JBC weighs special purpose authority for disability funding; OSPB comeback favors one‑time CSDB spending

JBC staff presented a lengthy bill draft to create a special purpose authority (SPA) to take over grantmaking responsibilities and a majority of historical license‑plate revenue now managed by the Colorado Disability Funding Committee. Phoebe Khanagaraja (JBC staff) told the committee the draft exists in two versions: the original JBC staff recommendation that allowed swaps between general fund and cash funds to produce multi‑year general fund savings, and an OSPB/department comeback that instead proposed spending the Disability Support Fund on one‑time projects.

Khanagaraja explained the comeback would authorize $13.8 million from the disability support fund for phase 1 of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB) West Hall renovation and set $1.0 million additional spending authority for division of vocational rehabilitation (DVR) to draw more federal matching funds and address wait lists. "OSPB and the department came back on that proposal specifically," she said, summarizing the executive branch preference to spend down the fund balance on capital and one‑time needs instead of engineering a four‑year swap that would shift $4.1 million per year to general fund offsets.

Members questioned the net effect on the general fund across the budget forecast window. Staff pointed to a table showing that, for fiscal 26‑27, the OSPB comeback yielded about $9.7 million more in general‑fund savings in the current year than the original staff recommendation, but that in out‑years the comeback yielded roughly $4.0 million less ongoing savings because the comeback's spending is one‑time. Several members said that whether the CSDB capital project would proceed affects whether the comeback truly improves or worsens the general‑fund position.

Senator Kirkmeyer and others pressed for clarity on how the license‑plate split would work in practice. Staff said the proposed split would leave $2.50 per plate to the Disability Support Fund and $22.50 as a donation to the SPA, with centers for independent living remaining eligible competitive grant applicants but not guaranteed the full donation amount. Staff also recommended including legislative language to allow the disability support fund to be used for capital projects and, for a single year, for DVR expenses, to preserve flexibility.

The committee did not finalize action on this draft at this meeting and decided to return to the issue after further analysis of fund balances, the capital project status, and the tradeoffs between one‑time spending and multi‑year swaps.