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Budget cuts and new bills reshape CDA programs; pesticide disposal enterprise and overtime thresholds noted
Summary
CDA staff told the commission about $3.3 million in department budget cuts for FY27, program eliminations (agrivoltaics grant eliminated; equine welfare grant final year cut), and several bills CDA will implement including a pesticide disposal enterprise and an overtime threshold bill for agricultural employees.
Jordan, legislative staff for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, told commissioners that the department faces about $3.3 million in budget reductions for the coming year, about $1.9 million of which are ongoing. Jordan said the department can implement many of the proposed internal cuts without direct program disruption but noted programmatic impacts to three areas: elimination of the final year of the equine welfare grant program (roughly $200,000), elimination of the agrivoltaics grant program (about $300,000 per year), and a reduction of the climate‑resilience grant program from $500,000 to $300,000 annually.
Jordan reviewed CDA-sponsored bills that advanced in the 2026 session. He said Senate Bill 64 modifies the agricultural feature loan program to allow loans to water-conservation and conservancy districts and certified land trusts to support buy‑protect‑sell models for agricultural land. He also described a large omnibus tax bill (House Bill 2611289) that cleaned up community food access tax-credit provisions to expand eligible purchases and increase income thresholds for participating producers. Jordan summarized House Bill 261111 (pesticide disposal enterprise), which creates an enterprise to run several annual pesticide disposal events and establishes a governing board that will include Ag Commission members; the enterprise structure avoids certain TABOR implications. Jordan also noted House Bill 1067 expands flexibility for the Livestock Disease Indemnity Fund to allow proactive use for investigations and outbreak response. He reminded commissioners that most bills must still receive the governor's signature to become law.
Commissioners received the update and asked for the legislative summary document Jordan prepared; staff said it would be shared after session concluded.
Context and next steps: commissioners and staff said they will continue monitoring implementation impacts of the budget reductions and will brief stakeholders on how program changes will be carried out. Jordan asked commissioners to reach out with questions about specific bills.
