The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment briefed the Joint Business Committee on Jan. 22 on operations ranging from unemployment insurance (UI) and family and medical leave benefits to workforce development and just transition work in coal communities.

Executive Director Joe Barela said the department’s six wildly important goals include improving timeliness and accuracy of UI payments, meeting family‑benefit timelines for the Paid Family and Medical Leave program, increasing workers’ compensation compliance, improving employer access to the public workforce system, expanding services to new Americans and lifting youth participation.

Unemployment Insurance: CDLE reported a large improvement in UI payment timeliness since spring 2024. After a pandemic‑era workload and fraud challenges, the department said timeliness rose from levels in the 40% range (claims paid within a target window measured early in 2024) to about 75% of claims paid within three weeks as of December; the agency’s goal is 87% within three weeks. Director Barela and deputy staff said digital and process changes, augmented virtual‑agent tools and a modernized benefits platform contributed to the gains. Lawmakers asked about call center waits; CDLE reported an average call‑connect time in 2024 of about 24 minutes but said virtual agent tools and status trackers on MyUI+ reduced repeated calls.

Family and Medical Leave Insurance (Proposition 118): CDLE said the family program has paid benefits since its launch and currently pays benefits faster than their 10‑day statutory target (the department reported about 97% of eligible family benefits paid within four days on average and said the program’s trust fund and premium collections are healthy relative to actuarial expectations).

UI Trust Fund and budget matters: Barela noted the UI trust fund balance remains below the federal recommended reserve (the department reported a high balance about $771 million in 2024 and that the fund was under $600 million at year‑end), while the federal guideline to be considered solvent is roughly $1.3 billion. He said Colorado used CARES Act and other pandemic‑era federal actions to avoid borrowing during peak payout years and that the department proposes enterprise fund adjustments (a realignment of employer premiums and technical fixes after federal conformity changes) that would better fund administrative needs and technology modernization. The department also plans program and cash sweeps to contribute to statewide budget balancing.

Workforce development and just transition: CDLE outlined targets for public workforce services, apprenticeships, youth participation and the Office of Just Transition. The department said it had awarded grants and prepared grants to assist communities in coal‑plant and mine closure areas and had used federal and state ARPA funds to support reskilling and regional construction workforce development.

Lawmakers pressed CDLE on UI call wait times, long‑term fraud prevention, the UI trust fund level and how apprenticeship and new‑American services are being expanded; the agency said it was pursuing technology and staff adjustments, partnerships with post offices for identity verification, and greater integration of workforce centers into employer hiring pipelines.