Colorado Revised Statutes Title 8. Labor and Industry § 8-83-107. Workforce development enterprise--creation--powers and duties--enterprise fund--fee--legislative declaration--definitions

(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:

(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:

(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).

(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.

(a) Fourteen 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.

(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:

(c) The board has the following powers and duties:

(9)(a) At the end of the 2024-25 state fiscal year, if the amount in the fund exceeds six million eight hundred thousand dollars, the state treasurer shall transfer the money in the fund in excess of six million eight hundred thousand dollars to the unemployment compensation fund created in section 8-77-101(1).

(b) At the end of the 2025-26 state fiscal year, and each state fiscal year thereafter, if the amount in the fund exceeds six million eight hundred thousand dollars, as adjusted for the United States department of labor's bureau of labor statistics consumer price index for Denver-Aurora-Lakewood or its successor index, the state treasurer shall credit any money collected pursuant to this section that would cause the balance in the fund to exceed the adjusted amount to the unemployment compensation fund created in section 8-77-101(1).