CDPHE seeks funds to modernize state lab, extend school water testing amid budget cuts

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment asked lawmakers on Friday for targeted new funding to modernize its public health laboratory and to extend a successful school lead-testing and remediation program, even as the agency said it is offering $10,639,000 in ongoing savings elsewhere in its budget.

Director Jill Hunsaker Ryan told the Joint Energy & Environment Committee that the CDPHE lab lost its chemistry certification last year and needs a modern quality-management system, new instruments and expanded leadership and scientific staff to be “a first-class lab.” The agency is requesting a mix of one-time and ongoing resources to replace worn equipment, add additional scientists and create an equipment-replacement fund the department currently lacks.

Why it matters: The lab performs state-level testing that private labs often do not (for example suspected biothreat samples and outbreak surveillance), and the department says quality and data integrity failures there have forced it to both reassess operations and ask for new oversight capacity.

CDPHE also asked to extend the Clean Water in Schools and Childcare program, authorizing lead testing and remediation at high schools and previously untested childcare sites. Director Ryan said the program has tested roughly 4,600 schools and childcare centers so far and found elevated lead in plumbing and fixtures in about one-quarter of those sites; continued funding could reach roughly 260,000 additional children.

The department's second environmental request is ongoing spending authority for the closed landfill remediation grant program (implementing a 2023 law) to help local governments address legacy groundwater contamination and other risks.

Committee concerns and answers: Legislators probed hiring during the governor's hiring freeze and questioned whether the department should be granted dozens of new laboratory FTEs after prior quality and culture problems. Ryan said the freeze was temporary and department hires had waivers in mission-critical areas; she described multiple external HR and technical investigations, removal of staff where appropriate, and an external scientific firm that will provide a two-year contract to implement a quality-management system. Ryan said the contractor's work should leave the lab able to validate test results and run sustainably without ad hoc fixes.

Federal funding: CDPHE reported roughly $324.9 million in federal funds (about 37% of its budget) and said most federal streams remain but that several time-limited grants have been reduced or terminated in recent years. Ryan told the panel the agency had a brief notice two days earlier that a suicide-prevention grant had been terminated, then restored the same day; she emphasized continued uncertainty and the need to monitor federal requirements closely.

Next steps: The department advised lawmakers that its highest priority in this cycle is the lab modernization request but that it has proposed program cuts to balance its ask. Ryan said the department would follow up with details requested by committee members on specific funding lines and implementation timelines.

Quotes: "We are going to have four deputies at the lab where before we had one," Director Jill Hunsaker Ryan said of the proposed oversight changes to the state laboratory.

"By extending the program, over 260,000 additional children could benefit from safe drinking water," Ryan said of the Clean Water in Schools proposal.

Ending: The committee accepted the CDPHE presentation and entered follow-up questions; lawmakers asked for additional written clarifications on the lab staffing request and the scope of cuts the department proposed elsewhere.