HB 20-1043

Abstract

During the first regular session of the seventy-second general assembly, the Senate passed House Bill 19-1005 on third reading on May 3, 2019, and the governor signed the bill on May 13, 2019. Because of an amendment to the effective date clause, the bill never took effect. The bill was introduced with a standard act-subject-to-petition clause (ASP clause), meaning the bill would have taken effect on August 2, 2019, unless a referendum petition was filed against the bill. However, on April 26, 2019, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment (L.010) that added an exception to the ASP clause. The amendment specified that "If the voters at the November 2019 statewide election do not approve a measure . . ., then this act takes effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote thereon by the governor." When L.010 was adopted, House Bill 19-1333 was being considered. House Bill 19-1333 created a ballot issue that, if approved by voters, would have allowed the state to increase the cigarette tax and increase the tobacco products tax, would have allowed the state to create a new tax on nicotine products, and would have used a significant portion of the tax revenue for preschool programs and expanded learning opportunities. The concept behind L.010 was that if the ballot issue obtained voter approval, then the tax credit for early childhood educators would not be necessary. However, on May 2, 2019, the Senate postponed House Bill 19-1333 indefinitely during second reading. Since House Bill 19-1333 never passed, voters were never given an opportunity to approve the ballot issue, and the governor never had an opportunity to declare a vote on it. Consequently, because of the way L.010 was written, House Bill 19-1005 never took effect. In order to give effect to the intent of the general assembly and the governor in approving House Bill 19-1005, the exception to the effective date needs to be repealed. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)