Colorado Democrats Celebrate a Successful Special Session

Earlier this week, the Colorado house special session ended, in which house Democrats helped pass bills investing millions of dollars into childcare, food pantries, small business, housing assistance, and much more. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis called the session in order to address the many needs of Coloradans affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The General Assembly was able to pass 10 bills, including $57 million in aid for small businesses, $60 million in housing assistance, and $100 million for public health emergency expenditures. The Governor presented seven areas for the General Assembly to take action: small business relief, childcare support, housing and direct rental assistance, increasing broadband access (for students enrolled in online learning), food insecurity, utility assistance, and public health response.

Colorado’s recovery could hinge on the next few months, as restaurants and bars face some of their most difficult challenges yet. House Democrats believe that targeting relief now to small businesses and hardworking families will have the greatest impact.

One bill passed in hopes of providing some of that relief to restaurant owners is HB20-1004, or Qualified Retailer Retains Sales Tax for Assistance. As the name suggests, small, qualified restaurants will be able to retain their sales tax in order to make important purchases and continue to make payroll. The bill permits bars, restaurants, and food trucks to retains collected state sales tax of up to $2,000 a month by exempting the first $70,000 in their taxable monthly income from November 2020 to February 2021.

During the special session, house democrats also passed HB20B-1002, or Emergency Relief Programs For Child Care Sector. The bill creates two emergency relief grant programs to allow the state to allocate and quickly distribute money to existing licensed and start-up child care providers in Colorado. HB20B-1003, or The Food Pantry Assistance Grant Program, was also passed which expands and extends the provisions of the food pantry assistance grant program that is currently in law.

After the special sessionended, State Representative Alex Valdez had this to say:

“This week, in the face of inaction in Washington, my colleagues and I worked to build back a stronger Colorado by providing small businesses and hardworking families with the relief they need. I know it’s not enough; we need our federal government to act to provide more aid. And, as we begin this holiday season, I ask again that you shop local and eat from our local restaurants when able.”