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Jun 11, 2024

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CCLP’s 2024 legislative wrap-up, part 1

by | Jun 11, 2024

Equity work, Family Economic Security, Health, Housing, Income, Legislative Updates, Research and Policy Analysis

Welcome to colorful Colorado wooden street sign. The sign is held together by two rock pillars. Blue and yellow gradient sky in the background.

On May 8, 2024, the second regular session of the 74th Colorado General Assembly came to a close. This year, Colorado saw a whopping 705 bills introduced—472 in the House and 233 in the Senate—making it one of the highest totals of bills in recent sessions.

As is often true in election years, legislators sought bragging rights on legislative wins to address their constituents’ priorities. Legislator positions often took a partisan tone, but several bipartisan compromises still ultimately succeeded, notably on the subject of tax rates and credits. Additionally, an unexpectedly tight budget this session led to a rush to reduce the fiscal impact of proposed legislation, and to some creative efforts to utilize the TABOR surplus.

In short, this year brought a lot of new challenges and a rapidly shifting landscape for policy advocacy, causing CCLP and other organizations to pivot and problem-solve from January to May. Nevertheless, we have much to be grateful for, and many shared accomplishments to celebrate.

CCLP data

This year, CCLP changed up the way we framed the legislative session. Instead of arranging our priorities to match our focus areas in food, health, housing, and income, we identified five specific policy areas where opportunities existed to make real change, in partnership with other advocacy groups, community members, legislators, and state leaders. The five policy areas included expanding access to justice, removing administrative burden, supporting progressive tax and wage policies, preserving affordable communities, and reducing health care costs.

CCLP took positions on 67 bills — supporting 59, monitoring five, and opposing three — the most we’ve ever engaged in. Of the 59 bills we supported, 11 were postponed indefinitely, two lost, and one was vetoed by the Governor, leaving us with a 76 percent success rate. Many of the lost bills, not surprisingly, were casualties of the budgetary constraints. Of the three bills CCLP opposed, all three lost, avoiding changes to state law which would have harmed Coloradans living in poverty.

This year, we focused on six priority bills, including House Bills 1133, Updates to Colorado Clean Slate Act; 1286, Equal Justice Fund; 1294, Updates to Mobile Home Park Act; and Senate Bills 060, Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) Exempt Orphan Drugs; 116, Updates to Hospital Discounted Care; and 211, Adjustments to the Necessary Document Program.[1]

CCLP staff provided written and live testimony on 18 bills. (You can read most of CCLP’s testimonies right here on our website!) Our work was also referenced, featured, or quoted in 15 news articles throughout the session, by CPR, The Denver Post, The Colorado Sun, Public News Service, and more. Most importantly, CCLP engaged with community members to testify on several of our bills. In a first for Colorado’s legislative process, some of those community members provided their testimony through simultaneous interpretation at the Capitol. This change alone marks a much needed improvement in our state’s democracy, ensuring more voices are heard at critical junctures of lawmaking.

Expanding access to justice

This year, CCLP advocated to ensure Coloradans can assert their rights, whether that means improving access to courts or increasing accountability by private and public entities. Two of our priority bills fall in this category, HB24-1133, Updates to Colorado Clean Slate Act and HB24-1286, Equal Justice Fund. Both of these bills passed.

Currently, Colorado ranks 31st in the nation per capita state legal aid funding, meaning only one legal aid lawyer is available for every 13,000 eligible low-income residents. With few attorneys available to serve lower-income households, violations of laws affecting housing, public benefits, and civil rights go unenforced and people have no recourse for the harm they experience. With the passage of the Equal Justice Fund, Colorado will now support civil legal aid organizations helping those who are currently unrepresented when their rights are violated.

During the 2022 legislative session and with near unanimous support, CCLP and partners helped pass the Colorado Clean Slate Act, a bill that automates sealing of records. The coalition brought forward HB24-1133 in the 2024 session to facilitate implementation of that bill and clarify aspects of the petition-based process. Those bills will improve outcomes for Coloradans who deserve a second chance.[2]

HB24-1368, Language Access Advisory Board was signed into law by the Governor on May 28, 2024. This law will create a 13-member board with the purpose of assessing and developing recommendations for improving access to the legislative process for populations with limited English proficiency. This proposal must get input from both public comments and subject matter experts. As previously mentioned, this year we have already started to see the benefits of expanding language access at the Capitol. CCLP is confident in the positive impacts of continuing to expand Coloradans’ access to justice.

Removing administrative burden

CCLP aimed to reduce unnecessary hurdles that are so often a barrier for people who face poverty so that Coloradans can meet their basic needs and become self-sufficient. Two of our priority bills dealt with removing administrative burdens: SB24-116, Updates to Hospital Discounted Care and SB24-211, Adjustments to the Necessary Document Program. Good news? SB24-116 was signed into law by the Governor on May 31, 2024. Bad news? SB24-211 lost in committee after many months of collaboration and stakeholdering.

In 2021, CCLP was a part of the wide-ranging coalition that worked to pass HB21-1198, Health-care Billing Requirements For Indigent Patients, better known as Hospital Discounted Care. Hospital Discounted Care was implemented in September 2022, and since then patients and health care facilities have found opportunities to improve the program’s functioning.[3] This year’s bill gives hospitals the ability to quickly enroll eligible patients into Medicaid through the presumptive eligibility process and exempted rural clinics from requirements, as long as they have a sliding-scale fee structure that is approved by the Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF).

Although Colorado’s Necessary Document Program was made permanent in 2021, limited funding and other complications make it challenging for residents to get free identification documents through the voucher program. Problems include reliance on paper vouchers with short expiration dates, and less-than-ideal successful redemption rates. SB24-211 this year would have eliminated the need for a physical voucher, allowing eligible individuals to access ID documents directly at the point of service.[4] Unfortunately, more work is needed to align stakeholder goals and the bill was postponed indefinitely in its first committee.

Individuals with disabilities gained more representation with the passage of HB24-1360, Colorado Disability Opportunity Office. The Office will provide guidance to the governor and state agencies on matters related to people with disabilities. Its intention is to implement a statewide strategy to facilitate full societal integration by investing in the success of individuals with disabilities. This bill reminds us to view anti-poverty legislation through an accessibility lens, where barriers consistently prevail in the disability community.[5] Additionally, Patients with serious health conditions who are mid-treatment can temporarily continue seeing their provider, even if they’ve had a change in coverage, with the passage of SB24-093, Continuity of Health-Care Coverage Change. Colorado now joins states like Montana, Arizona, and Iowa that protect enrollees when they change plans altogether by allowing them to continue for up to 90 days with their provider.[6]

HB24-1400, Medicaid Eligibility Procedures, allows the state to continue using federally-approved flexibilities in the eligibility renewal processes when necessary to ensure that people retain coverage. Beginning in 2023, the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had allowed states to request authority to use Section 1902(e)(14)(A) waivers, and in May 2024, CMS announced that these unwind-related waivers could be extended an additional six months, through June 30, 2025.[7] HB24-1400 will extend authority in Colorado through January 1, 2025, which fails to take advantage of the full period offered currently by CMS – a period which might even be extended again. CCLP has been following the PHE unwind, identifying processing errors and delays, tracking the high rate of Medicaid terminations, and providing resources to those seeking a Medicaid appeal. We encouraged the state Medicaid agency, HCPF, to take advantage of the full opportunity provided by CMS guidance and HB24-1400 to explore more ways to keep eligible Coloradans enrolled.

Progressive tax and wage policies

CCLP continued to back progressive tax and wage policies that boost the incomes of working families and bring more stability to household budgets. Due to budget constraints, many coalitions and legislators had to come up with different ways to obtain funding, many of which came in the form of a tax credit, which taps dollars above the TABOR cap.

HB24-1311, Family Affordability Tax Credit, will add a new TABOR refund mechanism in years of excess revenue. Another tax credit HB24-1134, Adjustments to Tax Expenditures to Reduce Burden, expands the state EITC to a larger percentage of the federal EITC in 2024 and all future years. The percentages for 2025 and later years depend on projects of state revenue in the December forecast each year. And with the passage of HB24-1288, Earned Income Tax Credit Data Sharing, data sharing between state agencies is allowed. It requires the creation of a pilot program to assist a number of resident households in filing or amending a tax return and claiming the federal and state EITC or Child Tax Credit for up to 2 prior tax years. This would put more money in the pockets of those who need it most. The IRS created a similar program, Direct File pilot, for residents in 12 states to file their taxes. The pilot was a success with over 140,000 taxpayers filing their taxes. The program was accessible, easy to use, and proved that taxpayers want more than one no-cost option for filing electronically.[8]

CCLP supported wage policies such as:

  • HB24-1129, Protections for Delivery Network Company (DNC) Drivers, which will require DNCs, like Doordash or UberEats, to provide various disclosures to its drivers and consumers regarding payments that consumers make to the company and the amounts the company then pays to drivers.
  • HB24-1095, Increasing Protections for Minor Workers, which will increase penalties for violations of the “Colorado Youth Employment Opportunity Act of 1971” and require that the penalties be deposited into a wage theft enforcement fund. Entities that violate the act must also pay specified damages to the aggrieved individual. Both of these bills provide more transparency and protections around workers’ wages.

Unfortunately, the Governor also decided to veto three workers’ rights bills, including HB24-1008, Wage Claims Construction Industry Contractors, which would have expanded general contractor accountability for wage claims involving contractors in the construction industry. Governor Polis  sided with businesses over employees, despite his claims to fighting “for hardworking Coloradans.”[9]

 

Click here to read CCLP’s 2024 legislative wrap-up, part 2

**********

[1]Some of these are not the actual names of the bills, and instead what the bill has previously been known as.

[2] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v8I7sbBUeg3Wv0za57N16ke34a0d37BI/view

[3] https://copolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/SB24-116-2-Pager-FINAL.pdf

[4] https://copolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ID-Documents-Fact-Sheet.pdf

[5] https://coloradonewsline.com/2024/04/08/disability-opportunity-office-colorado/

[6] https://copolicy.org/news/cclp-testifies-in-support-of-continuity-health-care-coverage/

[7] https://www.medicaid.gov/federal-policy-guidance/downloads/cib050924-e14.pdf

[8] https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-makes-direct-file-a-permanent-option-to-file-federal-tax-returns-expanded-access-for-more-taxpayers-planned-for-the-2025-filing-season

[9] https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/protesting-polis-vetoed-wage-theft/article_79a72f7c-194c-11ef-b4df-23aa9722d1ae.html#:~:text=Polis%20stood%20with%20the%20business,to%20fighting%20for%20hardworking%20Coloradans.

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HEALTH:
HEALTH FIRST COLORADO (MEDICAID)

Health First Colorado is the name given to Colorado’s Medicaid program. Medicaid provides public, low-cost health insurance to qualifying adults and children. It is an entitlement program funded by the federal, state, and county governments and is administered by counties in Colorado. Those who are required to pay must pay a small co-pay when receiving certain health care services.

State Department: Department of Health Care Policy and Financing

Eligibility: Most adults 18 to 64 are eligible for Medicaid in Colorado if their household income is at or below 133% of the federal poverty limit (FPL). Pregnant women are eligible with incomes of up to 195% FPL, while children under 18 may be eligible if the live in a household with income at or below 142% FPL. Some adults over 65 may also be eligible for Medicaid.

Program Benefits: Through Medicaid, low-income Coloradans are eligible for a range of health care services at little to not cost. Services provided include doctors visits, prescription drugs, mental health services, and dental care. Co-pays for certain individuals may be needed for certain services.

Program Funding and Access: Colorado funds our Medicaid program through state and federal dollars. Medicaid is an entitlement program, which means that all who are eligible for Medicaid can access the program, regardless of the funding level in a given year. This does not mean that it is always easy to access Medicaid, even when eligible. And since the program is administered by counties, funding levels for county staff and other administrative roles can make it easier or harder for Coloradans to access the program. On top of this, not all medical providers accept Medicaid which limits the ability of Coloradans to seek health services even if enrolled, such as if the nearest provider is a 2+ hour drive away.

Note: This data is from before the pandemic and does not reflect changes in enrollment rules during the COVID-19 pandemic and public health emergency.

Statewide Program Access 2015-19: Over the study period of this report, an average of 89.0% of the population at or below 133% of FPL (i.e., the population who is likely to be eligible for Medicaid) were enrolled in Medicaid in Colorado.

FOOD SECURITY:
SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP)

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP helps low-income Coloradans purchase food by providing individuals and families with a monthly cash benefit that can be used to buy certain foods. SNAP is an entitlement program that is funded by the federal and state governments and administered by counties in Colorado.

State Department: Department of Human Services

Eligibility: Currently, Coloradans qualify for SNAP if they have incomes below 200% FPL, are unemployed or work part-time or receive other forms of assistance such as TANF, among other eligibility criteria. Income eligibility for SNAP was different during the study period of this report than today—it was 130% FPL back in 2019 for example. The US Department of Agriculture uses the population at or below 125% FPL when calculating the Program Access Index (or PAI) for SNAP. We follow this practice in our analysis despite Colorado currently having a higher income eligibility threshold.

Program Benefits: SNAP participants receive a monthly SNAP benefit that is determined by the number of people in their household and their income. Benefit amounts decrease as income increases, helping households avoid a sudden loss of SNAP when their incomes increase, even by a minor amount. Benefits are provided to an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card that can be used to purchase eligible food items, such as fruits and vegetables; meat, poultry, and fish; dairy products; and breads and cereals. Other items, such as foods that are hot at their point of sale, are not allowable purchases under current SNAP rules.

Program Funding and Access: SNAP, like Medicaid, is a federal entitlement program. This means that Colorado must serve any Coloradan who is eligible for the program. As such, funding should not be a limit to how many Coloradans can be served by the program. However, funding for administration of SNAP at the state and county level can limit the ability of county human service departments to enroll those who are eligible. Other program rules and administrative barriers can make it difficult for Coloradans to receive the benefits they are legally entitled to receive.

Statewide Program Access 2015-19: Over the study period of this report, an average of 61.1% of the population at or below 125% of FPL (i.e., the population who is likely to be eligible for SNAP) were enrolled.

FOOD SECURITY:
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION PROGRAM FOR WOMEN, INFANTS AND CHILDREN (WIC)

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also know as WIC, provides healthcare and nutritional support to low-income Coloradans who are pregnant, recently pregnant, breastfeeding, and to children under 5 who are nutritionally at risk based on a nutrition assessment.

State Department: Department of Public Health and Environment

Eligibility: To participate in WIC you must be pregnant, pregnant in the last six months, breastfeeding a baby under 1 year of age, or a child under the age of 5. Coloradans do not need to be U.S. citizens to be eligible for WIC. In terms of income, households cannot have incomes that exceed 185% FPL. Families who are enrolled in SNAP, TANF, Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), or Medicaid are automatically eligible for WIC. Regardless of gender, any parents, foster parents, or caregivers are able to apply for and use WIC services for eligible children.

Program Benefits: WIC provides a range of services to young children and their parents. These include funds to purchase healthy, fresh foods; breastfeeding support; personalized nutrition education and shopping tips; and referrals to health care and other services participants may be eligible for.

Program Funding and Access: WIC is funded by the US Department of Agriculture. The state uses these federal funds to contract with local providers, known as WIC Clinics. In most cases, these are county public health agencies, but that is not the case in all Colorado counties. Some WIC Clinics cover multiple counties, while others are served by multiple clinics. Private non-profit providers are also eligible to be selected as a WIC Clinic.

Statewide Program Access 2015-17: Between 2015 and 2017, an average of 52.2% of the population eligible for WIC were enrolled in the program in Colorado.

Financial Security:
Colorado Works

Colorado Works is the name given to Colorado’s program for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families or TANF. It is an employment program that supports families with dependent children on their path to self-sufficiency. Participants can receive cash assistance, schooling, workforce development and skills training depending on the services available in their county.

State Department: Department of Human Services

Eligibility: In general, Coloradans are eligible to enroll in TANF if they are a resident of Colorado, have one or more children under the age of 18 or pregnant, and have very low or no income. For example, to be eligible to receive a basic cash assistance grant through TANF, a single-parent of one child could not earn more than $331 per month, with some exclusions—and would only receive $440 per month (as of 2022). That said, there are other services provided by counties through TANF that those with incomes as high as $75,000 may be eligible for. In addition to these, participants in TANF are required to work or be pursuing an eligible “work activity” or work-related activity. Any eligible individual can only receive assistance if they have not previously been enrolled in TANF for a cumulative amount of time of more than 60 months—this is a lifetime limit that does not reset. Counties may have additional requirements and offer benefits that are not available in other counties in Colorado.

Program Benefits:  While the exact benefits that one is eligible for under TANF can vary, all qualified participants are eligible to receive a monthly cash payment, call basic cash assistance. Other than cash assistance, counties are have a lot of choice in how to use their TANF funding; generally a use of TANF funds is appropriate so long as it advances one or more of the four purposes of the program: (1) provide assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of their relatives; (2) end the dependence of needy families on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; (3) prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and (4) encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.

It is important to note that those eligible for TANF are also eligible for many of the other programs we’ve included in this report, such as SNAP, Medicaid, and CCCAP.

Program Funding and Access: Colorado funds its TANF program through funds received from the federal government through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant. Most of the federal funds are allocated by the state to counties, which are required to provide a 20% match of state funding. Federal and state rules allow the state and counties to retain a portion of unspent funds in a TANF reserve.

Statewide Program Access 2015-19: Over the study period of this report, an average of 50.7% of the population at or below 100% of FPL (i.e., the population who is likely to be eligible for TANF) were enrolled in TANF in Colorado.

EARLY LEARNING:
COLORADO CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (CCCAP)

The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program provides child care assistance to low-income families and caregivers living in Colorado in the form of reduced payments for child care. It is a program funded by the federal, state, and county governments and is administered by counties in Colorado. The share owed by parents/caregivers is determined on a sliding scale based on the family’s income.

State Department: Department of Early Childhood Education

Eligibility: Counties set eligibility for families separately, but must serve families with incomes at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Limit. Families accepted to the program are no longer eligible once their income exceeds 85% of the state median income. Parents or caregivers must be employed, searching for work, or engaged in another approved activity to be eligible for CCCAP. Parents and caregivers enrolled in Colorado Works (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families or TANF) or in the child welfare system are also eligible to participate in CCCAP. Generally, CCCAP serves families with children under 13, although children as old as 19 may be eligible under certain circumstances.

Program Benefits: If a family is eligible for CCCAP and has income, they may likely have to pay a portion of their child’s or children’s child care costs each month. The amount that families owe is based on their gross income, number of household members, and the number of children in child care in the household. As such, households tend not to experience a benefit cliff with CCCAP when they see their incomes increase

Program Funding and Access: Colorado funds the CCCAP program using federal dollars it receives from the Child Care and Development Block Grant program. The state allocates federal and state funds to counties using a formula that takes into account factors like current caseloads and the number of eligible residents. Assistance is available until the county’s funds are spent, so the number of families that can be served is often a function of how much funding is available and the income and composition of the household that applies. It is not uncommon for counties to overspend or underspend their allocations of funds. The state reallocates unspent funds from counties who underspent to those who overspent. While underspending could indicate a problem with the way a county administers its CCCAP program, it could just as likely be a sign that there are few providers in the county who participate in CCCAP—or a lack of providers generally.

Statewide Program Access 2015-19: Over the study period of this report, an average of 10.8% of the population at or below 165% of FPL and younger than age 13 (i.e., the population who is likely to be eligible for CCCAP) were enrolled in CCCAP.

Housing:
HUD rental assistance programs

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has three housing assistance programs that we look at together: Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8), Project-based Section 8, and Public Housing. In Colorado, these programs provided assistance to over 90% of the households who received federal housing assistance from all HUD programs. Through federally funded, local or regional public housing agencies (PHAs) are the agencies that administer these programs, through not all are available in all counties. These are not the only programs available in Colorado that assist households afford the cost of housing, such as units funded through federal and state tax credit programs.

State Department: Department of Local Affairs

Eligibility: Generally, households with incomes under 50% of the area median income (AMI) of the county they live in are eligible for these rental assistance programs, although PHAs have discretion to select households with incomes at higher percentages of AMI. That said, HUD requires that 75% of new vouchers issued through the Housing Choice Voucher/Section 8 program in a given year are targeted to households with incomes at or below 30% of AMI. PHAs are also able to create criteria that give priority to certain types of households who are on waiting lists for these programs.

Program Benefits: These rental assistance programs help households afford the cost of housing by reducing their housing costs to around 30% of their household income. In the case of the Housing Choice Voucher program, the PHA pays the voucher holder’s landlord the remaining portion of the rent.

Program Funding and Access: Funding and access are both challenges for these rental assistance programs. In addition to limitations on the number of public housing units or housing vouchers a PHA can manage or issue, lack of funding compared to the need constrains the ability of PHAs to assist low-income households. In 2020, Coloradans were on waitlists for Housing Choice Vouchers for an average of 17 months. Waitlists also exist for the other rental assistance programs.

Statewide Program Access 2015-19: Over the study period of this report, an average of 21.1% of renter households with incomes at or below 50% AMI (i.e., the population who is likely to be eligible for HUD rental assistance programs) were living in subsidized housing.