§ 24-36-202. Legislative Declaration

1. The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:
   1. There are nearly one hundred forty thousand small businesses with employees in Colorado;
   2. Small businesses in Colorado make up a disproportionately larger share of the economy of the state compared to the United States as a whole;
   3. Small businesses collectively employed over one million Coloradans before the public health crisis caused by COVID-19 began;
   4. The COVID-19 pandemic has harmed public health and economic conditions across the entire world, including the state of Colorado, across metropolitan regions, small towns, and rural communities, and has had a particularly deep negative financial impact on small businesses, their employees, and their home communities;
   5. The wide-ranging health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented in recent history and create unique challenges for the state;
   6. The health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state depend on the recovery of the state’s economy, including the small businesses that make up a significant share of that economy;
   7. On March 27, 2020, the president of the United States signed the federal “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act”, also known as the “CARES Act”, Pub.L. 116-136, to provide necessary federal funding for COVID-19 response and recovery;
   8. The CARES Act, along with other federal laws and programs, provided many critical resources for small businesses, but those resources are not expected to be sufficient to sustain the large and diverse small business community in the state as it recovers over the next few years from the COVID-19 crisis;
   9. The governor’s council on economic stabilization and growth, made up of volunteers from the private, public, and philanthropic sectors with diverse backgrounds from across Colorado, has recommended that the state seed the establishment of a fund of over one hundred million dollars to stimulate loans from lending institutions doing business in Colorado to Colorado small businesses to support the state’s recovery and resiliency from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic;
   10. There is a well-functioning network of respected lending institutions across the state who are committed to the health of Colorado’s economy and want to contribute their expertise and community relationships to support the success of Colorado’s small business community;
   11. The state will rely on those lending institutions as essential partners in a small business recovery loan program; and
   12. Authorizing the creation of a small business recovery loan program seeded by money provided by the state will support Colorado small businesses affected by the COVID-19 crisis and assist in the overall economic recovery of the state.
2. The general assembly further finds and declares that:
   1. While the loan program authorized by this part 2 will be predominately capitalized by private sector investments, the limited use of state money obtained through the sale of insurance premium tax credits that will result in future state tax expenditures incurred for the purpose of supporting the program will, under the current economic conditions, result in the formation of more private capital at better terms for small business borrowers than would otherwise be available;
   2. The loan program, if successful, has the potential to help small businesses survive the crisis caused by COVID-19 and to protect jobs across the state, which in turn will generate and sustain tax revenues to both the state and local governments;
   3. Preserving jobs with small businesses will also reduce public expenditures on safety net programs and other forms of assistance needed by those who have become unemployed as a result of the crisis caused by COVID-19;
   4. The state money contributed to the loan program therefore serves an important and discrete public purpose in securing the state’s economic and overall recovery from the crisis caused by COVID-19; and
   5. Supporting the state’s recovery from the crisis caused by COVID-19 is the primary purpose of the loan program and outweighs any benefit to private individuals or entities.
3. The general assembly further finds and declares that:
   1. The insurance premium tax credits authorized by this part 2 as a method to provide money to the loan program are available only to insurance companies that incur premium tax liability in the state;
   2. The tax credits can only be used by an insurance company to offset tax liability actually incurred by the insurance company;
   3. The tax credits are not refundable and do not impose an obligation of payment in any future year upon the state;
   4. The use of proceeds from the sale of insurance premium tax credits to seed the loan program allows the state to accomplish this important public purpose through the use of future tax expenditures and therefore:
      1. Does not require the state to borrow money, extend or pledge the state’s credit, or obligate the state to make future payments from state revenues; and
      2. Does not otherwise create any multiple-fiscal year direct or indirect district debt or other financial obligation whatsoever for purposes of section 20 (4)(a) of article X of the state constitution.

Source: L. 2020: Entire part added, (HB 20-1413), ch. 121, p. 503, § 1, effective June 23.