The Democratic plan on how to allocate the $48 million in general funds reserved for late-session bills seems to have run into a bit of a problem.

That problem? There are more bills seeking general fund dollars than what’s available,  which resulted Tuesday morning in a pause in the actions of the House and Senate appropriations committees with a week left to go in the 2021 session.

The $48 million in general funds is a “set aside” in the 2021-22 Long Appropriations Bill signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis on May 4. That’s money the Joint Budget Committee allocates for bills that pass after the Long Bill is signed into law but would still impact the 2021-22 budget. 

Three bills were laid over in the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday, caught in the “show me the money” problem. 

Among them: House Bill 1317, the bill to further regulate marijuana concentrates. That bill comes with a $4.8 million cost, including $295,656 of general fund dollars in the 2021-22 fiscal year. 

Also caught: House Bill 1233, one of two bills dealing with the state’s conservation easement program. HB 1233 would boost the incentive to landowners who donate land through the program, from a tax credit valued at 50% of the land’s value to 90%. Its cost: $515,825 total and $206,998 of general fund in 2021-22.

House Bill 1280 carried a cost of $725,187, including $554,280 of general funds in 2021-22. That’s a bill that would require a court to set a bail hearing within 48 hours of arrest. 

Those aren’t the only bills affected by what one budget writer says is a temporary hold: any bill that needs general funds and that has not yet been scheduled for the appropriations committees in the House and Senate is also now on hold, at least for the next day or two.

Relatively speaking, the amount being sought for many of these bills is small: a couple of hundred thousand here, a couple of hundred thousand there. The total amount of general funds needed to wrap up those bills has not yet been determined, but the Joint Budget Committee is taking a look, along with legislative leaders, to figure out how to do some shifting to free up dollars from Peter to pay Paul.

The plan? Refinance some of the bills that are relying on the $800 million in one-time state stimulus dollars, paying for those bills with federal stimulus money.

As luck would have it, of the 36 stimulus bills, only three have been signed by the governor. Another 13 have cleared the appropriations committees and are awaiting second reading debate in either the House or Senate.

It’s what’s left that most likely is what could be available: about 20 bills that would spend more than $350 million in one-time state money on various stimulus programs. 

JBC Vice-chair Rep. Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat explained that there are state stimulus investments that would qualify for the $3.8 billion the state can spend from the American Rescue Plan. “We have taken a pause to ensure we are accounting for the dollars in the right way,” she told Colorado Politics Tuesday. 

JBC analysts are looking at the remaining state stimulus bills that are left, she said, and where the federal stimulus money could go that could allow lawmakers to “refinance” them. 

“I have confidence that we will be fine and that we haven’t overspent,” she said.

“We have been working around the clock to make sure we handle this $3.8 billion from the federal government responsibly,” she explained. “That’s required us to be nimble and flexible. It’s an experience none of us have had before.”