enterprise zones

Colorado's enterprise zone program will be modified to permanently cap the amount of investment tax credit that may be claimed at $750,000 per year, place greater emphasis on job creation and workforce development and provide transparency in assessing the program's effectiveness, thanks to Gov. John Hickenlooper's signing of House Bill 1142 on Wednesday.

Under the new law:

Ed Sealover
Denver Business Journal

Two major business groups pulled their support from a bill to reform Colorado's enterprise-zone program Wednesday when its sponsor lowered the annual caps on investment tax credits, but Democrats on the House Finance Committee still passed House Bill 1142 on a party-line vote.

Urban and Rural Enterprise Zone Act Reforms

­­­­House Bill 13-1142

George Awuor, policy analyst, and Rich Jones, director of policy and research
Testimony to the ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­House Finance Committee
March 13, 2013

By Aldo Svaldi
The Denver Post

Colorado's enterprise-zone program has granted the majority of its tax credits in recent years to natural-resource companies and utilities operating in rural areas.

That has critics asking whether the state is using its limited economic-development ammunition to reward activities that would have happened anyway.

Gov. John Hickenlooper this week signed a bill that takes a step forward in making our state's Enterprise Zone Program more productive.

House Bill 1241, which became law on Wednesday, is a small step, but it is a step in the right direction. The legislation creates a 15-member task force that will review:

On Wednesday, February 29th, two enterprise zone bills (House Bills 1241 and 1251) will come before the House Finance Committee for action.

House Bill 12-1251

Testimony to the House Finance Committee
George Awuor, policy analyst
February 22, 2012

Thank you for the opportunity to speak before this committee today.

I am George Awuor, and I am a policy analyst at the Bell Policy Center. The Bell is a non-partisan, non-profit profit research and advocacy organization dedicated to making Colorado a state of opportunity for all.

Legislators gather tomorrow for the start of the 2012 General Assembly, and we wanted to share some of our priorities for the session.

We have been saying for several years that Colorado's enterprise zone program has not been effective at promoting economic growth.

In 2009, we released a review of research that showed enterprise zone tax credits resulted in minimal long-term investment and few, if any, jobs – the primary objectives when the program was established in 1987.

Gov. Bill Ritter recently signed two bills to restructure Colorado's enterprise zone program.

We believe these bills are important because they will: