Colorado House of Representatives passes first property tax bill after plenary debate – by Jan Wondra

Bipartisan bill to responsibly reduce property taxes and protect Colorado’s future progress

It’s the second day of the special session of the legislature that Gov. Jared Polis has called to deal with the state’s looming property tax issue — technically defined as a “big, big financial mess” if left unaddressed. You could say our elected officials have donned their hero capes to save the day.

The House of Representatives Chamber at the Colorado State Capitol. Image courtesy

Late Tuesday afternoon, the House held floor debate on a solution and advanced to a preliminary vote on HB24B-1001, sponsored by Speaker Julie McCluskie and Minority Leader Rose Pugliese. The bipartisan measure will reduce property taxes while protecting important community facilities such as public schools, health care, fire departments, libraries, water infrastructure, and city parks, playgrounds and recreation centers. The measure passed on a bipartisan basis.

“Colorado Democrats want to make our state more affordable. That’s why we’re back in the Capitol to responsibly lower property taxes for Coloradans while protecting the progress we’ve made investing in our future and increasing school funding,” said Speaker Julie McCluskie (D-Dillon).

“Two initiatives from wealthy special interests on the ballot in November would have a catastrophic impact on Coloradans,” she added. “I am proud that through additional negotiations with the proponents of these measures, I have secured a significant victory for our schools and local governments by allowing greater flexibility in the revenue cap, which will do more to preserve the local services we all depend on and secure our future.”

Democrats have led the way in the House, including working to avoid drastic property tax increases and leading a multi-year effort to deliver meaningful relief while securing critical funding for schools and local services.

In May, the General Assembly passed SB24-233 by a vote of 92-8 to responsibly reduce statewide local taxes by more than a billion dollars. The bill prevents future increases in property taxes and protects critical services that Coloradans depend on. HB24B-1001 makes minor adjustments to SB24-233 to avoid devastating ballot measures from wealthy special interests.

According to the House majority party (Democrats), what they call “irresponsible ballot measures” would cut nearly $3 billion in funding for public schools, fire departments, health care, libraries, water infrastructure and public outdoor recreation. They would jeopardize major progress made by Colorado Democrats on increasing public education funding and eliminating the budget stabilization factor. If passed, these measures would result in what McCluskie calls “draconian cuts to firefighting and public safety.”

HB24B-1001 lowers property taxes in a responsible manner while protecting funding for critical institutions, particularly Colorado’s K-12 public schools. Based on SB24-233, the bipartisan proposal would lower local government assessment rates and revenue caps.

The House of Representatives today passed two amendments.

the change L042 provides school districts and local governments with additional flexibility by allowing them to retain revenues above the growth limit if they did not meet the limit in the previous evaluation cycle. This allows districts to retain additional funds in years following low-growth cycles so that revenues return to the long-term trend line.

The House also passed an amendment directing the Property Tax Commission to evaluate the property tax changes made in SB24-233 and HB24B-1001 and report on the extent to which Colorado’s tax law provides relief to the people who need it most.

Residential Assessment Rates (RARs)
Depending on the growth of the assessed value (AV) between the property tax years 2024 and 2025, there are two ways to adjust the RARs:

*RARs and value allowances would be applicable to and cumulative with the Senior Homestead Exemption.

Assessment rates for non-residential buildings and personal property
Non-residential assessment rates and exemptions apply to both schools and local authorities. Oil and gas companies and producing mines are excluded from this classification.

One can see that Democrats in Colorado take pride in having passed laws in recent years to reduce the costs of housing, health care and child care.

In the last legislative session in 2024, Democrats in Colorado passed new laws that two years of free college, Reducing evictionsAnd increase the income of hard-working families with new tax credits.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where more hero capes may be needed.