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SB 25-098

Department of Law Supplemental

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Judy Amabile and 9 co-sponsors

Provides supplemental funding for Colorado's Department of Law for FY2024-25, adding and reallocating spending across divisions (staff, operations, legal services, grants) with fund-source flexibility.

Governor Signed
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Bill Summary · SB 25-098

SB 25-098 — Department of Law Supplemental (Governor Signed)

Status: Governor signed (2/27/2025)
Introduced: 2/3/2025 — Passed both chambers without amendment

Purpose

SB 25-098 is a fiscal (supplemental) bill that adjusts and adds appropriations for the Colorado Department of Law for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024. It amends Part XI of the FY 2024-25 appropriation act (Session Laws 2024, HB 24-1430) to provide additional spending authority across multiple divisions and line items of the Attorney General’s office. The bill does not create new policy; it reallocates and clarifies funding sources and spending authority.

Key provisions / Funding highlights

The bill amends the Department of Law appropriation structure and provides supplemental amounts to multiple line items. Selected entries shown in the reengrossed text include:

  • Administration

    • Personal services: $6,018,145 (59.9 FTE)
    • Office of Community Engagement: $1,539,147 (14.0 FTE)
    • Health, life, and dental: $8,997,572
    • Various staff-related payments (PERA, salary survey, step pay, workers’ comp) and operating costs (IT maintenance, leased space, payments to OIT)
    • Administration subtotal totals shown around $39.3 million (document shows $39,379,823 and $39,391,896 in related lines)

  • Legal Services to State Agencies

    • Personal services: $56,065,265 (353.1 FTE)
    • Operating and litigation: $2,993,441
    • Indirect cost assessment: $5,731,983
    • Section total shown: $64,790,689 (with specified splits between cash and reappropriated funds)

  • Criminal Justice and Appellate (examples)

    • Special Prosecutions Unit: $6,262,995
    • Auto Theft Prevention Grant: $3,402,246
    • Appellate Unit: $5,767,426
    • Peace Officers Standards & Training (P.O.S.T.) Board support: $6,235,595

Notes: The reengrossed bill text includes many detailed line-item funding amounts and fund-source splits (General Fund, cash funds, reappropriated funds, federal funds, and custodial money). Some amounts are explicitly identified as custodial funds or indirect cost recoveries.

Fund sources and flexibilities

  • Appropriations are financed from a mix of General Fund, various cash funds (including the Legal Services Cash Fund, Marijuana Tax Cash Fund, Safe2Tell Cash Fund), reappropriated funds, federal funds, and custodial money.
  • The bill reiterates that custodial money received by the Attorney General is not subject to annual appropriation limits under Colo. law (Section 24-31-108(5), C.R.S.) and does not count as fiscal-year spending for TABOR (Article X, Section 20).
  • The Attorney General is authorized, within specified sections (notably Legal Services to State Agencies), to transfer spending authority between cash and reappropriated fund sources for those line items, but may not increase total authorized spending for the line item.

Who is affected

  • Department of Law divisions and employees (staffing, benefits, operations)
  • State agencies that purchase legal services from the Attorney General (reflects reappropriated/cash fund billing)
  • Programs supported by the Department (e.g., Special Prosecutions, Auto Theft Prevention grant, P.O.S.T. support)
  • Fund administrators for custodial and cash funds referenced in the bill

Procedural timeline

  • Introduced in Senate: 2/3/2025 (assigned to Appropriations)
  • Senate passed (3rd reading): 2/6/2025
  • House passed (3rd reading): 2/13/2025
  • Sent to Governor: 2/21/2025
  • Governor signed: 2/27/2025

Sponsors

Primary sponsors: Senator Jeff Bridges (Senate), Representative Shannon Bird (House). Additional co-sponsors include J. Amabile, B. Kirkmeyer, E. Sirota, R. Taggart, and others.

Impact summary

SB 25-098 provides supplemental fiscal authority to the Department of Law for FY 2024-25, supporting personnel costs, benefits, operating and IT expenses, legal services to state agencies, criminal justice and appellate work, and several programmatic grants and supports. It clarifies fund-source use (including custodial receipts and indirect cost recoveries) and preserves certain administrative flexibilities for managing fund-source allocations within departmental spending caps.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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