Senate Bill 17-267 Summary

• Addresses rural Colorado's demographic, economic, and geographical challenges including an aging population, lower wages, limited economic diversity, and difficulty accessing critical services like healthcare

• Repeals the hospital provider fee program and creates a new Colorado Healthcare Affordability and Sustainability Enterprise to charge hospitals a fee and leverage federal matching funds to increase Medicaid reimbursements and expand eligibility

• Allocates $30 million annually from retail marijuana sales tax revenues to rural school districts (55% to large rural districts, 45% to small rural districts) for improving student learning and educational environments

• Establishes a lease-purchase agreement program allowing the state to issue up to $2 billion in bonds using state buildings as collateral to fund delayed highway and capital construction projects, with at least 10% directed to transit purposes

• Modifies income tax credits for personal property taxes and adjusts the excess state revenues cap calculation for fiscal years 2017-18 and beyond to account for the repeal of the hospital provider fee program