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April 25, 2023 HCR 23-1005
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 23-0654
Rep. Luck
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
April 25, 2023
House State Affairs
Josh Abram | 303-866-3561
josh.abram@coleg.gov
Bill Topic: GENERAL ASSEMBLY BILL LIMITATIONS
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☐ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☐ TABOR Refund
☐ Local Government
☐ Statutory Public Entity
The bill creates a two-year cycle for legislative sessions and places limits on the type,
timing, and number of bills introduced in a legislative session. The bill increases ballot
costs in FY 2023-24.
Appropriation
Summary:
No appropriation is required.
Fiscal Note
Status:
The fiscal note reflects the introduced bill.
Summary of Legislation
The concurrent resolution creates a two-year cycle for legislative sessions of the General Assembly
and limits the types of bills that may be introduced. The cycle includes the first regular session after
a general election devoted to passing a biennial budget, and a second regular session the following
year to address general legislation.
Budget legislative session. During a budget session, only a biennial general appropriations act and
supplemental appropriations bills or orbital budget bills may be introduced, with a few exceptions for
bills to postpone expiration dates or to address emergencies. For the budget session, the executive
and judicial branches submit two budget requests; one request must identify the least critical
ten percent of expenditures in the department’s budget, and the other must be at least five percent
less than the department's appropriations for the current year. Once every four budget cycles, a
department is required to use a zero-based budget method to create its budget, based on a schedule
developed by the legislature, and the zero-based budget will replace the two versions of the budget
request.
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April 25, 2023 HCR 23-1005
Each budget request is reviewed by a joint reference committee which prepares a proposed budget
for the applicable department. The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) must reconcile the various
department budgets and reference committee reports to prepare the final biennial Long Bill for
introduction.
General legislative session. The resolution limits the number of bills that may be introduced during
a general session. Each senator or representative may only introduce up to five bills, which may be
on any topic, provided that 90 days prior to the session, the bill is identified by subject on the general
assembly's website and 30 days prior to the session, the first or most recent draft of the bill is published
on the website. Interim committee bills are excluded from the five-bill limit.
State Expenditures
Legislative Department. The bill will affect the types of bills and amount of work performed in the
two sessions under the new legislative cycle. However, given that there are many fixed costs
associated with convening the General Assembly, including member salary and per diem, aide and
intern pay, and pay for partisan, nonpartisan, and session-only staff, any overall change in costs is
assumed to be minimal and will be adjusted through the annual budget process as needed.
Election expenditure impact — existing appropriations. This bill includes a referred measure that
will appear before voters at the November 2024 general election. While no additional appropriation
is required, certain election costs are incurred by the state when ballot measures are referred. These
include reimbursing counties for certain election costs; publishing the text and title of the measure in
newspapers across the state; and preparing and mailing the ballot information booklet.
Effective Date
If approved by voters at the 2024 general election, this measure takes effect upon proclamation of the
Governor, no later than 30 days after the official canvass of the vote is completed.
State and Local Government Contacts
All Legislative Service 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.