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This is the Joint Budget Committee's schedule. Please check this document regularly for schedule updates.

Federal law requires employers to pay their employees a minimum hourly wage. States have the authority to set different pay standards than the federal minimum wage requirement. However, when the state and federal law differ, such as in Colorado, the higher wage prevails. This issue brief provides an overview and history of federal and Colorado minimum wage laws and provides a summary of how other states compare to the federal standard. 

Aquatic nuisance species (ANS) are invasive animals, plants, and disease-causing pathogens that can affect lakes, reservoirs, rivers, streams, and wetlands. This issue brief provides an explanation of ANS and an overview of the Colorado ANS Program. 

In place of property taxes, Coloradans pay the specific ownership tax (SOT) on their vehicles. This issue brief provides an overview of the SOT, including how it is calculated, collected, and distributed.

This memorandum provides an organizational structure of the staff of the Colorado legislature.

Report No. 2025-TE13

For more information, see also Workplace Expectations.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging technology that has the potential to reshape the economy. Although AI research has been conducted for decades, products are now proliferating due in part to advances in computing power. This memorandum explores basic topics in contemporary AI. It describes several limitations and misconceptions about AI and discusses AI regulation in Colorado.

For more information, see also https://leg.colorado.gov/workplace-harassment-policy.

Colorado’s Medicaid program, Health First Colorado, is administered by the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF). HCPF contracts with Regional Accountable Entities (RAEs), to coordinate health care for Medicaid members. This issue brief provides an overview of RAEs.

Pursuant to Section 2-3-1602, C.R.S., the committee is charged with reviewing and proposing legislation or other policy changes related to wildfire prevention, mitigation, and related matters, including public safety and forest health issues.

This issue brief provides an overview of state laws related to pet animal facilities. These facilities are licensed and regulated under the Colorado Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act (PACFA).

In response to the ongoing drought in Colorado, the General Assembly passed House Bill 22-1151 to promote the efficient and maximum utilization of Colorado’s water resources by decreasing the amount of irrigated turf within the state. The bill required the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) in the Department of Natural Resources to create a turf replacement program that incentivizes the voluntary replacement of nonessential irrigated turf across the state.

This memorandum provides an overview of the process in Colorado for removing criminal records from publicly available sources, known as the “sealing” or “expungement” of criminal records.

Public K-12 education in Colorado is financed through state and local sources. The school finance formula in state law establishes a statewide total funding level. The difference between this amount and the local share determines the state’s school finance obligation. The local share is paid primarily from property taxes. Exemptions, policy adjustments, or other factors that reduce or slow the growth of property taxes requires the state to increase its share of K-12 education funding.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), plastic containers and packaging, including single-use plastics, constitute the majority of plastic waste in the United States. One of the EPA’s National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution objectives is reducing the production and consumption of single-use plastics. In recent years, Colorado legislators have addressed reducing the use of single-use plastics in the state. This issue brief describes single-use plastics and outlines key elements of Colorado’s Plastic Pollution Reduction Act.

This memorandum provides an overview of the Colorado Judicial Branch, also referred to as the Judicial Department when described as part of the state budget. Established in Section 1 of Article VI of the Colorado Constitution, and further governed by Title 13 of the Colorado Revised Statutes and the Colorado Court Rules, the branch is responsible for administering a court system to resolve disputes and enforce civil and criminal laws.

When Colorado became a state, the federal government granted the state lands to be held in an intergenerational public trust to support public education. This trust is made up of about 2.8 million acres of surface land and 4.0 million subsurface acres, and is managed by the State Land Board (SLB) in the Deparment of Natural Resources. This issue brief discusses how revenue earned on those lands is used, invested, and spent for public education.

This memorandum provides information about the interstate compacts, Supreme Court decrees, and international treaties that govern Colorado’s use of interstate streams. Specifically, it gives a brief history of each compact and outlines the specific components and requirements of each compact currently in state law. In addition, the memorandum discusses the two memoranda, two Supreme Court decrees, and two international treaties that govern rivers in Colorado. Appendix A outlines the technical components of the laws affecting Colorado’s rivers.

This memorandum provides an overview of Colorado’s Medical Aid-in-Dying law, which legalized the practice of prescribing medical aid-in-dying medication to eligible terminally ill patients in Colorado.

Colorado’s child welfare system provides services to protect children from abuse and neglect and to support families in caring for their children. This issue brief provides an overview of the child welfare system in Colorado, including its administration and funding; reporting of child abuse or neglect; and the judicial process and types of services provided in child welfare cases.