Governor Polis’s chief of staff, David Oppenheim, and Office of State Planning and Budgeting director Mark Ferrandino briefed the Joint Budget Committee on the administration’s federal‑funds strategy, the governor’s office budget and several office‑level programs that the committee flagged for review.

Oppenheim emphasized the administration’s claim that Colorado ranks second per person nationally in drawing down discretionary Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act funds, and 12th overall by total dollars. Director Tyler Jekyll (present separately) told the committee the state has captured a high return on investment when matching state funds with federal grants, and he said many competitive federal programs remain open.

The chief of staff outlined marijuana tax cash fund allocations: about $660,000 of ongoing marijuana cash funds flow to the governor’s office and $500,000 a year to OSPB for “evidence‑based policy” grant making; OEDIT received a $800,000 one‑time transfer in FY25. Oppenheim said the governor’s cannabis policy adviser position (salary plus benefits ~ $160,000) has existed since legalization and provides regulatory and federal engagement capacity, including on “natural medicine.” Members pressed whether that role duplicates regulatory agencies’ work; Oppenheim said the adviser’s role has broadened to regulatory, policy and federal engagement tasks and said he would provide more detail.

The lieutenant governor, Diane Primavera, described the Office of Saving People Money on Health Care (the “office to save people money”) and detailed its recent work: administering medical financial partnership pilots that averaged savings for participants, coordinating the state’s long COVID annual report and community of practice, supporting the Youth Mental Health Corps and AmeriCorps partnerships, and leading reinsurance and Colorado Option initiatives that the administration says have produced large premium savings for Coloradans. Primavera said the office’s long COVID efforts are partly funded by statute (House Bill 221401 was cited in discussion of hospital nurse staffing reporting) and that the office received $581,000 from prior bills plus additional governor’s office funding, bringing total FY24/25 resources to about $731,000 (about $220,000 for the medical financial partnership pilot; $50,000 for long COVID activity; the remainder for FTE support and administration).

OSPB director Mark Ferrandino and staff answered questions about a) administration proposals to run and match IIJA/IRA programs, b) the state’s “SLFRF” (ARPA) program management and the post‑pandemic refinance, and c) proposals to sustain reporting and compliance staffing created during the federal‑funds surge. Ferrandino noted concerns and audit work on SLFRF reporting and said OSPB seeks to retain a smaller set of continuing positions (two FTE) for reporting and federal‑funds oversight. Ferrandino and others said the administration expects substantial remaining competitive federal funding and that ongoing state matches or state cash‑fund pools can materially increase Colorado’s ability to secure federal dollars.

Ending: Committee members asked for further detail and supporting documents (detailed duties of the cannabis adviser, OSPB reporting status and ARPA obligation reporting, and the long COVID work plan and any statutory sunsets). The administration pledged to supply additional written detail and follow‑up.