HOUSE
                       3rd Reading Unamended
       May 1, 2015             HOUSE
       Amended 2nd Reading
                      April 30, 2015First Regular Session
               Seventieth General Assembly
                    STATE OF COLORADO
                                                REENGROSSED
                       This Version Includes All Amendments
                       Adopted in the House of Introduction
 LLS NO. 15-0813.01 Esther van Mourik x4215HOUSE BILL 15-1260
                    HOUSE SPONSORSHIP
 Lee, 
 
                   SENATE SPONSORSHIP
 Scott, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 House Committees
 Senate Committees
 
 
 Finance
 
 
 
 Appropriations
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                         A BILL FOR AN ACT
       Concerning an increase in the percentage of a landowner's
            costs incurred in performing wildfire mitigation
            measures that may be claimed by the landowner for
            purposes of the wildfire mitigation income tax
            deduction.
       
       
                           Bill Summary
       
            (Note:  This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does
       not reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted. If this bill
       passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that
       applies to the reengrossed version of this bill will be available at
       http://www.leg.state.co.us/billsummaries.)
       
            The bill changes the wildfire mitigation income tax deduction to
       the wildfire mitigation income tax credit. An income tax deduction
       reduces a taxpayer's taxable income, the amount to which the tax rate is
       applied. A tax credit reduces a taxpayer's tax liability by taking a
       dollar-for-dollar reduction in what is owed by what the credit allows. The
       bill allows a landowner a credit of 25% of the costs incurred in
       performing wildfire mitigation measures, not to exceed $2,500. Any
       amount in excess of the landowner's tax liability in the year the credit is
       first claimed may be carried forward to offset the landowner's future tax
       liability for 5 years.
       
       
       
       Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:
            SECTION 1.  Legislative declaration. (1)  The general assembly
       hereby finds and declares that:
            (a)  Warm winters, hot and dry summers, severe drought, insect
       and disease infestations, years of fire suppression, and population growth
       in the wildland-urban interface continue to increase wildfire risk and the
       potential for catastrophic wildland fires in Colorado;
            (b)  Mitigating wildfire risk by creating a defensible space around
       structures is imperative not only to the home and the homeowner, but also
       to the homeowner's community and to the safety of the firefighters called
       to a home to defend it from a wildfire;
            (c)  By creating an adequate defensible space around structures, a
       homeowner can give firefighters the safest and best chance to defend the
       home from a wildfire; and
            (d)  Increasing the amount of the existing income tax deduction
       available for a taxpayer for a portion of the costs of wildfire mitigation
       measures that the taxpayer incurs is sound public policy.
            SECTION 2.  In Colorado Revised Statutes, 39-22-104, amend
       (4) (n.5) (I) (A); and add (4) (n.5) (I) (A.5) as follows:
            39-22-104.  Income tax imposed on individuals, estates, and
       trusts - single rate - definitions - repeal. (4)  There shall be subtracted
       from federal taxable income:
            (n.5) (I) (A)  For income tax years commencing on or after January
       1, 2014, but prior to January 1, 2025 January 1, 2016, and for income
       tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2019, but prior to
       January 1, 2025, an amount equal to fifty percent of a landowner's costs
       incurred in performing wildfire mitigation measures in that income tax
       year on his or her property located within the state; except that the amount
       of the deduction claimed in an income tax year shall not exceed two
       thousand five hundred dollars or the total amount of the landowner's
       federal taxable income for the income tax year for which the deduction
       is claimed, whichever is less.
            (A.5)  For income tax years commencing on or after
       January 1, 2016, but prior to January 1, 2019, an amount equal to
       one hundred percent of a landowner's costs incurred in
       performing wildfire mitigation measures in that income tax year
       on his or her property located within the state; except that the
       amount of the deduction claimed in an income tax year shall not
       exceed two thousand five hundred dollars or the total amount
       of the landowner's federal taxable income for the income tax
       year for which the deduction is claimed, whichever is less.
                             
            SECTION 3.  Act subject to petition - effective date. This act
       takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the expiration of the
       ninety-day period after final adjournment of the general assembly (August
       5, 2015, if adjournment sine die is on May 6, 2015); except that, if a
       referendum petition is filed pursuant to section 1 (3) of article V of the
       state constitution against this act or an item, section, or part of this act
       within such period, then the act, item, section, or part will not take effect
       unless approved by the people at the general election to be held in
       November 2016 and, in such case, will take effect on the date of the
       official declaration of the vote thereon by the governor.