Administration Organization Act Modernization

Statutory Revision Committee. Under current law, the "Administrative Organization Act of 1968" (AOA) sets forth the organizational structure of the principal departments of the executive branch of Colorado state government based on a series of transfers and allocations of authority, powers, duties, and functions to units of government, referred to as "entities", that occurred in 1968, and as amended since that time as entities were created, transferred, or abolished. The AOA defines 3 types of transfers that determine the relationship between an entity and the principal department in the executive branch. The designation of an entity as a type 1 or type 2 entity, and the transfer of the entity's powers, duties, and functions to another entity by a type 1 or type 2 transfer, affects the authority of the entity and defines the relationship between the entity and the principal department to which the entity is assigned. Historically, a type 3 transfer involved the transfer of all functions of an entity to another entity and the abolition of the original entity from which the functions had been transferred.

The bill modernizes and simplifies the terminology used in creating and transferring entities among principal departments under the AOA and throughout the Colorado Revised Statutes while preserving the status and the powers assigned in current law to entities in the AOA.

The bill defines " type 1 entity" and " type 2 entity" and states that when a new entity is created as a type 1 entity or a type 2 entity and allocated to a principal department under the AOA, or when an existing entity is transferred from one principal department to another, the entity has all of the powers, duties, and functions of a type 1 or type 2 entity, as applicable. The bill eliminates language regarding type 1 and type 2 transfers and specifies that when an existing entity is transferred from one principal department to another, the transferred entity exercises its powers and performs its duties and functions in the principal department to which it was transferred as a type 1 or type 2 entity, as specified in law.

The bill amends organic statutes for the principal departments to specify the type 1 or type 2 status of the entities within those principal departments where the type 1 or type 2 status is not stated. The bill also amends the AOA to specify the type 1 or type 2 status of the entities where the type 1 or type 2 status is found in the organic statute but is missing in the AOA.

Currently, when an entity is abolished by a type 3 transfer, the original entity and its powers, duties, and functions are transferred to another principal department and the original entity is abolished. The bill eliminates references to type 3 transfers and specifies that the powers, duties, and functions of the abolished entity are included in powers, duties, and functions of the entity to which it was transferred.

The bill also corrects errors in the names of entities to make the references consistent throughout the statutes.

To aid the reader, the bill is organized to group all the amendments to each principal department, including conforming amendments, together.

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)