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Senate approves landmark economic development package

On April 24, 2008, the Colorado Senate released a landmark package of economic development bills designed to invest in local businesses and bring financial security and new prosperity to Colorado.

“We are creating a new energy economy to lead us in to the 21st century,” said Senate President Peter C. Groff (D-Denver). “By cutting the red tape that hurts Colorado businesses we are energizing our economy. We are also investing in growing industries like bioscience and renewable energy that bring high-paying jobs to Colorado.”
 
Senate Democrats were joined at the Capitol by small business owners and members of the environmental community who will benefit from this session's accomplishments.

The Senate gave final approval to the following six bills this week:

  • Bioscience Grants (Bacon/Riesberg) – Extends the grant program to make $26.5 million available to universities and start-up companies to energize one of Colorado’s most promising industries.
  • Eliminate the “Fly-Away” Tax (Bacon/Buescher) – Encourages aircraft manufacturers to come to Colorado by eliminating the sales tax imposed on airplanes manufactured in the state.
  • Rural Broadband (Schwartz/Riesberg) – Directs the Chief Information Officer of Colorado to create public WiFi service areas. The bill could provide rural communities access to telemedicine and online education resources and equip small business owners with the tools they need to compete globally.  
  • TIF Downtown Development Authority (Bacon/Buescher) – Extends the period for tax increment financing revenue collected by a downtown development authority.
  • Performance-based Incentive for New Jobs (Veiga/Hodge) – Creates monetary incentives for business to create at least one new job every five weeks in rural areas and every two and half weeks in urban areas.
  • New Solar Energy Technologies (Schwartz) – Directs the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to encourage utilities to enhance renewable energy standards and to evaluate energy efficiency regarding public projects. Requires the PUC to publish findings regarding the economic characteristics of varying types of energy technology.

Senate Democrats also backed the following bills this session:

  • Single Factor Tax Apportionment (Shaffer/Jahn) – Cuts bureaucratic red-tape for companies by moving to a single-factor apportionment for state tax liability.
  • Homegrown Power (Shaffer & Isgar/Solano) – Promotes energy independence for agricultural producers and rural communities statewide by allowing the extra energy they generate to be credited back.
  • Federal Mineral Lease (Schwartz/Buescher) – Allocates funds from mineral lease bonus payments to local governments, a new higher education fund, and a reserve fund. Specifies how this money can be used within the appropriate fund.
  • Colorado Renewable Energy (Schwartz/Madden) – Clarifies the duties of the Colorado Renewable Energy Authority and requires it to report all activities to the General Assembly. Repeals the provision requiring it to pay 50 percent of all revenue from licensing to the Treasury.
  • Child Care Tax Credit (Groff/Benefield) – Extends the period that taxpayers can claim a tax credit for donating money for the purpose of child care in Colorado for ten additional years.