Colorado § 25-16-104.6 - Fund established - administration - revenue sources - use.

§ 25-16-104.6. Fund established - administration - revenue sources - use.

(1) (a) There is hereby established in the state treasury the hazardous substance response fund. The fund is composed of money that the general assembly may choose to appropriate from the general fund, money derived from the fee imposed pursuant to section 25-16-104.5, and any interest derived therefrom; money recovered from responsible parties pursuant to the federal act or the OPA that is not generated by the state litigating as trustee for natural resources pursuant to section 25-16-104.7; money recovered through litigation by the state pursuant to the federal act or the OPA that is designated for future response cost; any money transferred to the fund pursuant to section 25-16-104.9; and any other money derived from public or private sources that may be credited to the fund. Money in the fund shall be annually appropriated by the general assembly, subject to section 25-16-104, remains available for the purposes of this article 16, and does not revert to the general fund of the state at the end of any fiscal year. If the fund balance exceeds ten million dollars in any state fiscal year and the fund balance is not projected to fall below ten million dollars within twenty-four months, the department shall evaluate the need to reduce fees to bring the balance of the fund below ten million dollars and shall present the evaluation to the commission.

(b) Repealed.

(c) Notwithstanding any provision of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) to the contrary, on April 20, 2009, the state treasurer shall deduct seventeen million four hundred sixty-eight thousand five hundred seventeen dollars from the hazardous substance response fund and transfer such sum to the general fund.

(d) Notwithstanding any provision of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) to the contrary, on June 1, 2009, the state treasurer shall deduct twelve million five hundred thousand dollars from the hazardous substance response fund and transfer such sum to the general fund.

(e) Notwithstanding any provision of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) to the contrary, on July 1, 2009, the state treasurer shall deduct two million five hundred thousand dollars from the hazardous substance response fund and transfer such sum to the general fund.

(f) Notwithstanding any provision of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) to the contrary, for the state fiscal year commencing July 1, 2010, the state treasurer shall make a one-time transfer from the hazardous substance response fund to the solid waste management fund created in section 30-20-118, C.R.S., of up to four hundred thousand dollars, to be used in connection with the department's solid waste management activities.

(g) Repealed.

(2) The general assembly may appropriate up to two and one-half percent of the money in the hazardous substance response fund for the department's costs of administration and its costs of collection of fees or civil penalties pursuant to section 25-16-104.5. In addition, the department is authorized, subject to appropriation by the general assembly, to use the money in the fund for the following purposes:

(a) To maintain an inventory of all sites and facilities at which hazardous substances have been disposed of in the state;

(b) To supply such state matching funds as may be needed to perform response actions at any site where action is being taken pursuant to the federal act;

(c) To provide any post-cleanup monitoring and maintenance required pursuant to the federal act;

(d) To provide for future response costs in connection with state activities at natural resource damage sites;

(e) To provide such state matching funds as may be needed to perform remediation activities at sites subject to remediation under the "Federal Water Pollution Control Act", 33 U.S.C. sec. 1251 et seq., where such remediation activities would keep the site from being added to the national priorities list established pursuant to the federal act;

(f) To remediate sites:

(I) That do not have a responsible party that will perform a remediation;

(II) That have been determined to present a threat to human health or the environment; and

(III) Where the remediation will allow the redevelopment of the property for the public good;

(g) Repealed.

(h) To finance the radon education and awareness program, established in section 25-11-114 (2), and the radon mitigation assistance program, established in section 25-11-114 (3).

(2.5) Money in the hazardous substance response fund may be appropriated as follows:

(a) To finance any litigation arising under this part 1, the federal act, or the OPA on behalf of the state;

(b) For the enforcement of court-approved remedies under the federal act out of moneys in the hazardous substance response fund received for future response costs, excluding fines, under the federal act.

(2.7) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 1503, § 1, effective May 31, 2007.)

(3) Before the department supplies hazardous substance response fund money as state matching funds for a particular site pursuant to paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of this section, the executive director of the department shall first make a written determination that no potentially responsible party or parties have offered to implement a proper removal and remedial action plan at such site at their own expense, consistent with the national contingency plan established pursuant to the federal act.

(4) It is the intent of the general assembly that state matching moneys be appropriated only from the hazardous substance response fund or the hazardous substance site response fund.

Source: L. 85: Entire section added, p. 917, § 3, effective July 1. L. 88: IP(2), (2)(b), and (3) amended and (4) added, p. 1051, § 4, effective April 4. L. 90: (1), IP(2), and (2)(d) amended and (2.5) and (2.7) added, p. 1349, § 1, effective July 1; IP(2) amended and (2.5) added, p. 1348, § 3, effective January 1, 1991. L. 96: (2.7) amended, p. 855, § 1, effective May 23. L. 2000: (2)(b) amended and (2)(e) and (2)(f) added, p. 892, § 3, effective January 1, 2001. L. 2002: (1) amended, p. 156, § 15, effective March 27. L. 2003: (2.5) amended, p. 1515, § 1, effective May 1. L. 2007: IP(2.5), (2.5)(a), and (2.7) amended, p. 1503, § 1, effective May 31. L. 2008: (2)(g) added, p. 1634, § 2, effective May 29; (1)(a) amended, p. 1907, § 104, effective August 5. L. 2009: (1)(c) added, (SB 09-208), ch. 149, p. 625, § 24, effective April 20; (1)(d) and (1)(e) added, (SB 09-279), ch. 367, p. 1929, § 16, effective June 1. L. 2010: (1)(a) amended and (1)(f) added, (HB 10-1329), ch. 358, p. 1704, § 4, effective June 7. L. 2014: (4) amended, (HB 14-1339), ch. 299, p. 1252, § 2, effective May 31. L. 2016: (1)(b) repealed, (HB 16-1408), ch. 153, p. 472, § 26, effective July 1; (1)(a), IP(2.5), and (2.5)(a) amended, (SB 16-092), ch. 53, p. 124, § 4, effective August 10; IP(2) amended and (2)(h) added, (HB 16-1141), ch. 128, p. 367, § 4, effective August 10. L. 2023: (1)(a) amended, (SB 23-239), ch. 82, p. 290, § 1, effective April 17. L. 2024: (1)(a) amended, (HB 24-1418), ch. 85, p. 282, § 1, effective April 18. L. 2025: (1)(g) added, (SB 25-255), ch. 106, p. 457, § 1, effective April 24.

Editor's note: (1) Amendments to the introductory portion to subsection (2) by Senate Bill 90-176 and House Bill 90-1205 were harmonized.

(2) Subsection (2)(g)(IV) provided for the repeal of subsection (2)(g), effective July 1, 2009. (See L. 2008, p. 1634.)

(3) Subsection (1)(g)(II) provided for the repeal of subsection (1)(g), effective July 1, 2026. (See L. 2025, p. 457.)

Cross references: (1) For the legislative declaration contained in the 1990 act amending this section, see section 1 of chapter 205, Session Laws of Colorado 1990. For the legislative declaration contained in the 2008 act enacting subsection (2)(g), see section 1 of chapter 347, Session Laws of Colorado 2008.

(2) For the hazardous substance site response fund referenced in subsection (4), see § 25-16-104.9.