Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

SENATE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

Date:04/25/2006
ATTENDANCE
Time:03:43 PM to 04:51 PM
Brophy
X
Shaffer
X
Place:SCR 354
Taylor
X
Teck
X
This Meeting was called to order by
Tupa
*
Senator Sandoval
Veiga
X
Sandoval
X
This Report was prepared by
Jason Schrock
X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call
Bills Addressed: Action Taken:
Conf 06-Board of Equalization
HB06-1058
SCR06-005
HB06-1304
HB06-1312		Referred to the Senate with favorable recommendation
Referred to Appropriations
Postponed Indefinitely
Referred to Appropriations
Amended, Referred to Appropriations


03:43 PM -- Confirmation for the Board of Equalization

Senator Sandoval, chair, called the meeting to order. Mr. Charles Brown, appointee to the Board of Equalization, discussed his qualifications and desire to serve on the Board. (A copy of the Governor's appointment letter and board application for Mr. Brown is provided as Attachment A).
BILL:Conf 06-Board of Equalization
TIME: 03:45:41 PM
MOVED:Teck
MOTION:Motion to refer the name of Mr. Charles Brown to the Senate with favorable recommendation. The motion passed on a 6 - 0 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Brophy
Yes
Shaffer
Yes
Taylor
Yes
Teck
Yes
Tupa
Excused
Veiga
Yes
Sandoval
Yes
Final YES: 6 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS




03:46 PM -- House Bill 06-1058

Senator Williams, prime sponsor, presented HB 06-1058, which creates a schedule of surcharges to be paid by offenders convicted of crimes against children, including sex offenses against children, incest, child abuse, or contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Five percent of the revenue from the surcharges is to be transferred to the Judicial Stabilization Cash Fund for the expenses of trial courts. The remaining 95 percent is to be credited to the newly-created Child Abuse Investigation Surcharge Fund to be used by the Division of Criminal Justice, Department of Public Safety, to support training and enhanced services in programs that coordinate a multi-disciplinary team response for child sexual abuse intervention. A folder of information on children's advocacy centers was distributed to the committee (Attachment B).

The following people testified on the bill:

03:50 PM -- Ms. Maureen Cain, Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, spoke in opposition to the bill. She indicated that convicted sex offenders already have to pay a surcharge up to $3000, depending on their crime. She thought that there was no other class of offenders that have to pay two surcharges and that sex offenders already have to pay a large amount. She discussed the costs sex offenders currently have to pay.

03:57 PM -- Mr. Tony Lombard, Colorado District Attorney Council, spoke in favor of the bill.

03:58 PM -- Ms. Dana Easter, Jefferson County District Attorney's Office and Jefferson County Children's Advocacy Center, spoke in favor of bill. She addressed Ms. Cain's testimony on the costs paid by sex offenders.

04:00 PM -- Ms. Cristi Gordanier, Louisville Police Department, spoke in favor of the bill. She indicated that the bill would allow child advocacy centers to maintain their support for victims of child sex offenders and would help law enforcement with child sex offender cases.

04:03 PM -- Ms. Diana Goldberg, SungateKids, a child advocacy center, spoke in favor of the bill. She explained that the bill would help provide more child advocacy centers statewide and that the cost of victim services were expensive. She acknowledged the high costs that offenders have to pay, but that the impacts to victims were priceless. She indicated that the extra surcharge would be discretionary in cases in which the offender is indigent.

In response to Senator Teck, she indicated that she did not know what percentage of offenders do not pay their surcharges. She indicated that surcharges are charged because treatment and containment of sex offenders is expensive.

Senator Williams closed by asking for support of her bill. She commented that current surcharges are designed for services for sex offenders and that her bill would allow for surcharge revenue to focus on victim services.














BILL:HB06-1058
TIME: 04:10:11 PM
MOVED:Teck
MOTION:Motion to refer HB 06-1058 to the Committee on Appropriations with favorable recommendation. The motion passed on a 6 - 1 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Brophy
No
Shaffer
Yes
Taylor
Yes
Teck
Yes
Tupa
Yes
Veiga
Yes
Sandoval
Yes
Final YES: 6 NO: 1 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


04:12 PM -- SCR06-005

Senator Johnson, prime sponsor, explained the provisions of SCR 06-005, which expands the homestead exemption program by allowing any senior homeowner to qualify if he or she has maintained any primary residence in Colorado for the immediate 10 years previous to the assessment date. He explained that the current structure of the program bothered him because seniors should not be penalized if they have to move from their homes. He stated that the expansion would allow for 60,000 additional seniors to qualify for the program which would cause a loss of revenue to counties and an increased cost to the state to reimburse counties. He discussed ways to make the resolution revenue neutral. He also commented on the possible need to make the program means-tested. He thought that his resolution would make the program more fair.

Senator Teck discussed the original intent of the senior homestead exemption program and stated that the state's residential property tax is low compared to other states. He thought that the program should be means-tested.

The following people testified on the bill:

04:20 PM -- Mr. Herman Stockinger, Colorado Department of Transportation, spoke in opposition to bill. He thought that Referendum C money should not be used to expand the program, only restore it. He discussed the resolution's impact on transportation funding.

04:21 PM -- Mr. Patrick Boyle, Colorado Assessor's Association, spoke in favor of the bill. He explained that the process for qualifying seniors for the exemption program is mostly done by counties. He expressed the concern that the expansion of the program would make it harder for the counties to administer the program. He indicated that the cost to administer the expansion of the program would depend on what system is created to verify where and the duration in which qualifying seniors lived.











Senator Teck expressed his concern about seniors renting out their property and then moving into the home to claim the exemption. Senator Sandoval noted that the fiscal note indicates that 29 FTE would be needed for counties to implement the expansion of the homestead program.

04:26 PM -- Ms. JoAnn Groff, State Property Tax Administrator, indicated that the senior homestead exemption does not impact the assessed value of properties, so it does not impact the residential assessment rate.

Senator Johnson closed by asking for support for his resolution and stated that the resolution would address the fairness of the senior homestead exemption program.
BILL:SCR 06-005
TIME: 04:28:37 PM
MOVED:Sandoval
MOTION:Motion to refer SCR 06-005 to the Committee on Appropriations with favorable recommendation. The motion failed on a 5 - 2 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Brophy
No
Shaffer
No
Taylor
Yes
Teck
No
Tupa
No
Veiga
No
Sandoval
Yes
Not Final YES: 2 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL
BILL:SCR 06-005
TIME: 04:29:09 PM
MOVED:Veiga
MOTION:Motion to postpone indefinitely SCR 06-005. The motion passed on a reversal of the previous vote (5 - 2).
SECONDED:
VOTE
Brophy
Yes
Shaffer
Yes
Taylor
No
Teck
Yes
Tupa
Yes
Veiga
Yes
Sandoval
No
Final YES: 5 NO: 2 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS









04:30 PM -- House Bill 06-1304

Senator Taylor, prime sponsor, explained the provisions of HB 06-1304 which allows a municipality with a population of less than 100,000, a fire protection district, and a county improvement district to make contributions to a volunteer firefighter pension fund from tax sources other than property tax. The bill also modifies the required state contribution to volunteer firefighter pension funds and the cap for such contribution beginning with FY 2005-06.

The following persons testified on the bill:

04:32 PM -- Ms. Susanna Lienhard, Department of Local Affairs, spoke in favor of the bill. She stated that the bill was needed for technical changes.

04:34 PM -- Mr. Don Taylor, City of Steamboat Springs, spoke in favor of the bill.

Senator Taylor closed by asking for support for the bill.
BILL:HB06-1304
TIME: 04:37:18 PM
MOVED:Teck
MOTION:Motion to refer HB 06-1304 to the Committee on Appropriations with favorable recommendation. The motion passed on a 6 - 0 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Brophy
Yes
Shaffer
Yes
Taylor
Yes
Teck
Yes
Tupa
Excused
Veiga
Yes
Sandoval
Yes
Not Final YES: 6 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


04:37 PM -- House Bill 06-1312

Senator Sandoval, prime sponsor, explained the provisions of HB 06-1312 which authorizes the Department of Revenue (DOR) to issue information letters and private letter rulings to taxpayers upon written request. These letters and rulings would help taxpayers determine the tax treatment and potential tax liability of a transaction before it takes place.

The following people testified on the bill:

04:39 PM -- Mr. Chuck Berry, Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry (CACI), spoke in favor of the bill. He explained that Colorado is one of only four states where taxpayers cannot request a ruling showing the tax implications of transactions. He indicated that the bill would help the state from an economic development standpoint and that businesses would more likely enter transactions if they knew the tax implications first. Senator Shaffer inquired whether the rulings from the DOR would be binding.






Mr. Neil Pomerantz, CACI, joined Mr. Berry and indicated that a DOR ruling would be based on the specific set of circumstances of a transaction and that the ruling would only be binding if the circumstances do not change. The committee discussed circumstances in which a ruling would not be binding. Mr. Pomerantz continued by stating that tax predictability is important to taxpayers. He also thought that the estimated number of ten requests for rulings from DOR in the fiscal note was significantly low.

Senator Sandoval explained amendment L.005, which was technical in nature (Attachment C).
BILL:HB06-1312
TIME: 05:03:45 PM
MOVED:Sandoval
MOTION:Motion to adopt L.005 (Attachment C). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Brophy
Shaffer
Taylor
Teck
Tupa
Veiga
Sandoval
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection
BILL:HB06-1312
TIME: 04:50:54 PM
MOVED:Sandoval
MOTION:Motion to refer HB 06-1312, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations with favorable recommendation. The motion passed on a 7 - 0 vote.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Brophy
Yes
Shaffer
Yes
Taylor
Yes
Teck
Yes
Tupa
Yes
Veiga
Yes
Sandoval
Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: TIE


04:51 PM

The committee recessed.