The bill creates the economic recovery and relief cash fund (fund)
which consists of money deposited in the fund from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 cash fund. To respond to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19 or its negative economic impacts, the bill allows the general assembly to appropriate or transfer money for specified uses.
The bill transfers $40 million to the Colorado economic
development fund for the Colorado office of economic development to use $10 million of the appropriated money to incentivize small businesses to locate in rural Colorado and for the location neutral employment incentive program which provides incremental cash incentives per remote employee per year for up to 5 years to small businesses that hire new employees in designated rural areas of the state. The bill specifies that the remaining appropriated money must be used, subject to the fund requirements, to provide grants to small businesses or to undertake any other economic development activity in response to the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill requires the executive committee of the legislative council
to create a task force to meet during the 2021 legislative interim and issue a report with recommendations to the general assembly and the governor on policies that use money from the fund to provide a stimulative effect to the state's economy, necessary relief for Coloradans, or that address emerging economic disparities resulting from the pandemic.
