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Committee advances bill to create Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deafblind services enterprise; moves to appropriations
Summary
Lawmakers amended and advanced a bill to create an enterprise to hold programs for the deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind within state government and to direct fee revenue. Sponsors said the change preserves federal maintenance-of-effort obligations for certain services and does not alter the fee cap or statutory fee amounts.
The House Health & Human Services Committee advanced legislation to create an enterprise that would house the Commission on Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deafblind and related services, redirect certain fee revenue into the new enterprise, and preserve some reading and talking-book services at the Department of Education.
Representative Judy Brown, the bill sponsor, told the committee that amendments developed with the governor’s office and affected agencies create the enterprise within the Colorado Department of Human Services and preserve federal maintenance-of-effort funding by leaving the Reading Services for the Blind and Talking Book Library at the Colorado Department of Education. “No money flows through CDHS because of the requirements for enterprises,” Brown said, explaining the draft structure for fee collection and distribution.
Brown said the amendments keep the statutory cap on the fee unchanged and do not change the amount of the fee. She said the amendments create a board for the enterprise and give the governor appointment authority. Committee members asked whether enterprise status eliminates voter approval under TABOR; Brown replied that the enterprise model is contemplated under TABOR and does not automatically require voter approval.
After the amendment phase, the committee adopted the sponsor amendment and later voted to send the bill, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations with a favorable recommendation. The committee reported the bill passed out of Health & Human Services by an 8-4 vote with one member excused.
What the bill does According to the sponsor’s floor summary, the changes: move the Commission on Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deafblind and certain relay services into a new enterprise; create a governing board with gubernatorial appointments; direct certain Public Utilities Commission fee collections to the enterprise instead of routing them through CDHS; and preserve the statutory fee cap and projected general fund savings cited in the fiscal materials.
Next steps The bill will be considered in the Committee on Appropriations. If approved there it will return to the House for floor action.
Votes at a glance - House Bill 11-54 as amended: advanced to Committee on Appropriations with a favorable recommendation. Committee vote: 8 yes, 4 no; 1 excused.
