Workforce development enterprise - creation - powers and duties - enterprise fund - fee - legislative declaration - definitions

8-83-107. Workforce development enterprise - creation - powers and duties - enterprise fund - fee - legislative declaration - definitions. (1) The general assembly finds and declares that: (a) Employers in Colorado pay unemployment insurance premiums pursuant to state law; (b) Unemployment insurance premiums fund unemployment insurance benefits paid to Colorado workers who have become unemployed through no fault of their own and are able and available to work; (c) Paying unemployment benefits depletes Colorado's unemployment compensation fund, which is funded exclusively by employer premiums; (d) Providing workforce development services benefits employers throughout Colorado by: (I) Helping Colorado workers more quickly regain employment, thereby reducing their need for unemployment benefits and keeping employers' unemployment premiums lower; (II) Developing a more qualified workforce that can better meet the needs of Colorado's businesses; (III) Connecting Colorado employers with potential employees; and (IV) Maintaining employers' customer bases by keeping the greatest number of people steadily employed and able to purchase goods and services; (e) The workforce development enterprise created in this section provides valuable business services to employers by ensuring Colorado workers have access to workforce development services and access to Colorado's workforce development centers' services; (f) By providing these services, the enterprise engages in an activity conducted in the pursuit of a benefit, gain, or livelihood; (g) Consistent with the determination of the Colorado supreme court in Nicholl v. E-470 Public Highway Authority, 896 P.2d 859 (Colo. 1995), the power to impose taxes is inconsistent with enterprise status under section 20 of article X of the state constitution, and, therefore, it is the conclusion of the general assembly that the revenue collected by the workforce development enterprise is generated by fees, not taxes, because the money credited to the enterprise is: (I) For the specific purpose of allowing the enterprise to defray the costs of providing the services specified in this section; and (II) Collected at rates that are reasonably calculated based on the costs of the services provided by the enterprise; and (h) So long as the enterprise qualifies as an enterprise for purposes of section 20 of article X of the state constitution, the enterprise's revenue is not state fiscal year spending, as defined in section 24-77-102 (17), or state revenues, as defined in section 24-77-103.6 (6)(c), and does not count against either the state fiscal year spending limit imposed by section 20 of article X of the state constitution or the excess state revenues cap, as defined in section 24-77-103.6 (6)(b). (2) As used in this section: (a) Enterprise means the workforce development enterprise created in subsection (3) of this section. (b) Fund means the workforce development fund created in subsection (4) of this section. (3) The workforce development enterprise is created in the division. The business purpose of the enterprise is to ensure Colorado workers have access to workforce development services and access to Colorado's workforce development centers. The workforce development enterprise constitutes an enterprise for purposes of section 20 of article X of the state constitution, so long as it retains the authority to issue revenue bonds and receives less than ten percent of its total annual revenue in grants from all Colorado state and local governments combined. So long as it constitutes an enterprise pursuant to this subsection (3), the enterprise is not subject to section 20 of article X of the state constitution. (4) The workforce development fund is created in the state treasury. Money in the fund shall be used by the workforce development enterprise to engage in and support employment and training workforce initiatives throughout Colorado. The workforce development enterprise may deposit or permit others to deposit other money into the workforce development fund. The workforce development fund consists of the following: (a) Twenty percent of the support surcharge collected pursuant to section 8-76-102.5 (3)(a)(IV); (b) Any money appropriated to the fund by the general assembly; (c) Any money granted to the enterprise from a federal agency for workforce development purposes; (d) Any money from bonds issued pursuant to subsection (6) of this section; and (e) Any gifts, grant, donations, or other money received by the enterprise. (5) The enterprise may engage the services of contractors and consultants, including the department of labor and employment and the attorney general's office, for professional and technical assistance and advice and to supply other services related to conducting the affairs of the enterprise. (6) (a) The enterprise is authorized to issue revenue bonds for the expenses of the enterprise, which bonds may be secured by any revenues of the enterprise. Revenue from the bonds issued pursuant to this subsection (6)(a) shall be deposited into the fund. (b) The board of directors for the enterprise is as follows: (I) The executive director of the department or the executive director's designee; (II) The director of the Colorado workforce development council or the director's designee; and (III) Ten members, one representing each local workforce council, appointed by the executive director of the department. (c) The board has the following powers and duties: (I) To supervise the enterprise; (II) To issue revenue bonds; (III) To acquire, hold title to, and dispose of real and personal property as necessary in the exercise of the board's powers and performance of the board's duties; (IV) To enter into agreements with the department; (V) To request the state treasurer to act as advisor to the fund to issue such bonds and notes as are necessary to maintain adequate balances in the fund; and (VI) To have and exercise all rights and powers necessary or incidental to or implied from the specific powers and duties granted by this section. (7) Except as provided in subsection (9) of this section, the state treasurer shall credit all interest and income derived from the deposit and investment of money in the workforce development fund to the fund. Money in the fund shall not be credited or transferred to the general fund or any other fund at the end of the fiscal year. (8) The general assembly shall appropriate the money in the workforce development fund annually to the enterprise. (9) (a) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2025.) (b) At the end of the 2024-25 state fiscal year, and at the end of each state fiscal year thereafter, the state treasurer shall credit any money collected pursuant to this section that would cause the balance in the fund to exceed six million eight hundred thousand dollars, as adjusted annually by an amount equal to the change in the average weekly earnings prescribed in section 8-73-102, rounded to the nearest one hundred dollars and excluding any gifts, grants, or donations, to the unemployment compensation fund created in section 8-77-101 (1). Source: L. 2024: Entire section added, (HB 24-1409), ch. 318, p. 2129, � 4, effective June 15. L. 2025: (4)(a) and (9) amended, (SB 25-242), ch. 145, p. 548, � 6, effective April 28. Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 24-1409, see section 1 of chapter 318, Session Laws of Colorado 2024. PART 2 CAREER ADVANCEMENT ACT