference at 11 a.m. in the State Capitol about an announcement geared to “making Colorado more affordable.”
According to deGruy Kennedy, the proposal would keep schools fully funded by dipping into the state education fund, though local governments would otherwise lose out on revenue from projected increases under the current property tax system. The state would send an estimated $20 million to local governments, which would realize an actual cut under the proposal.
The reductions would represent an estimated $1.2 billion cut in property taxes collected statewide, according to the Bell Policy Center analysis.
“We have been working with local governments to set reasonable expectations about backfill and what it takes to prevent these horrible ballot measures from moving forward,” deGruy Kennedy, a Lakewood Democrat, said. “It’s been about tough choices and how we grapple with that.”
The agreement convinced Colorado Concern to back off two ballot measures it planned to support this November that would have created hard caps on growth in property tax collections — and, lawmakers warned, would have blown a $2 billion hole in the state general fund.
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However, conservative think tank Advance Colorado hasn’t agreed to back off on its ballot initiatives, deGruy Kennedy said. He’s hopeful this agreement will “take the wind out of (Advance Colorado’s) sails” in pursuing the measures. He’s also hopeful it will be a long-term solution to property tax policy, which has been subject to annual fights after voters repealed the Gallagher Amendment in 2020.
“We are getting the state out of the property tax business after this year,” deGruy Kennedy said.
Advance Colorado did not immediately return a request for comment.
Monday is the last day the bill can be introduced and have time to clear the General Assembly before it must adjourn Wednesday. DeGruy Kennedy, citing bipartisan sponsorship, is hopeful it will move smoothly through the chambers.
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