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Caucus amendments reduce funding for environmental justice and related CDPHE programs
Summary
Multiple amendments would eliminate or cut funding for an environmental justice ombudsman, health equity office and health‑disparities grants in CDPHE; sponsors argued the cuts free funds for higher‑priority line items.
Senators presented several amendments targeting environmental justice and health‑equity funding inside the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).
Sponsor Senator Pelton introduced an amendment that “pulls the funding from that, eliminates that, so general, goes into general fund reserve” when describing the environmental justice ombudsman position. Senator Frizzell and others proposed reductions to the Office of Health Equity and to CDPHE grant programs that award community grants intended to address health disparities; Frizzell described the health equity office’s mission in the transcript while supporting a cut that would reallocate funds to the general fund.
Why it matters: Sponsors framed the amendments as reallocations to the general fund during a tighter budget climate. Opponents at caucus raised the programs’ purposes — for example, the address confidentiality program (run through another office but discussed in the same segment) supports victims of domestic violence — and requested assurances that essential services would not be undermined.
Discussion and status: Several amendments were described as reductions to personnel and grant lines (examples cited in caucus include a $200,000 reduction from an environmental justice line and a $4.7 million reduction to health disparities grants). Senators asked staff to confirm whether programs would retain statutory obligations or whether cuts would remove administrative capacity.
Ending: Sponsors said staff would supply more precise line‑item accounting and that final decisions would be subject to committee action after vote counting and additional briefings.
