Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE and LOCAL

FISCAL NOTE

General Fund and Capital Construction Fund Expenditure Impact

Local Revenue Impact

TITLE:            CONCERNING COORDINATION OF TECHNOLOGY, AND MAKING AN APPROPRIATION THEREFORE.

Summary of Legislation

            This bill would establish a community-based access grant program to be administered by the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute (CATI) Commission. The purpose of the program would be to allocate capital construction funds appropriated to the Commission to communities that submit proposals to connect public offices within the community to the digital network operated by the Department of Personnel. A public office would include an agency or political subdivision of the state or of any local government; or a nonprofit entity organized for economic development, library, health care, social service, historical, educational, or cultural purposes. Proposals would be evaluated on a competitive basis; except that no community may be awarded more than one grant.

            Grant moneys may be used only for capital costs of equipment and services for providing dedicated network connectivity for the public offices concerned. The CATI Commission could use a portion of the capital construction appropriation to provide communities with technical assistance, training, engineering, and consulting to prepare plans, program documents, life-cycle cost studies, and other studies necessary for the development of proposals. The Executive Director of the Department of Personnel would be responsible for connecting state agencies to the network in cooperation with communities that have received grants that are approved by the CATI Commission.

            The bill contains an appropriation out of moneys in the Capital Construction Fund in the amount of $10,000,000 to the Department of Higher Education, for allocation to the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute Commission for FY 1998-99 to implement the bill. The bill would become effective upon signature of the Governor.

State Expenditures

            The bill will increase the workload of both the CATI Commission and the Department of Personnel. It is assumed that the administrative costs necessary to oversee the grant program and to provide coordination and facilitation functions will be a General Fund obligation.

            Colorado Advanced Technology Institute. The CATI Commission will require $147,000 and 2.0 FTE in FY 1998-99, and $143,500 and 2.0 FTE in FY 1999-00 in order to implement the provisions of the bill. The Commission will require one proposal analyst/contract officer to prepare the RFP for the solicitations of the competitive proposals from 150 potential grant applications. This individual would review proposals, organize a proposal review committee, and conduct meetings for the selection of approved grant applications. Site visits may be necessary. The Commission will also require an assistant contract officer/fiscal agent to prepare contracts for grants and assist in the financial planning and reporting of reports. Total expenditure requirements for the CATI Commission are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. SB 98-115 CATI Expenditure Requirements

            Department of Personnel. The Department of Personnel will be responsible for providing network connections between state agencies and communities that have received grants from the CATI Commission. The Department of Personnel indicates that the network does not currently exist, but there is a team working on a project to identify the requirements of providing such a network. Telecommunication Services will be responsible for ensuring that the equipment purchased and installed with the community grant funds is compatible with the network, and that it is correctly installed. They will be responsible for providing coordination and facilitation in the implementation of this effort. Total expenditure requirements for the Department of Personnel Telecommunication Services Division are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. SB 98-115 Department of Personnel Expenditure Requirements

Local Government Impact

            Public offices in political subdivisions of the state and in local governments would be the recipients of the grants that are awarded.

Spending Authority

            The bill contains an appropriation out of moneys in the Capital Construction Fund in the amount of $10,000,000 to the Department of Higher Education, for allocation to the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute Commission for FY 1998-99 to implement the bill. In addition, the fiscal note would imply that the Department of Higher Education would require a General Fund appropriation in the amount of $147,000 and 2.0 FTE for allocation to the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute Commission for FY 1998-99, and the Department of Personnel would require a General Fund appropriation for FY 1998-99 in the amount of $52,393 and 1.0 FTE in order to implement the bill.

Departments Contacted

          Personnel      Colorado Commission on Higher Education