Air Quality & Climate

During the 2021 summer, Colorado had 65 days with Ozone alerts, and on multiple occasions Denver recorded the worst air quality in the world. In April 2022, the Northern Front Range was downgraded to a “severe” violator of federal ozone standards by the EPA. In response, Colorado Democrats passed a comprehensive package of bills to clean up Colorado’s air and ensure future generations have healthier air to breathe.

In addition to the air quality bills passed this session, Democrats championed a number of policies to tackle climate change and the state’s response to its effects. From establishing the Office of Climate Preparedness to implementing greener building codes, Democrats worked hard to put Colorado on the path towards great resiliency and sustainability in the face of climate change.

Improving Air Quality

Air Quality Improvement Investments | SB22-193

Fenberg & Gonzales / A. Valdez & Froelich

The bill provides funding for several different programs in the transportation and industrial sectors, as well as the Department of Public Health and Environment, to reduce emissions and improve Colorado’s air quality. The bill includes record investments in clean transportation initiatives and air quality monitoring, regulation, and incentives, including:

$25 million for the Industrial and Manufacturing Operations Clean Air Grant Program to help private entities, local governments, and public-private partnerships fund projects to reduce emissions of air pollutants, such as beneficial electrification, renewable energy projects, and methane capture.
$65 million for the Electrifying School Buses Grant Program to help school districts and charter schools convert and replace fossil-fuel reliant school buses with electric-powered school buses.
$12 million for the Community Access to Electric Bicycles Grant and Rebate programs which will ease and accelerate the adoption of electric bicycles by providing businesses, local governments, and individuals discounted e-bikes and easier access to e-bike sharing programs.
$7 million for increased and expanded aerial surveying of pollutants.

Programs to Reduce Ozone Through Increased Transit | SB22-180

Winter & Hinrichsen / Bacon & Gray

The bill creates a grant program in the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) to provide $28 million to transit associations to provide free transit services during ozone season. The bill creates a transit services pilot project in the Department of Transportation and allocates $30 million to increase ridership on state-run transit services, reduce vehicle miles traveled, and reduce ground-level ozone. Finally, the bill transfers $10 million to the Revitalizing Main Streets Program to support innovative strategies to reuse public spaces and help businesses reopen safely, while improving multimodal safety and accessibility along urban arterials.

Public Protections From Toxic Air Contaminants | HB22-1244

Gonzales / Gonzales-Gutierrez & Kennedy

In April 2022, the Northern Front Range was declared a “severe” violator of federal ozone standards by the EPA. As part of the General Assembly’s work to clean up Colorado’s air, HB22-1244 increases monitoring and regulation of hazardous air toxics and outlines reporting timelines. The bill requires the identification of priority air toxics, sets protective health-based standards, and adopts emission control regulations to prioritize public health.

Climate Action

Disaster Preparedness And Recovery Resources | SB22-206

Fenberg / Amabile

The bill creates the Office of Climate Preparedness in the Governor’s office, tasked with coordinating disaster recovery efforts to better respond to natural disaster emergencies and developing a climate preparedness roadmap to ensure Colorado is better prepared for future climate-induced disasters. The bill also transfers $17 million to the Colorado Firefighting Air Corps Fund to lease wildfire fighting aviation resources and to establish and maintain a statewide dispatch center to ensure rapid response of fire mitigation resources. The bill also establishes two programs to help communities recover and rebuild following disasters. $15 million will go to the Disaster Resilience Rebuilding Program to provide loans and grants to homeowners, businesses, and local governments rebuilding after a disaster emergency. $20 million will go to the Disaster Recovery and Resilience Program to provide loans and grants to homeowners, businesses, and local governments to cover costs related to rebuilding more resilient and energy efficient homes and structures. The bill creates a disaster assistance portal through the Department of Public Safety to make disaster survivors’ recovery as simple, user-friendly and accessible to navigate as possible.

Building Greenhouse Gas Emissions | HB22-1362

Hansen & Winter / A. Valdez & Bernett

The bill requires the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) to identify three model codes for local governments and certain state agencies to adopt and enforce model energy and low carbon building codes to promote climate-friendly building. It also creates two grant programs in CEO and allocates $22 million split between them to provide funding for state and local governments, utilities, non-profit organizations, and housing developers to purchase high-efficiency electric equipment.

Policies To Reduce Emissions From The Built Environment | SB22-051

Hansen / Sirota

The bill incentives clean energy use by exempting purchases of air-source heat pumps, ground-source heat pumps, and heat pump water heaters, and residential energy storage systems from sales and use tax until 2033. The bill also creates refundable income tax credits for the purchase of heat pumps, necessary electrical panel upgrades, and residential energy storage systems through 2033. The bill exempts purchases of decarbonizing building materials from sales and use tax from 2024 through 2034. Lastly, the bill allows an investor-owned utility to apply to the Public Utilities Commission to use either fuel commodity units or energy services provided for billing purposes.

Resource Efficiency Buildings Electric Vehicles | HB22-1218

Winter & Priola / A. Valdez

The bill requires that future commercial and multifamily residences include electric vehicle charging stations in at least 10% of parking spaces under specific circumstances. The bill requires a master electrician to follow these requirements when planning, laying out, and supervising the installation of wiring in a building and requires an architect to follow these requirements when planning, drafting plans for, and supervising the construction of a building.

Producer Responsibility Program For Recycling | HB22-1355

Gonzales & Priola / Cutter

The bill establishes a producer responsibility recycling program to provide convenient and equitable access to recycling services for covered materials to achieve recycling, collection, and postconsumer-recycled-content rate goals. The Department of Public Health and Environment will designate a nonprofit organization as the producer responsibility organization to implement and administer the program. The producer responsibility organization will also develop and implement a statewide education and outreach program to increase recycling and reuse of covered materials.

Electric Grid Resilience And Reliability Roadmap | HB22-1249

Hansen & Rankin / Bernett & Hooton

Microgrids can help deploy more zero-emissions energy sources, make use of waste heat, reduce energy lost through transmission lines, help manage power supply and demand, and improve grid resilience to extreme weather. The bill requires the Colorado Energy Office, the Department of Local Affairs, and the Colorado Resiliency Office, to develop a grid resilience and reliability roadmap, which will include guidance on how microgrids may be used to harden the grid and improve grid resilience and reliability, while serving the electricity needs of customers.

Colorado Energy Office Geothermal Energy Grant Program | HB22-1381

Winter & Woodward / Titone & McKean

The bill creates a geothermal energy grant program in the Colorado Energy Office to award three types of grants to support the development of geothermal energy: single-structure geothermal grants for applicants constructing new buildings with geothermal systems as the primary heating and cooling system; community district heating grants for ground-source, water-source, or multi source thermal systems that serve more than one building; and geothermal electricity generation grants for the development of geothermal electricity generation and hydrogen generation produced from geothermal energy.