Senate appropriations panel approves enterprise fee bill after rejecting $69,000 amendment

The Senate Committee on Appropriations approved Senate Bill 155 after a contested debate over a floor amendment that would have added a roughly $69,000 appropriation to the bill to fund 0.3 full‑time equivalent legal staff in the Department of Law.

The committee rejected the amendment, J0001, by a 3–4 vote. Chair (reading the result) said, “So that amendment fails by a vote of 3 to 4.” After further discussion about the enterprise’s revenue cap, the committee then adopted SB 155 on a 4–3 vote.

Proponents of the bill argued the enterprise’s fee revenue would be TABOR‑exempt and said the bill explicitly limits the enterprise’s first‑five‑year revenue to $99,600,000 to avoid triggering a voter‑approval requirement at $100,000,000. Senator Marchman, answering a question about what would happen if revenues exceeded the threshold, said the fee rate would be reduced: “We would ratchet down the fee rate so that we would stay below the 100,000,000 each year.”

Opponents pressed that rejecting J0001 did not eliminate the underlying cost of legal services if the Department of Law must provide them. One senator warned that the budgetary effect might reappear in the next budget cycle if the Department seeks to fund a new 0.3 FTE.

On the amendment vote, the committee recorded the failure of J0001 3–4. On final passage, the panel approved SB 155 by a 4–3 vote.

Key fiscal details referenced during debate included the roughly $69,000 cost associated with the J amendment and a 0.3 FTE increase for the Department of Law if the amendment were adopted; the bill’s sponsors highlighted the enterprise revenue cap of $99,600,000 and the mechanism to adjust fees downward to avoid hitting the $100,000,000 threshold that would require voter approval.

Next steps: SB 155 was advanced out of the Senate Appropriations Committee and will proceed to the Senate floor for further consideration.