(1) The general assembly hereby
finds and declares that:
(a) There are nearly one hundred forty thousand small businesses with
employees in Colorado;
(b) Small businesses in Colorado make up a disproportionately larger share
of the economy of the state compared to the United States as a whole;
(c) Small businesses collectively employed over one million Coloradans
before the public health crisis caused by COVID-19 began;
(d) The COVID-19 pandemic has harmed public health and economic
conditions across the entire world, including the state of Colorado, across
metropolitan regions, small towns, and rural communities, and has had a
particularly deep negative financial impact on small businesses, their employees,
and their home communities;
(e) The wide-ranging and continuing health and economic impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented in recent history and create unique
challenges for the state;
(f) The health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state depend on the
recovery of the state's economy, including the small businesses that make up a
significant share of that economy;
(g) On March 27, 2020, the president of the United States signed the federal
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES
Act, Pub.L. 116-136, to provide necessary federal funding for COVID-19 response
and recovery;
(h) The CARES Act, along with other federal laws and programs, provided
many critical resources for small businesses, but those resources are not expected
to be sufficient to sustain the large and diverse small business community in the
state as it recovers from the COVID-19 crisis and the resulting ongoing economic
hardships;
(i) The governor's council on economic stabilization and growth, made up of
volunteers from the private, public, and philanthropic sectors with diverse
backgrounds from across Colorado, has recommended that the state seed the
establishment of a fund of over one hundred million dollars to stimulate loans from
lending institutions doing business in Colorado to Colorado small businesses to
support the state's recovery and resiliency from the effects of the COVID-19
pandemic;
(j) There is a well-functioning network of respected lending institutions
across the state who are committed to the health of Colorado's economy and want
to contribute their expertise and community relationships to support the success of
Colorado's small business community;
(k) The state will rely on those lending institutions as essential partners in a
small business recovery loan program; and
(l) Authorizing the creation of a small business recovery and resiliency loan
program seeded by money provided by the state will support Colorado small
businesses affected by the COVID-19 crisis, assist in the overall economic recovery
of the state, and support resiliency for small businesses as new challenges emerge.
(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that:
(a) While the loan program authorized by this part 6 will be predominately
capitalized by private sector investments, the limited use of state money obtained
through the sale of insurance premium tax credits that will result in future state tax
expenditures incurred for the purpose of supporting the program will, under the
current economic conditions, result in the formation of more private capital at
better terms for small business borrowers than would otherwise be available;
(b) The loan program, if successful, has the potential to help small
businesses survive the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, protect jobs across
the state, and support resiliency for small businesses as new challenges emerge,
which in turn will generate and sustain tax revenues to both the state and local
governments;
(c) Preserving jobs with small businesses will also reduce public
expenditures on safety net programs and other forms of assistance needed by
those who have become unemployed as a result of the crisis caused by COVID-19;
(d) The state money contributed to the loan program therefore serves an
important and discrete public purpose in securing the state's economic and overall
recovery from the crisis caused by COVID-19 and in ensuring the state's resiliency
among small businesses as new challenges emerge; and
(e) Supporting the state's recovery from the crisis caused by COVID-19 and
ensuring the state's resiliency among small businesses as new challenges emerge
is the primary purpose of the loan program and outweighs any benefit to private
individuals or entities.
(3) The general assembly further finds and declares that:
(a) The insurance premium tax credits authorized by this part 6 as a method
to provide money to the loan program are available only to insurance companies
that incur premium tax liability in the state;
(b) The tax credits can only be used by an insurance company to offset tax
liability actually incurred by the insurance company;
(c) The tax credits are not refundable and do not impose an obligation of
payment in any future year upon the state;
(d) The use of proceeds from the sale of insurance premium tax credits to
seed the loan program allows the state to accomplish this important public purpose
through the use of future tax expenditures and therefore:
(I) Does not require the state to borrow money, extend or pledge the state's
credit, or obligate the state to make future payments from state revenues; and
(II) Does not otherwise create any multiple-fiscal year direct or indirect
district debt or other financial obligation whatsoever for purposes of section 20
(4)(a) of article X of the state constitution.