Colorado Revised Statutes Title 8. Labor and Industry § 8-77-101.5. CARES act funds--administration--transfer--unemployment compensation fund--legislative declaration

(a) On March 27, 2020, the federal government enacted the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” (“CARES Act”), Pub.L. 116-136, pursuant to which Colorado received approximately one billion six hundred seventy-four million dollars from the federal coronavirus relief fund to use for necessary expenditures incurred due to the current COVID-19 public health emergency;

(b) The public health emergency caused by COVID-19 caused a historic increase in unemployment in the state and this has caused a dramatic increase in the number of claims for benefits from the unemployment compensation fund created in section 8-77-101;

(c) As a result, it is estimated that the unemployment compensation fund, created in section 8-77-101, will have a deficit of approximately two billion dollars by the end of fiscal year 2020-21;

(d) These costs will not be reimbursed by the federal government, nor are they accounted for in the budget approved as of March 27, 2020;

(e) The United States department of treasury has stated that payments to the state unemployment compensation fund, created in section 8-77-101, are an allowable use of the money from the federal coronavirus relief fund, under section 42 U.S.C. sec. 801(d);  and

(f) The transfer of money from the “CARES Act” to the state unemployment compensation fund, created in section 8-77-101, is a necessary expenditure incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19.