Legislative Council Staff Initiative Fiscal Summary

Currently, the director of research of the legislative council (director) is required to prepare a fiscal impact statement for every initiative that is submitted to the title board. An abstract of this information is required to be included on a petition section that is circulated for signatures. The act modifies this process by:

• Requiring the director to prepare a fiscal summary that will appear on a petition section instead of an abstract;
• Specifying that the fiscal summary must include a description of the measure's fiscal impact, including a preliminary estimate of any change in state and local government revenues, expenditures, taxes, or fiscal liabilities if implemented;
• Requiring the director to provide the fiscal summary when a measure is submitted to the title board;
• Requiring the director to only prepare the fiscal impact statement, which will not include an abstract, for those initiated measures for which the secretary of state has approved a petition section; and
• Requiring the fiscal impact statement to be finished 14 days after the petition section was approved.

The act allows a proponent or registered elector to challenge a fiscal summary at a rehearing by the title board and the Colorado supreme court in the same manner as abstracts are challenged. The act requires the secretary of state to notify the director that a petition section for an initiative has been approved.

To implement the act, the general fund appropriation made in the annual legislative appropriation act for the 2020-21 state fiscal year to the legislative department for use by legislative council is decreased by $7,865, and the corresponding FTE is decreased by 0.1 FTE.

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