Council reviews Good Neighbor Authority funding, comparing Colorado to Oregon, Washington and Oregon

Committee member Christina summarized how Colorado has used roughly $6,000,000 in state funds to leverage Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) federal dollars and compared those figures to larger state investments elsewhere. "So how Colorado has been supporting good neighbor authority in the state is about $6,000,000 basically, over the past few years," she said, and contrasted that with Oregon and Washington, which have invested substantially more.

The briefing framed three avenues for committee action: (A) increase state funding or amplify current programs and case studies; (B) pursue modest Colorado Revised Statute revisions that mirror federal expansions under the Explore Act to allow partnerships with additional DOI agencies; and (C) ask the legislature to memorialize requests to the federal delegation for broader GNA authorities.

Nut graf: The presentation located Colorado's GNA funding in a national context and presented both low‑cost policy steps (statutory language adjustments and memorials) and higher‑cost options (increased state appropriations and education campaigns) for scaling treatments in the state.

In discussion, staff and members recommended cautious statutory change—"allow what the federal government allows"—so Colorado's rules would not outpace federal authorities or make large new authorities vulnerable to administrative change. Members also asked staff to assemble specific statute sections and to circulate proposed language ahead of the Feb. 6 full council meeting.

Next steps: staff will put the three buckets into the committee's draft document, provide statute section citations in chat and in the shared document, and seek permission to fine‑tune language with the chair and staff before the full council vote.