Gov. Jared Polis, who is still in quarantine from COVID-19, is signing on Monday nine of the 10 bills passed by the General Assembly from last week’s special session.

The first four were signed Monday morning, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

The General Assembly dealt with seven issues during its three-day session last week, all related to short-term COVID-19 relief for Coloradans. The bills provide funding for rental and other housing assistance, food pantry aid, direct aid to restaurants, bars, gyms, minority-owned businesses and arts organization and help with utility bills.

Monday morning, Polis signed House Bill 20B-1004, which allows restaurants, bars and food trucks impacted by capacity restrictions to retain the 2.9% state sales tax for four months, beginning with November, 2020 and lasting until the end of February. Those businesses can keep up to $2,000 per month to pay for rent and other business needs. The estimated loss of revenue to the state could reach up to $52.8 million, according to the bill’s fiscal note.

Polis also signed Senate Bill 20B-001, the direct aid bill. That comes with a price tag of $57.1 million. Of that, $37 million would go to restaurants, bars and gyms impacted by capacity restrictions. The bill also waives fees for liquor licenses for one year. 

Another $7.5 million would go to cultural and arts organization, and $4 million would be available to minority-owned businesses. 

The bill came with controversy, especially in the House, because businesses that want the aid must be in counties that comply with state and local public health orders. The only exception for those businesses in non-complying counites is if they are located in a municipality that is in compliance. That language addresses some of the frustration Gov. Jared Polis and others have had about Weld County, where commissioners have said they will not obey state public health orders and rely on citizens to do what they think is best. 

The governor also signed two bills not contained in the special session call.

House Bill 20B-1005 grants local governments authority to limit the fees charged to restaurants by food delivery companies. The bill was backed by the Colorado Restaurant Association and could provide a boost to small restaurants that are already struggling to stay afloat on take-out business only. Some delivery services charge up to 35% of the food cost for delivery, although according to the restaurant association the break-even is at 20%. The bill also prohibits those delivery services from cutting driver pay or tips to offset the fee restrictions.

House Bill 20B-1006 is a complicated measure tied to the Colorado Loans to Increase Mainstreet Business Economic Recovery, or CLIMBER Act. That’s a bill passed in the 2020 regular session to provide recovery loans tied to the pandemic. The bill sets up the sale of premium tax credits that are due to take place later this month and which could bring in up to $250 million for those small and mid-sized businesses.

Polis was joined in the virtual signing by a several lawmakers and commissioners from Summit and Adams counties. 

“This overwhelming vote of support for our small businesses in this bill we’re signing today really shows that the state understands that it is our small businesses that help define the culture of our communities and our main streets,” Polis said. “Without them, we really lose part of our identity and who we are, above and beyond the jobs, which are absolutely critical for putting food on the table for families and as our main engine of economic growth.”

Polis pledged to continue working on assistance for small businesses, but said he hoped the federal government steps up with another COVID-19 relief package in the coming months.

“This is not enough, this is not going to save every business. We just simply don’t have those resources,” said Sen. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, one of the sponsors of SB1. “But with the federal government’s continued inaction, it was important for us to come together in a bipartisan way, spend the resources we do have available” and the tools available to get relief out as soon as possible. 

Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, addressed the funding for arts organizations and noted the announcement Monday of the closure of longtime jazz club El Chapultepec. SB1 will take a shot at making sure the cultural venues stay open, Herod said. Herod also noted that small businesses owned by people of color have been disproportionately affected and left behind by the federal paycheck protection program. 

“But it’s not enough,” Herod said, also calling on the federal government to come up with an aid package. 

Polis is scheduled to sign the other five bills beginning at 3:30 p.m. Monday.

Polis last Thursday signed Senate Bill 20B-004, which puts $100 million into the state’s controlled maintenance fund, which can then be transferred to the state’s disaster emergency fund to pay for the state’s COVID-19 efforts. Polis immediately ordered the transfer of $84.3 million to the disaster emergency fund.