The School Finance Act is headed to the Governor, although not without some last-minute protests from progressive Democrats who argued against the money set aside in the measure for schools that shelled out thousands of dollars to replace mascot symbols. 

Senate Bill 287 provides $266 million to cover the State’s share of expenses for the 178 school districts. 

That raises the per-pupil funding by eight percent, to $8,076.41. Rural and small rural districts also get a $30 million boost, with 55 percent going to rural districts and 45 percent to small rural districts.

The bill also contains $300,000 for schools that had to replace Indian mascots, and that drew complaints from Democrats who said the money ought to go to schools that serve indigenous students.

“We are rewarding governments for disrespecting indigenous communities,” said Representatives Lorena Garcia, D-Adams County.

Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, said the schools knew the law was coming. “Have we given any dollars directly to indigenous communities?” she asked. Those communities made no money off the selling of their likeness, she added.

The bill passed on a 52-10 vote, with 10 Republicans voting “no.” Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron, voted in favor of the measure.

A bill to streamline processes around livestock health when there are outbreaks of contagious diseases is on its way to the Governor, but only after making changes to ensure livestock owners had a say in the process.

House Bill 1264 as introduced took away the right of livestock owners to bring in their own appraisers when their livestock have to be condemned. Current law allows for three appraisals: from the agriculture commission, the livestock owner and the third selected by the owner and commission.

The bill changed the appraisal process, first taking away the authority of the ag commission and shifting it to the commissioner of agriculture, and then taking away the latter two appraisals, which didn’t sit well with livestock owners.

An amendment in the Senate offered by Senator Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, restored the livestock owner’s right to an appraisal. 

Pelton told the Senate there was a lot of consternation about much of the bill, but no more than over the owner’s right to appraisals. “They want a voice in the appraisal process if you’re going to destroy [their] animals,” he said. 

“This was one of my concerns” and part of the reason he signed onto the bill, said Sen. Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, one of the bill’s co-sponsors. 

Sen. Rod Pelton said the bill also includes protections for livestock owners in those situations, which would require a warrant with probable cause, issued by a judge, to allow the state to come onto the property.

The bill won a 28-5 vote, with a “yes” vote from Sen. Rod Pelton and a “no” vote from Sen. Byron Pelton. It then went back to the House for review of the amendment, was adopted on a 61-2 vote (with Holtorf a “yes”) and is now on its way to the Governor for signing.

The last full week of the 2023 session saw the introduction of two measures tied to the looming hikes in property taxes.

Senate Bill 303 would take part of the TABOR refund and put it toward property tax relief, in effect requiring taxpayers to forego the refund to help lower those taxes. Many counties are reporting tax increases of as much as 50 percent. 

The skyrocketing property taxes are due to big jumps in property value, both for homeowners and commercial property owners, as well as to the voter-approved repeal in 2020 of the Gallagher Amendment in the State constitution. Lawmakers had been expected to deal with the Gallagher issue but waited until last year, when they set aside $700 million to cover some of the anticipated property tax hikes.

SB 303, a proposal announced by Governor Jared Polis on May 1, would also take TABOR refunds away from renters and divert those dollars to property owners. The measure has no mechanism to hold them harmless, and a left-leaning think tank estimates that 40 percent of Coloradans are renters.

That’s where House Bill 1311 comes in. It was introduced on Saturday, May 7, and rushed into a committee hearing before the public even had a chance to see it. The bill was finally available online when its hearing in the House Appropriations Committee was more than halfway over. 

Only one person testified in support of the bill, a representative of the left-leaning Colorado Fiscal Institute who knew what was in the measure before Republicans on the appropriations committee had even seen it. 

Under the measure, the TABOR refund would be equalized to about $661 per taxpayer or $1,322 for joint filers, instead of relying on the State’s six-tiered sales tax refund mechanism.

That would put more money into the pockets of lower income taxpayers, according to the bill’s sponsors, Democratic Reps. Chris deGruy Kennedy of Lakewood and Mike Weissman of Aurora. 

But there’s a caveat to the bill: the equalized refunds would not go into effect unless voters approve a ballot measure, Proposition HH, which is contained in SB 303. Otherwise, the state would rely on that same six-tiered refund mechanism.

HB 1311 does not change the timelines for those refunds; they would still be issued when taxpayers file their 2023 returns next April.

House Democrats imposed rules changes to limit debate on both measures, with an hour of debate reserved for HB 1311 and three hours for SB 303. 

The time limit also does not include a request to read the bill at length, a constitutional tool and virtually the only one Republicans now have to slow down debate and get Democrats to the negotiating table. SB 303 is a 60-page bill, which added about an hour and a half to the measure’s debate. 

Both bills are now on their way to the governor. SB 303 passed on a final vote of 39-7; HB 1311 passed on a party-line vote of 23-12.

The General Assembly adjourned for the year on Monday, May 8.