This legislation established the food pantry assistance grant with $500,000 to aid Colorado food pantries and food banks in the purchase of food to meet the needs of their clientele an urgent need due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A secondary purpose of the grant program was to create new market opportunities for Colorado's agricultural producers by requiring that food purchased by a grant recipient using grant money from the grant program must be designated as a Colorado agricultural product.

Colorado law stated that an individual found to have committed an intentional violation of rules attached to a specific public assistance program was barred from participation in all public assistance programs. This legislation amended that to clarify that only participation in the program where the violation occurred was banned and only for a set period of time.

The bill expanded and extended the provisions of the food pantry assistance grant program (grant program) to include $5 million in funding.

This legislation continued the Necessary Document Program. It is vital for ensuring that people with low incomes can access identification like birth certificates and drivers licenses regardless of financial hardship so they can get back on their feet by doing things such as opening a bank account, applying for a job, picking up a prescription, or accessing health care, housing, and food assistance programs. Since its inception, the program has distributed close to 40,000 document vouchers to people with low incomes.

The Double Up Food Bucks Program provides a money match for healthy foods for families on SNAP when they shop at farmers’ markets and is, therefore, a win-win for hungry Colorado families and rural producers throughout the state. This work in the state budget provided $300,000 for this important program.

This bill ensured that Colorado’s agricultural workers are fairly compensated for their ongoing efforts to sustain our local economies and food systems. A majority of our agricultural workers earn wages that currently place them in poverty.

This legislation provided an additional $3 million for the state’s voluntary Employment & Training (Employment First) program for ongoing participants in the Supplemental  Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP—formerly known as food stamps).

The legislation created a utility assistance fund for low-income households to help pay their bills and weatherize their homes or apartments. It included a provision that pays all households on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) a nominal annual utility assistance fee that will allow some SNAP households a higher utility deduction that would increase their food benefits $1,080 per year, on average.

The legislation provided up to $400 in support services to Colorado job seekers or newly employed individuals who are working on employment goals and may not qualify for or have access to other resources. The legislature funded the Program with a three-year total appropriation of $750,000 beginning in 2019 and ending in June 2022. This bill appropriates $500,000 annually to the employment support and job retention services program cash fund.

This legislation expanded Medicaid health insurance coverage for children and pregnant people who lack documentation.

The bill created a “Healthy School Meals for All” program in the Colorado Department of Education to reimburse school food authorities for free meals provided to students who are not eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

This bill updated the state Colorado Works program (also known as ‘TANF’) by increasing the monthly benefit known as “Basic Cash Assistance” for participating households. It also made improvements to how TANF serves families by reducing punitive sanctions, creating a feedback loop with ongoing program participants and program administrators, and reducing the “cliff effect” to allow a smoother off-ramp to economic security by improving income disregards.

Colorado continued to fund its Food Pantry Assistance Grant Program, this time with an additional $5 million in funding.

Local human services offices across Colorado have different tools to help them manage caseloads and process applications for programs like food stamps and Medicaid.

The Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council (COFSAC) was scheduled to sunset on September 1, 2023 and the bill extended the sunset date until September 1, 2030.

This bill will improved the capacity of existing small, local retailers to store and sell nutritious food and improve access, lower prices, and reduce food insecurity, particularly for Colorado families most at risk, while keeping more of the proceeds of economic activity in the local community by: Extending the community food access consortium program and expanding the small business recovery and resilience grant program created in HB22-1380; Providing a tax credit for qualified small food retailers' one-time purchase of equipment for food storage, display, point of sales systems, and equipment not purchased with grant funding; Securing funding for the changes by decoupling the federal and state income tax deduction for business meals for individual and corporate taxpayers.

This legislation focused on landscaping in HOAs to include the ability of residents to vegetable garden in their front yards.

This legislation secured $14 million for the Food Pantry Assistance Grant.

The bill created and the Colorado Commodity Supplemental Food Grant Program to provide grants of money to aid county departments of human or social services, food banks, and food pantries in purchasing and distributing food packages to qualifying low-income older adults in the state. Feeding Colorado is leading this bill with a request of the State to allocate $3 more in administrative funding per box, per person for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, administered by the Colorado Department of Human Services, to fill in gaps that the program faces due to operational costs.

Colorado has an annually recurring program called the Food Pantry Assistance Grant, providing funding to food banks and food pantries for their communities (with a focus on locally cultivated foods) and to purchase necessary equipment to support their charitable food infrastructure and administration. This year’s request authorized level funding of $3 million for the Food Pantry Assistance Grant for five years.

This bill created an additional exception in state fiscal rules that obliges the State Controller to clarify rules that allow an exception for use of state dollars for advance payment for the purchase of state agricultural products allowing organizations such as schools and food banks or food pantries to spend state grant dollars before the agricultural season begins.

The bill created the summer electronic benefits transfer for children program (summer EBT) in the Colorado Department of Human Services to provide food benefits to students in low-income households for the summer months when students are not in school pursuant to federal law.

The act created the Healthy Food Incentives Program in the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The department will partner with a statewide nonprofit organization that has experience in supporting healthy food incentive programs to provide healthy food incentives that benefit Colorado's low-income populations. The healthy food incentives must attempt to improve access to fresh Colorado-grown fruits and vegetables within Colorado's low-income communities.

The bill directed the Colorado Department of Healthcare Policy and Finance (HCPF) to complete a feasibility study on the use of Medicaid Section 1115 Waivers to pay for housing and nutrition supports.

The bill directed the Colorado Department of Healthcare Policy and Finance (HCPF) to complete a feasibility study on the use of Medicaid Section 1115 Waivers to pay for housing and nutrition supports.

For tax years 2024 through 2033, the bill created a family affordability income tax credit for Coloradans with children. The credit is available to single filers with a federal adjusted gross income (AGI) up to $85,000 or joint filers with an AGI up to $95,000. The credit is refundable, meaning any amount by which the credit exceeds a taxpayer’s tax liability is refunded to the taxpayer.

The act created the equal justice authority as a special purpose authority to distribute an equal justice fee for the purpose of providing monetary support to local organizations that provide legal representation and legal advice to low-income individuals. The equal justice authority is governed by the equal justice authority board, which is created in the act.

The act established the Black Coloradan racial equity commission in the legislative department to conduct a study to determine, and make recommendations related to, any historical and ongoing effects of slavery and subsequent systemic racism on Black Coloradans that may be attributed to Colorado state practices, systems, and policies.

The bill created the time-to-eat task force in the Colorado Department of Education to evaluate Colorado school districts' and other states' policies regarding scheduled lunch time. The bill created the safe and healthy play grant program in the department to assist schools in implementing programs that support social and emotional learning through play.