Transit and Housing Investment Zones

Section 2 of the bill creates the "Transit Investment Area Act" and:

• Creates a mechanism for a local government and transit agency, subject to state approval, to undertake a transit investment project (project), to designate a transit investment area (area) in which the project will be built, and to create a transit investment authority (authority) or to designate other financing entities with the power to receive and use the increment of revenue derived from the state sales tax collected in the area that is equal to the amount of state sales tax revenue collected in an area above a designated base amount plus 20% of that same revenue (state sales tax increment revenue) to be used to finance eligible improvements related to the project;
• Allows a local government to apply to the office of economic development and the Colorado economic development commission (commission) to undertake a project, and, in connection with the project, to form an authority or to designate a county revitalization authority, metropolitan district, or urban renewal authority as the approved financing entity;
• Specifies the information that a local government is required to include in the application for a project and the criteria that the project is required to satisfy to be approved;
• Requires the director of the office of economic development (director) to review each application for a project and to make an initial determination regarding whether the application meets the specified criteria;
• Requires the director to forward each application to the commission with a recommendation regarding whether the project should be approved;
• Directs the commission to review each application and to approve or reject the project and, as part of the approval of a project, allows the commission to authorize the collection and use of the state sales tax increment revenue for a designated number of years not to exceed 30 years;
• Allows the commission to approve no more than 3 transit investment projects in any calendar year and no more than 6 in total;
• Allows the commission to dedicate no more than $75 million in a fiscal year to the transit investment projects it approves;
• If requested by the local government, allows the commission to authorize the creation of an authority to receive and spend state sales tax increment revenue;
• Specifies that an authority is governed by a board consisting of a certain number of members appointed by the commission and a certain number of members appointed by the local government;
• Specifies the powers of the authority and the manner in which the state sales tax increment revenue is divided and used;
• Requires the financing entity for a project to submit a report containing specified information to the commission; and
• Authorizes a county revitalization authority, an urban renewal authority, or a metropolitan district to receive and disburse the state sales tax increment revenue generated within an area and to act as the financing entity for the area.

Section 9 creates the Colorado affordable housing in transit investment zones tax credit (tax credit). The tax credit is administered in the same manner as the Colorado affordable housing in transit-oriented communities tax credit; except that the tax credit is awarded in connection with qualified low- and middle-income housing projects in transit and housing zones. The bill allows $50 million of credits to be awarded each calendar year beginning in the 2027 calendar year through the 2033 calendar year.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)