OEDIT briefed the Joint Business Committee on Jan. 22 about efforts spanning housing incentives, rural job retention, advanced industry tax credits and federal matches the agency said it is leveraging to expand Colorado’s innovation economy.

Executive Director Eve Lieberman said the office has ten divisions and 129 FTE and reported progress on four governor‑level wildly important goals: housing production, rural jobs, knowledge/intensive investment and international visitors. OEDIT said it expects to support roughly 6,100 housing units for FY25 as part of a three‑year target and had supported nearly 2,000 units to date through Proposition 123 funding, concessionary debt and equity investments; it expects further awards in FY25 and has backed modular factory loans intended to increase factory output of factory‑built housing units.

On rural job growth, OEDIT reported roughly 2,511 rural jobs supported in the first half of FY25 and cited awards to firms that will employ in rural regions; the office said it had deployed $11.7 million in state incentives in FY25 through 15 programs and that small business development centers had served over 5,300 rural businesses so far this year.

Knowledge‑intensive investments: OEDIT highlighted a cluster of federal and private investments it helped win for Colorado: an NSF climate resiliency engine (state seed $2 million unlocking federal and private match), CHIPS Act‑related refundable tax credits administered by the economic development commission (two awards announced totaling $8.5 million of reservation awards tied to nearly $2 billion in private investment), and the Elevate Quantum Tech Hub (federal EDA award $40.5 million; state seed funding and a new Colorado Quantum tax credit package totaling $74 million to support shared facilities and lending). OEDIT reported it had exceeded its three‑year numeric target for attraction by citing federal/private totals already leveraged.

Tourism and creative sector: OEDIT’s creative industries director reported that the Community Revitalization Grant Program (CRGP) awarded $98 million to 59 projects producing 764 housing units; the new Community Revitalization tax credit (annual $10 million set aside, $50 million total through 2029) will accept pre‑applications in February 2025.

Budget and legislative items: OEDIT said it expects a multi‑year general fund reduction of roughly 25% across two years and proposed a set of offset requests including transfers of unused program funds and reductions in other transfers to balance the statewide budget. The agency also proposed several reauthorizations and small expansions (advanced industries tax credit, employee ownership tax credit) and requested ongoing support for the cannabis business office and minority business office programs.

Lawmakers asked about definition and measurement of outcomes, project leverage and ROI; OEDIT said tax credits are performance‑based and awarded as companies meet job and investment metrics, and that housing programs require local partnerships and match contributions. Committee members asked about data centers and energy/water demands; OEDIT staff said the office does not generally focus on large data center recruitment but participates in policy discussions about siting and energy impacts.