Business Fiscal Impact Statements

The bill requires the staff of the legislative council to prepare business fiscal impact notes (notes) on legislative bills in each regular session of the general assembly. The speaker of the house of representatives, the minority leader of the house of representatives, the president of the senate, and the minority leader of the senate are authorized to request 2 notes each, or more at the discretion of the director of research of the legislative council.

The bill requires the staff of the legislative council to meet with the member of leadership requesting the note and with the sponsor of the legislative bill to discuss whether a note can practically be completed for that legislative bill. If not, the member of leadership may request a note on a different legislative bill.

A business fiscal impact note is defined as a note that uses available data to analyze the potential direct economic effects of a legislative bill on Colorado businesses, including costs related to compliance, impacts on hiring or job losses, savings or cost reductions, and other fiscal impacts.

The bill requires the director of research of the legislative council to develop the procedures for requesting, completing, and updating the notes and to memorialize the procedures in a letter to the executive committee of the legislative council.

The staff of the legislative council must designate a 5-day period during which Colorado businesses can submit comments on the impacts of a legislative bill selected for the preparation of the note, or a shorter time if the bill is selected during the last 30 days of session. The staff must summarize and compile the comments as part of the note.

Finally, the legislative bill requires each state department, agency, or institution to cooperate with and provide information for a note of a legislative bill in the manner requested by the staff of the legislative council.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)