Passage of the federal ARPA law in early 2021 provided Colorado state government with $3,828,761,790. (The state also received substantial amounts of other federal pandemic relief funding such as the CARES Act, most of which was spent by the governor without legislative appropriation. Various – and much larger – amounts of federal pandemic relief went directly to individuals, businesses, local government, school districts and colleges and universities.)
Of the $3.82 billion in ARPA funds allocated to the state, $1.25 billion was spent or transferred by the 2021 legislative session. The remaining $2.64 billion was placed in five cash funds to be spent by the 2022 or later sessions.
Four task forces met over the 2021 interim to develop recommendations for use of the funds. Three task forces were legislative; the fourth was organized and run by the Department of Higher Education.
Those cash funds are (dollar figures are amounts available at start of 2022 session):
• Revenue Loss Restoration Cash Fund ($990,926,872) – These funds were to be allocated primarily at recommendation of Joint Budget Committee
• Economic Recovery and Relief Cash Fund ($697,090,994) – Although a legislative task force somewhat superficially studied use of these funds, it made no recommendations, and uses of this fund basically were decided by legislative leadership.
• Behavioral and Mental Health Cash Fund ($450,670,000) – This legislative task force developed a very specific list of recommendations after an excruciatingly detailed process.
• Affordable Housing and Home Ownership Cash Fund ($399,800,000) – This legislative task force, which experienced a mid-course change of leadership, produced a fairly straightforward set of grant and loan recommendations to be run primarily by the Department of Local Affairs.
• Workers, Employers, and Workforce Centers Cash Fund ($95,000,000) – This non-legislative task force made its recommendations more promptly and efficiently that the legislative task forces.
Discussion was generally low-key and non-partisan as the ARPA bills worked through the process, although a few Republicans complained about inflation and the federal deficit.
Of the total $2.64 billion available for spending from the five cash funds, it appears about $2.33 billion was allocated by the 37 bills relevant bills passed by the 2022 session. Tracking exact dollar amounts is tricky because some bills had funding source shifted after introduction, and some bills use a mix of ARPA and General Fund.
About a third of the funds allocated by these bills are for direct spending by state agencies; the remainder is for grants to local governments, providers, other agencies, stipends, etc. (This ratio does not include the $600 million allocated to help pay off the federal loan to the unemployment insurance trust fund.)
Under the federal rules governing use of ARPA money, funds must be obligated by December 2024, and the money must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026. So, leftover funds could be allocated by the 2023 or even 2024 legislative sessions.
And, of course, it will take agencies time to ramp up all the procedures and programs called for by these bills.
Details of ARPA bills:
Amounts listed for each bill reflect the amount of the transfer from the relevant funds to various other cash funds associated with individual programs; in many cases money will be spent over more than one fiscal year, so 2022-23 spending may be lower than the amount listed. Summaries of each measure are based on the bills’ fiscal notes.
Revenue Loss Fund
Available for spending – $990,926,872
• HB 22-1335 – $24.1 million for Judicial Branch information technology infrastructure upgrades from FY 2022-23 through FY 2024-25.
• HB 22-1340 – $350.4 million was used for partial support of the 2022-23 capital construction budget.
• SB 22-234 – $600 million allocated to partially repay unemployment insurance fund loans from federal government, thereby reducing need for future assessments on employers.
Economic Recovery Fund
Available for spending – $697,090,994
• HB 22-1220 – $52 million to the departments of education and higher education to create two stipend programs for prospective educators, expand options for assessing professional competency of prospective educators and expand temporary license eligibility authorization to various types of educators.
• HB 22-1356 – $35 million to the Department of Local Affairs for a grant program to non-profit agencies based in small communities for use in infrastructure and capacity building. Eligible recipients are organizations that have been impacted by the COVID-19 emergency.
• HB 22-1369 – $2 million to the Department of Early Childhood to contract with a Colorado-based nonprofit provide the following services related to children’s mental health programs: Perform readiness assessments, provide training, and monitor program implementation; Provide ongoing quality assessments and improvement recommendations; Provide the CDEC with site-specific and statewide process and outcome evaluations of children’s mental health programs, and annually prepare and submit to the CDEC an evaluation of the outcomes of all of the children’s mental health programs implemented.
• HB 22-1377 – $105 million to the Department of Local Affairs for the Connecting Coloradans Experiencing Homelessness with Services, Treatment, and Housing Supports Grant Program, which will award grants to local governments, with the goal of reducing the rate of homelessness through community-based support systems.
• HB 22-1378 – $50 million to the Department of Local Affairs to create the Regional Navigation Campus Grant Program in the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to provide a grant to a metro area local government or governments, or a qualified nonprofit to build or acquire, and facilitate a regional navigation campus (campus) in the Denver Metropolitan Area to respond to and to prevent homelessness.
• HB 22-1379 – $20 million to cash funds in the State Forest Service and Department of Natural Resources, specifically $3 million to support wildfire risk mitigation and watershed resilience, another $2 million for wildfire mitigation and fuel reduction projects and $15 million to the Colorado Water Conservation Board Construction Fund in the DNR for watershed restoration and flood mitigation project grants.
• HB 22-1380 – $14 million for implementation of a new electronic benefit management system in the Department of Human Services, as well as programming updates for other electronic benefit systems. It also creates a community food access program in the Department of Agriculture.
• SB 22-183 – $35 million (plus $6 million from the behavioral health fund) to the Department of Public Safety to award grants to government agencies and nonprofit organizations that provide services to crime victims.
• SB 22-200 – $9.8 million to the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to create the Rural Provider Access and Affordability Stimulus Grant Program to provide grants to qualified rural health care providers to improve health care services in rural communities through modernization of information technology infrastructure and expanded access to health care.
• SB 22-211 – $45 million to the Department of Human Services to transfer ownership of all or part of the Ridge View Campus from the Department of Human Services to the Department of Personnel and Administration for use by the Division of Housing in the Department of Local Affairs as a supportive residential community for people experiencing homelessness. The agencies must develop a master plan for the redevelopment and operation of the Ridge View Campus into the Ridge View Supportive Residential Community, including a financial plan for startup and ongoing operational costs.
• SB 22-213 – About $45 million in ARPA funds, plus additional non-pandemic federal funds, to the Department of Early Childhood for several grant programs intended to support early childhood care.
• SB 22-226 – $61 million to the Department of Public Health and Environment for multiple grant programs supporting the education, training, recruitment and retention of health-care workers.
Behavioral Health Fund
Available for spending – $450,670,000
• HB 22-1243 – There is $2 million in ARPA funds and $10 million General Fund in this bill, including $8 million for the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Education for school safety project grants and $6 million to the Department of Human Services for the Temporary Youth Mental Health Services Program, which also is extended by the bill.
• HB 22-1281 – $90 million to the Behavioral Health Administration for grants to be awarded to nonprofits, community-based organizations, and local governments for community investment grants and children, youth, and family services grants.
• HB 22-1283 – $44 million to the Colorado Department of Human Services to create an in-home and residential respite care program, provide operational support for psychiatric residential treatment facilities, create additional substance use treatment beds, continue the crisis service program, and build a neuro-psych facility.
• HB 22-1302 – $35 million to create the Primary Care and Behavioral Health Statewide Integration Grant Program to be administered by the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to provide grants to physical and behavioral health care providers for implementation of evidence-based clinical integration care models.
• HB 22-1303 – $29.8 million to the Department of Human Services to renovate a building at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan to add at least 16 inpatient beds, to be used for persons needing competency services until the waitlist for competency services is eliminated or trending so that it is expected to be eliminated within a year. After that the beds will be used for civil patients.
• HB 22-1326 – The is the fentanyl bill. Out of a total cost of $38.9 million from various sources, the bill appropriates $19.7 million to the Opiate Antagonist Bulk Purchase Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the Department of Public Health and Environment for the bulk purchase and distribution of opiate antagonists.
• SB 22-147 – $11.2 million to various agencies for pediatric behavioral health programs, including $4.6 million to the University of Colorado for the Pediatric Psychiatry Consultation and Access Program, $5 million to the Department of Education for the Behavioral Health Care Professional Matching Grant Program and $1.5 million to the School-based Health Center Grant Program in the Department of Public Health and Environment.
• SB 22-148 – $5 million to the Department of Human Services for the Land-based Tribe Behavioral Health Services Grant Program to fund the renovation or construction of a behavioral health facility. The Southern Ute Indian tribe, the Ute Mountain Ute tribe or any authorized department, division, or affiliate are eligible for grant funding.
• SB 22-177 – $12.2 million to the Department of Human Services for implementation of a statewide care coordination infrastructure, including training of care coordination navigators, ensuring clients are properly directed to service navigation support and standardized implementation of the behavioral health crisis response system.
• SB 22-181 – $72.2 million to the Behavioral Health Administration to collaborate with multiple agencies to create and implement a plan to improve the behavioral health care workforce, including funding for the Health Services Corps for student loan repayment, and funding to the state Community College System for job shadowing, internship, incentives, loan repayment, scholarships, marketing and other programs.
• SB 22-196 – $61.4 million for an Early Intervention, Deflection, and Redirection from the Criminal Justice System Grant Program in the Department of Human Services to support community responses to behavioral health crises and mitigate individuals’ involvement in the criminal justice system related to behavioral health needs.
Affordable Housing Fund
Available for spending – $399,800,000
• HB 22-1282 – $13.3 million to the Office of Economic Development to provide grants or loans to businesses with fewer than 500 employees that develop manufactured homes.
• HB 22-1304 – $178 million to the Department of Local Affairs for a Local Investments in Transformational Affordable Housing Grant Program to local governments and non-profits and a Infrastructure and Strong Communities Grant Program that will provide grants to local governments for investments in infill infrastructure projects that support affordable housing.
• SB 22-146 – $25 million to the Department of Local Affairs to expand the Middle Income Housing Access Program, with the funds to be administered by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority.
• SB 22-159 – $150 million to the Department of Local Affairs for a revolving loan program to provide flexible, low-interest, and below-market-rate loan funding to make investments in affordable housing.
• SB 22-160 – $12 million to the Department of Local Affairs for a Mobile Home Park Resident Empowerment Loan Program that will be used to finance acquisitions or capital improvements for homeowners to purchase their mobile home parks.
Workforce Fund
Available for spending – $95,000,000
• HB 22-1349 – $3 million to the Department of Higher Education for development of student success measures and an interactive data system for postsecondary student success information.
• HB 22-1350 – $91 million to the Office of Economic Development and International Trade for a Regional Talent Development Initiative Grant Program to develop or expand talent development initiatives to meet workforce development needs; create pathways between K-12 education, higher education, and employment; provide opportunities for regional learners to gain economic mobility and earn a living wage; and meet regional labor market needs.
• SB 22-192 – $475,275 to the (plus a larger amount of General Fund) to the Department of Higher Education to evaluate access to credentials, identify alignment between credentials and work-based learning and identify opportunities for additional alignment and the creation of stackable credential pathways.
By agency
Here is a list by agency of the total of ARPA funds each will receive for spending or making grants. The list is in descending order by amount.
• Unemployment Insurance Fund – $600 million
• Local Affairs – $555 million
• Capital construction – $350.4 million
• Human Services – $217.6 million
• Behavioral Health Administration – $162.2 million
• OEDIT – $104.3 million
• Public Health and Environment – $82.2 million
• Early Childhood – $47 million
• Health Care Policy and Financing – $44.8 million
• Public Safety – $41 million
• Higher Education – $24.6 million
• Judicial – $24.1 million
• Natural Resources – $20 million
• Education – $11.2 million