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May 19, 2022 HB 22-1047
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Final Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 22-0591
Rep. Neville
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
May 19, 2022
Postponed Indefinitely
Erin Reynolds | 303-866-4146
Erin.Reynolds@state.co.us
Bill Topic: PROTECTING HUMAN LIFE AT CONCEPTION
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☐ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☐ TABOR Refund
☒ Local Government
☐ Statutory Public Entity
This bill would have prohibited a licensed physician from performing abortions except
in limited circumstances and made the offense a class 1 felony. Beginning in
FY 2022-23, the bill would have increased state expenditures on an ongoing basis.
Appropriation
Summary:
This bill would have required a total five-year appropriation of $98,309 to the
Department of Corrections.
Fiscal Note
Status:
The final fiscal note reflects the introduced bill. This bill was not enacted into law;
therefore, the impacts identified in this analysis do not take effect.
Table 1
State Fiscal Impacts Under HB 22-1047
Budget Year
FY 2022-23
Out Year
FY 2023-24
Revenue - -
Expenditures General Fund - $24,577
Transfers - -
Other Budget Impacts General Fund Reserve - $3,687
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May 19, 2022 HB 22-1047
Summary of Legislation
This bill prohibits licensed physicians from performing abortions except:
when an abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the woman and the physician has made a
reasonable medical effort to preserve both the life of the woman and her unborn child; or
when the physician provides medical treatment to a woman that results in the accidental injury
or death of the unborn child.
Offenses under the bill are punishable as a class 1 felony, and a conviction constitutes unprofessional
conduct for the purposes of physician licensing.
Background
Federal law requires that state health programs receiving federal funding provide coverage for
abortion services if the pregnancy results from rape or incest or if continuing the pregnancy would
put the woman’s life in danger. Colorado’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Plan Plus (CHP+)
programs are subject to these requirements. According to the Guttmacher Institute, there were
12,390 abortions performed in Colorado in 2017, the most recent year for which data are available.
Comparable Crime Analysis
Legislative Council Staff is required to include certain information in the fiscal note for any bill that
creates a new crime, changes the classification of an existing crime, or changes an element of an
existing crime. The following sections outline data on crimes that are comparable to the offense in
this bill and discuss assumptions on future rates of criminal convictions under the bill.
Prior conviction data. This bill creates the new offense of terminating the life of an unborn child, a
class 1 felony. To form an estimate on the prevalence of this new crime, the fiscal note analyzed the
existing offense of unlawful termination of pregnancy in the first degree, a class 2 felony, as a
comparable crime. From FY 2018-19 to FY 2020-21, two persons have been convicted and sentenced
for this existing offense. Of the persons convicted, both were male; demographically, one was White
and one was Black/African American. However, “unlawful termination of pregnancy” refers to the
termination of a pregnancy by any means other than birth or a medical procedure, instrument, agent,
or drug, for which consent of the pregnant woman, or a person authorized by law to act on her behalf,
has been obtained, or for which the pregnancy woman’s consent is implied by law. Therefore, this
existing offense is not directly comparable to the new offense and additional considerations are
weighed when estimating the prevalence of this new crime.
Assumptions. This fiscal note assumes a high rate of compliance with the provisions of the bill. This
analysis assumes that there will be less than five criminal case filings per year for the offense under
the bill and that approximately one offender every five years will be convicted and sentenced to the
Department of Corrections (DOC). The average DOC length of stay for a class 1 felony is 480 months,
or about 40 years. There is no fine for a class 1 felony; therefore, this bill does not increase state
revenue. Visit leg.colorado.gov/fiscalnotes for more information about criminal justice costs in fiscal
notes. Page 3
May 19, 2022 HB 22-1047
State Expenditures
Beginning in FY 2022-23, this bill increases state General Fund expenditures by at least $98,309 in the
DOC over a five-year period. The bill may also increase future capital construction costs in the DOC.
Additionally, this bill may increase workload and costs in the Judicial Department and agencies that
provide representation to indigent persons.
Department of Corrections operating costs (five-year fiscal impact). Based on the assumptions
above, the bill increases prison operating costs for the DOC by a total of $98,309 over the five-year
period beginning in FY 2022-23. This fiscal note assumes no prison operating costs will occur in the
first year due to the amount of time required for criminal filing, trial, disposition, and sentencing of
each case. Once an offender is released from prison, they are assigned to parole; however, since the
average length of stay for a class 1 felony is 40 years, any parole impact falls outside the five-year
estimate. Table 2 shows the estimated cost of the bill over the next five fiscal years. The fiscal note
assumes that the DOC will shift prisoners as necessary to utilize the private prison rate of $24,577 per
year.
Table 2
Prison Operating Costs Under HB 22-1047
Fiscal Year Bed Impact Operating Cost
FY 2022-23 - -
FY 2023-24 1 $24,577
FY 2024-25 1 $24,577
FY 2025-26 1 $24,577
FY 2026-27 1 $24,577
Total Prison Operating Cost $98,309
Department of Corrections capital construction costs. In addition to the five-year operating and
parole impacts discussed above, Section 2-2-703, C.R.S., requires that the General Assembly consider
increased capital construction costs for the DOC to house additional inmates. Based on the average
per bed construction costs of previous prison facilities, capital construction costs of $178,471 would be
required to increase prison bed space in line with the estimated increase in prison population under
this bill. If the General Assembly determines that additional prison bed space is needed, this bill
should include a transfer of General Fund to the Capital Construction Fund, to be reappropriated to
the Corrections Expansion Reserve Fund. Money in the Corrections Expansion Reserve Fund is
available for future DOC construction projects, which would be identified and funded through the
annual budget process based on the state's overall prison needs.
Judicial Department. Starting in FY 2022-23, this bill will increase workload for the trial courts in the
Judicial Department to process any additional criminal case filings. This impact will be minimal and
can be accomplished within existing appropriations. If workload and costs increase for any
independent judicial agency as a result of the bill, this will be addressed through the annual budget
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May 19, 2022 HB 22-1047
Department of Regulatory Agencies. Under the bill, a conviction for providing unauthorized
abortion services constitutes unprofessional conduct by a licensed physician. The bill may result in
additional complaints or disciplinary procedures for the State Medical Board and the Division of
Professions and Occupations. This increase in workload is anticipated to be minimal and can be
accomplished within existing appropriations.
Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. As described in the Background section,
Colorado’s Medicaid and CHP+ programs are subject to federal requirements mandating that a state
provide coverage for abortion services if the pregnancy results from rape or incest or if continuing the
pregnancy would put the woman’s life in danger. To remain compliant with federal law, the
department may be required to transport a woman who is pregnant as a result of rape or incest to
another state to obtain an abortion. As it is unknown how often this will occur, the fiscal impact
cannot be determined. The fiscal note assumes such instances are rare, and that the department will
not require an increase in appropriations.
Other Budget Impacts
General Fund reserve. Under current law, an amount equal to 15 percent of General Fund
appropriations must be set aside in the General Fund statutory reserve beginning in FY 2022-23. Based
on this fiscal note, the bill is expected to increase General Fund held in reserve by amounts shown in
Table 1, which will decrease the amount of General Fund available for other purposes.
Local Government
Beginning in FY 2022-23, this bill is expected to increase local government workload and costs for
district attorneys that investigate and prosecute offenses under the bill. Because legal abortions are
currently performed by licensed physicians, the fiscal note assumes a high rate of compliance with the
provisions of the bill and that any increase in workload for district attorneys will be minimal.
Effective Date
The bill was postponed indefinitely by the House Health and Insurance Committee on
February 23, 2022.
State Appropriations
Starting in FY 2023-24, this bill requires a General Fund appropriation of $98,309 for the five-year DOC
operating impacts identified in Table 2.
As discussed in the DOC capital construction costs section above, the General Assembly may
appropriate $178,471 for prison bed construction, as necessary.
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May 19, 2022 HB 22-1047
State and Local Government Contacts
Corrections District Attorneys
Health Care Policy and Financing Information Technology
Judicial Law
Regulatory Agencies
The revenue and expenditure impacts in this fiscal note represent changes from current law under the bill for each
fiscal year. For additional information about fiscal notes, please visit: leg.colorado.gov/fiscalnotes.