Fiscal Year 2026–27 · HB26-1410

The fine print

What the enacted Long Bill says once you read past the headline number. It holds three separate budgets. It shows the money lawmakers do not actually control and what is spoken for before a single program dollar. It also names the public money that is not in this budget at all.

Reading past the headline

FACT Every figure below is read from the enacted bill, HB26-1410, or its footnotes, except one card: the big public money that sits outside the state budget entirely. The state pension gap moved to the budget in detail.

Three budgets, not one

The $49.6B headline is operating only. Capital and IT are appropriated separately.

Two totals, two bases. An appropriation is money the legislature authorized to be spent, not money spent. For FY 2026-27, the Long Bill alone appropriates $49.56 billion FACT. The Appropriations Report from the Joint Budget Committee staff adds the other bills of the session: $49.69 billion FACT.

Both are correct, and we never add them. See both totals, with their sources.

Operating budgets (Section 2)$49.56B
Capital construction (Section 3)$160.4M
IT projects (Section 4)$32.3M

For every $100 of operating budget, the state enacted 32¢ of capital construction and 7¢ of new IT projects. That is a lean capital year. CALC

What lawmakers actually control

Money marked "(I)" is displayed in the bill but not controlled by annual appropriation — enterprises, continuously appropriated funds, federal pass-throughs.

Appropriated by the General Assembly — ≈ $31.57B (63.7%) Informational "(I)" — shown, not controlled — ≈ $17.99B (36.3%)

CDOT alone carries $1.4B of informational money, spent by TABOR-exempt enterprise boards. A further $180M is local "(L)" funds. This share is not comparable year to year. The same footnotes in the FY 2025-26 Long Bill give 12.8%. This act marks nearly all federal funds "(I)" and its predecessor marked about a quarter of them. The money did not change. Only the way the General Assembly marks federal money did.

Already spoken for

Fixed annual obligations paid before any program spending.

PERA unfunded-pension direct distribution$225M/yr
SB 17-267 lease-purchase debt service$150M/yr
Senior & veteran homestead exemption reimbursement$194M/yr
Total, before a single program dollar≈ $570M/yr

Lease-purchase deals are called certificates of participation. Under TABOR, Colorado uses them in place of general-obligation debt.

Watchlist ANALYSIS

What puts a line here: the bill prints it, and the money pays for a failure rather than a service — a fine, a staffing premium, work redone. A frozen line counts too, where the bill holds a cost flat and the pressure behind it does not. Selection is ours against that test. Every figure is the bill's.

Consent-decree fines for mental-health competency delays — money that buys no services$12.8M/yr
DOC overtime + shift differential — the price of too few staff$54.7M/yr
Reopening cases tainted by CBI DNA-test misconduct$2.0M
Judicial pay for FY27 — frozen at $0 increase, printed in the bill$0

Who really pays

One yardstick: of each department's budget, the share paid by the General Fund — your state income & sales taxes. The rest is fees, gas taxes, tuition, and federal money.

CDOT ($2.30B) — runs on gas taxes & federal aid, not income tax0% GF
DORA — licensees' fees pay for professional licensing2% GF
Military & Veterans Affairs — mostly federal money11% GF
Public Safety — the State Patrol runs on gas-tax (HUTF) money33% GF

Two more do not fit the yardstick. Higher education runs mostly on tuition & fees. About 55% of its budget is cash funds. The National Guard's $119.8M federal payroll is "not accounted for in the state accounting system" at all.

Money you won't find here

The biggest public dollars in Colorado that are not in the state budget — different governments, different books. If you came looking for these, this is why they're absent.

Denver International Airport — a City & County of Denver enterprise. The Great Hall program alone is ≈ $2.1B. Long-term "Vision 100" plans top $15B. Airline fees, passenger facility charges and airport revenue bonds pay for it, not taxes$0 state
RTD transit — its own special district, funded by a dedicated regional sales tax$0 state
Denver Water & city utilities — paid for by their own customers$0 state
School districts' local share — raised by district property taxes; only the state's ≈ $7.9B share appears in this budgetstate share only
Cities & counties — property tax in Colorado funds local governments and schools, never the state$0 state

Where to dig: DEN's Capital Improvement Plan and its bond disclosures on EMMA. Also read the Denver Auditor's reports (see: Great Hall) and each district's own budget.

In the bill's own words

The state parking garage located at 1350 Lincoln Street… which has a value of $16,100,000.

HB26-1410, Section 1 — state emergency reserve designations

Colorado's constitutional 3% emergency reserve is satisfied partly with real estate — including a parking garage and the Capitol Annex ($37.2M) — not liquid cash.

A construction project for which the lowest bid is in excess of the appropriation shall be redesigned to conform to the appropriation.

HB26-1410, Section 3 headnote

A real cost-control ratchet: when bids come in high, agencies must shrink the project — they cannot simply ask for more money.

Funding for the reintroduction of new wolves is intended to only come from gifts, grants, and donations and statutorily allowable cash funds.

HB26-1410, Natural Resources footnote 79a

The legislature fenced wolf reintroduction off from tax dollars — General Fund may manage existing wolves only.

This amount is not accounted for in the state accounting system and is shown for informational purposes only.

HB26-1410, Military Affairs — $119.8M National Guard pay

The largest line in an entire department never touches the state's books — a reminder that headline totals and controlled dollars are different things.