SB 181 — Works Program Reserves & Cost of Living Adjustment

SecondNOTE: Regular Session Seventy-fifth General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO REREVISED This Version Includes All Amendments Adopted in the Second House LLS NO.

26-0984.01This Annabill Petrinihas x5497been SENATEprepared BILLfor 26-181the SENATEsignatures SPONSORSHIPof Amabilethe andappropriate Kirkmeyer,legislative Bridges,Bright,Coleman,Kipp,Mullica,Peltonofficers B., Pelton R., Rich, Simpson HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Brown and Taggart,the Sirota,Governor. Clifford, Duran, Froelich, Lindsay, McCluskie, Rutinel d d e 6 E a 0 S U , U g 1 H d y e M Senate Committees House Committees R Appropriations Appropriations 3 A BILL FOR AN ACT e n 6 C ONCERNING MODIFYING THE C OLORADO WORKS PROGRAM .

ETo mdetermine 0whether Sthe nGovernor ,has Osigned Uthe ybill Hor itaken aother Billaction Summaryon ait, Mplease Rconsult dthe (Note:legislative status sheet, the legislative history, or the Session Laws.

ThisSENATE summaryBILL applies26-181 toBYSENATOR(S)AmabileandKirkmeyer,Bridges,Bright,Kipp,Mullica, thisPelton billB., asPelton introducedR., andRich, doesSimpson, 2Coleman; notreflectanyamendmentsthatmaybesubsequentlyadopted.Ifthisbill passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that d applies to the reengrossed version of this bill will be available at d e 6 http://leg.colorado.gov/.) E a 2 T U 2 N g 6 Joint Budget Committee.

Wherealso currentREPRESENTATIVE(S) lawBrown requires,and theTaggart, billSirota, SClifford, dDuran, aFroelich, eLindsay, MRutinel, nowpermitscountiestoofferhouseholdsthatdemonstrategoodcauseanMcCluskie. R extensionofColoradoworksprogram(worksprogram)assistancebeyond 3 the 60-month lifetime maximum.

TheC billONCERNING suspendsMODIFYING theTHE worksC programOLORADO basicWORKS cashPROGRAM assistance. grant cost of living adjustment during the 2026-27 and 2027-28 state fiscal e years.

n m 2 Current law establishes minimum reserve balances for the total T n 0 A U , E i y Shading denotes HOUSE amendment.

Double underlining denotes SENATE amendment.

S a a Capital letters or bold & italic numbers indicate new material to be added to existing law.R M Dashes through the words or numbers indicate deletions from existing law.

n statewide county TANF reserve and the Colorado long-term works reserve (reserves).

The bill removes those reserve minimums.

The bill eliminatesarequirementforeachreservetoreplenishmoneyin the other under certain conditions and for the general assembly to effectively backfillthebalancesofbothreservesiftheirbalancesfallbelowspecified minimums.

SECTIONSECTION1. 1.

InInColoradoRevisedStatutes,26-2-706.5,amend(4) Colorado Revised Statutes, 26-2-706.5, amend (4) introductory portion and (4)(a) as follows:

(4) No later than July 1, 2023,e2023, The state board shall promulgate ADOPT rules:

(a) Establishing statewide standards and procedures that require PERMIT counties to offer extensions beyond the sixty-month lifetime maximum for all households that demonstrate good cause, which includes, but is not limited to, an applicant or participant who is (I)________ ACapital child-onlyletters case;or bold & italic numbers indicate new material added to existing law;

(II)thedashes headthrough ofwords aor singlenumbers parentindicate householddeletions unitfrom andexisting haslaw aand childsuch undermaterial oneis yearnot part of age;the act.

orSS(I) THANA ONEchild-only YEARcase; OLD ;AND (III) Experiencing hardship, as defined in rules promulgated by the state board;

(II) the head of a single parent household unit and has a child under one year of age;

orLESS THAN ONE YEAR OLD ;

AND (III) Experiencing hardship, as defined in rules promulgated bythe state board;

(b) (I) InInestablishingthe establishing the calculation for determining the amount -2- 181 of an eligible applicant's or participant's basic cash assistance grant, the statedepartmentshallensurethattheamountofstate department shall ensure that the amount of the basic cash assistance grant that a participantparticipantorapplicantreceivesforthe or applicant receives for the state fiscal year commencing July1,July 1, 2022, is equal to or exceeds one hundred percent of theamountofbasiccashassistancein2021,plustenpercent.the amount of basic cash assistance in 2021, plus ten percent.

ForthestateFor fiscalthe year commencing July 1, 2024ULY 1, 2028, and each state fiscal year thereafter,commencingJuly1,2024 JULY 1,2028,andeachstatefiscalyearthereafter, the amount of basic cash assistance must be equal to or exceed the amount of basic cash assistance for the previous state fiscal year plus a two percent cost of living adjustment or a cost of living adjustment that is equal to the average of the federal social security administration's cost of living adjustmentadjustmentforthatfiscalyearplustheprevioustwofiscalyears,whichever for that fiscal year plus the previous two fiscal years, whichever is greater.

(I.5) (A) FOR THE STATE FISCALFISCALYEARS YEARS COMMENCING JULY 1,1,2026, 2026,ANDAND JULY 1, 2027,A COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT IS NOT APPLIED TO AN APPLICANT S OR PARTICIPANT S'S BASIC CASH ASSISTANCE GRANT .

(B) THISSUBSECTIONT (1)(b)(I.5ISREPEALEDHIS SUBSECTION (1)(b)(I.5)IS REPEALED ,EFFECTIVE JULY 31, 2028.

(III) (B) If the total statewide county TANF reserve falls below fifteenfifteenpercentofthecountyblockgrantamount,thegeneralassemblyshall percentPAGE of2-SENATE theBILL county26-181 blockappropriatemoneyfromtheColoradolong-termworksreservetothecounty grant amount, the general assembly shall appropriate money from the Colorado long-term works reserve to the county block grant until the balance of the total statewide county TANF reserve exceeds fifteen percent of the county block grant amount or until the Colorado long-term works reserve falls below twenty-five percent of the state block grant amount.

(C) IfIftheColoradolong-termworksreservefallsbelowtwenty-five the Colorado long-term works reserve falls below twenty-fivepercentofthestateblockgrantamountandthetotalstatewide county TANF reserve exceeds fifteen percent of the countystate block grant -3-amount 181and amount,thecountiesshallfundtheTANFprogramfromavailableTANFthe fundstotal untilstatewide thecounty TANFreserveexceedsfifteenpercentofthecountyblockgrantamount,the countiesshallfundtheTANFprogramfromavailableTANFfundsuntilthe total statewide county TANF reserve falls below fifteen percent of the county block grant amount.

(IV) BeginningBeginningJanuary2023,andeachJanuarythereafter,thejoint JanuarybudgetcommitteeshallatleastannuallyreviewthebalanceoftheColorado 2023,long-termworksreserveandthetotalstatewidecountyTANFreserve,and, andif each January thereafter, the joint budget committee shalldetermines atthat least annually review the balance of the Colorado long-term works reserve andwill thefall totalbelow statewidetwenty-five countypercent TANF reserve, and, if thejointbudgetcommitteedeterminesthatthebalance of theColoradolong-termworksreservewillfallbelowtwenty-fivepercent of the state block grant amount and the balance of the total statewide countyTANFcounty TANF reserve will fall below fifteen percent of the countyblockcounty grantamountinthecurrentorblock grant amount in the current or next state fiscal year,thegeneralassemblyyear, the general assembly shall appropriate money from the state general fund or the unclaimed property trust fund to cover anyanyincrease increase in basic cash assistance above the amount of basic cash assistance in state fiscal year 2021-22 until the balance of the Colorado long-term works reserve exceeds twenty-five percent of the state block grant amount and the total statewide countycountyTANF TANF reserve exceeds fifteen percent of the countyblockcounty block grant amount.

SECTIONSECTION3. 3.

InInColoradoRevisedStatutes,26-2-709.5,repeal(2) Colorado Revised Statutes, 26-2-709.5, repeal (2) as follows:

(2) Ifthestatedepartment,inconsultationwithcounties,identifiesIf the state department, in consultation with counties, identifies additional need for funding to administer the works program, the state departmentisstronglyencouragedtorequeststategeneralfundmoneyor,department ifis thestrongly balanceencouraged ofto therequest state TANFgeneral reservefund ismoney greateror, thanifthebalanceofthestateTANFreserveisgreaterthanthemandatoryfloor, thePAGE mandatory3-SENATE -4-BILL 18126-181 floor, appropriate additional state TANF money to fund counties' administration of the works program.

SECTION4.SECTION 4.

InColoradoRevisedStatutes,26-2-714,repeal(11)In Colorado Revised Statutes, 26-2-714, repeal (11) as follows:

County block grants formula -useofmoney- -rules.use of money - rules.

(a) Review,Review,atleastquarterly,thebalanceoftheColoradolong-term atworksreserve,thebalanceofthetotalstatewidecountyTANFreserve,and least quarterly, the balance of the Colorado long-termworksreserve,thebalanceofthetotalstatewidecountyTANF reserve, and the amount of basic cash assistance grants provided to participants to monitor whether the balance of the Colorado long-term works reserve will fall below twenty-five percent of thestatethe state block grant amount and whether the balance of the total statewide county TANF reserve will fall below fifteen percent of the county block grant amount;

(b) SubmitawrittenreporttothejointbudgetcommitteedetailingSubmit a written report to the joint budget committee detailing the current Colorado long-term works reserve level, the total statewide countyTANFreservelevelasawholeandbycounty,andanyprojectionscounty TANF reserve level as a whole and by county, and any projections regarding deficits in the reserves;

and (c) EstablishamitigationfundforcountieswhoseTANFreservesEstablish a mitigation fund for counties whose TANF reserves fall below fifteen percent of the county's block grant amount.

The general assembly finds, determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate preservationofthepublicpeace,health,orsafetyorforappropriationsforpreservation of the public peace, health, or safety or for appropriations for PAGE 4-SENATE BILL 26-181 the support and maintenance of the departments of the state and state institutions.

-5-____________________________ 181____________________________ James Rashad Coleman, Sr.

Julie McCluskie PRESIDENT OF SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE THE SENATE OF REPRESENTATIVES ____________________________ ____________________________ Esther van Mourik Vanessa Reilly SECRETARY OF CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE THE SENATE OF REPRESENTATIVES APPROVED________________________________________ (Date and Time) _________________________________________ Jared S.