Today is May 3, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

Colorado taxpayers are owed $67 million in refunds, a mistake lawmakers are scrambling to fix

The state owes Colorado residents $67 million in tax refunds that should have been paid out years earlier, a costly mistake lawmakers are now working to fix, having discovered the problem after the governor has already signed the next fiscal year’s spending plan.

Lawmakers said they only learned about the problem a few days ago and they’re frustrated with the state controller, who made the error, and other officials who didn’t raise the issue as they were crafting the state budget.

The legislators are now exploring two solutions, one of which effectively rolls the dice with the hope that some of the spending would come in below budget, freeing up some money to pay for the costly mistake.

Gov. Jared Polis signed the state’s $40.6 billion budget on Monday. Lawmakers often joke that the day the governor signs the budget, it would no longer be balanced as the state constitution requires.

But the mistake lawmakers just uncovered means the budget they passed was never balanced to begin with.

Colorado legislation to expand size, scope of facial recognition task force narrowly passes

A bill that seeks to expand the Colorado General Assembly’s task force on facial recognition technology narrowly passed through committee amid concerns that it overly broadens the task force’s size and scope or that it’s not expansive enough to include key industries.

House Bill 1468 increases the size of the Task Force for the Consideration of Facial Recognition Services, established by a 2022 law, from 15 to 17 members. One new member must be an expert in generative artificial intelligence technology and the other in social media, biometric technology, or artificial intelligence.

The bill also replaces a member from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation with an advocate for youth safety and privacy.

Colorado House Republicans Lauren Boebert, Doug Lamborn diverge on support for Johnson | TRAIL MIX

In his latest news column, Ernest Luning explores the precarious situation U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnston is in, but not, he wrote, as precarious as the challenge former speaker Kevin McCarthy faced before the latter’s ouster from leadership.  

Don’t look now, but Colorado’s Republican members of Congress could again help decide the fate of a troubled House speaker, just seven months after the last one lost his gavel.

After presiding over a series of votes that relied on Democrats to pass legislation out of the closely divided, GOP-controlled House, Speaker Mike Johnson faces threats from within his own party to remove him from the position the Louisiana Republican has held since late October, weeks after a handful of Republicans ousted his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy.

The two House Republicans from Colorado, Doug Lamborn and Lauren Boebert, have both said they don’t favor replacing the speaker, though Lamborn calls his support of Johnson “unwavering,” while Boebert said this week with frustration that it makes “no difference” to her whether Johnson or House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is in charge.

State backs down on sex offender decision for Northglenn facility

Patients of one of Colorado’s first Mental Health Transitional Homes will be moving in this month despite outcry from some Northglenn residents who don’t want them in their neighborhood.

Department of Human Services spokesperson Jordan Saenz confirmed that May is the target month for the move, but said that “there is no set date” because state officials are still waiting on final details like licensing and paperwork.

Four hundred Northglenn residents turned out to protest the state’s decision to house some sex offenders in the home for severely ill mental health patients, which is just blocks from an elementary school.

After the emotionally-charged April 3 Northglenn City Council meeting, the state officials changed their minds on how far these homes — some of which will house sex offenders — can be away from schools and playgrounds.