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Joint Budget Committee approves some Office of Community Living requests; asks for comebacks on CBMS development and county admin model
Summary
The JBC approved targeted, smaller staff and software items but denied or delayed larger software and county-administration funding requests, requesting further departmental information and comebacks on Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) development and county-admin funding model.
The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) moved through a suite of figure-setting items for the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing’s Office of Community Living and related county-administration funding, approving several technical requests while declining or deferring larger, ongoing funding proposals.
Key outcomes: - County Escalation Resolution Unit (R7A): The committee approved staff’s narrower recommendation to provide $231,315 total funds, including $37,928 General Fund, to purchase Salesforce licenses so counties and case management agencies can access the complaint-tracking system. Motion carried with no objections. Justin Brackie summarized, “the counties need to be able to access it. If the counties can’t access this, they have no way to follow-up with the complaint.”
- SB 22‑235 implementation (R7B): Staff recommended denial of most of the department’s 2,000,000-request, but committee members split on a supplemental request for $1.4 million total funds to develop an eligibility-policy assistant (the “PANDA” bot) inside CBMS. A motion to approve the $1.4 million failed on a 3–3 tie; the committee then adopted staff’s recommended denial 4–2 after a second vote.
- CBMS development (R7C): The department requested $14.1 million total funds (including ~$841,000 GF) for multiple development items, including 20,000 pool hours for development and automation work. The committee split 3–3 on staff’s recommendation, which effectively denied the request and prompted a departmental comeback. Multiple members asked staff and the department to return with clearer choices about prioritizing CBMS pool hours, automation, and work that could reduce county administrative burden.
- County eligibility administration funding model (R7D): Staff recommended denial of a broad $21 million request to increase county base allocations. Committee members voiced strong concern — particularly Senator Kirkmeyer — that counties are underfunded to process eligibility determinations and that the funding model used by the department warrants scrutiny. The committee did not adopt a final number and requested a departmental comeback and additional information (underlying model spreadsheet, county-level expenditures and projections, and proposals for staged or alternative approaches to funding). A formal motion to hold for a comeback carried.
- R11 items and caseload adjustments: The committee approved staff recommendations to (a) sponsor legislation to extend the complementary and integrated health (CIH) waiver for five years, (b) adopt staff annualization for a Department of Justice settlement agreement funding request, and (c) adopt the Office of Community Living caseload forecast adjustments (R5) based on the department’s February forecast. The R5 caseload adjustment used the February 25 forecast and was approved 6–0.
Why it matters: The committee accepted smaller, well-scoped requests that address access and software licensing, but asked for more analysis and clearer prioritization before funding larger CBMS development and county-administration increases. Members signaled a preference to avoid base-building general-fund commitments absent stronger evidence or staged proposals.
Ending note: Committee members asked the department to return with a focused comeback on CBMS priorities, the county-admin funding model (including county-level expenditure detail), and options that preserve federal match while improving county capacity.
