The nearly 11,000 new businesses that filed with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office in July are among the first to take advantage of a temporary waiver of business filing fees, set up under 2022 legislation.

Gov. Jared Polis, Secretary of State Jena Griswold and lawmakers who sponsored House Bill 1001 were joined on Monday by three business owners to tout the slashed fees. Those included two who started their new companies in July, when the fee for filing a new business or trade name dropped from $50 to $1. 

That might not seem like a lot – but Scott Thomas, who launched Grappolo Wine School on July 6, those savings meant he could buy an extra case of wine glasses, which he said he goes through pretty quickly. 

Polis said the waiver “will lead to new business formation throughout the year,” though when asked, he could not identify any effort by the state that would track that claim. 

The roughly 10,878 new business filings in July is below the six-month state average for 2022, but it’s about 12% higher than in July 2021, when the state was still battling the worst of the pandemic. 

The law, known as the Colorado Business Fee Relief Act, went into effect on July 1 and runs through June 30, 2023. According to the bill’s fiscal note, it’s expected to cost the state about $8.4 million. It will also reduce TABOR revenue by the same amount that could go toward refunds in 2022-23, the fiscal note said.