Colorado § 30-29-101 - Receipts from national forests - legislative intent.

§ 30-29-101. Receipts from national forests - legislative intent.

(1) All moneys received by the state treasurer from the federal government under provisions of the act of congress of May 23, 1908, as amended, 16 U.S.C. sec. 500, relating to receipts from national forests, referred to in this section as "national forest payments", shall be credited to a clearing account.

(2) The state treasurer shall pay over the national forest payments within thirty days after receipt of the payments to the treasurers of the several counties of the state in which national forests are located, on the basis of the acreage of national forest land located in each county and in accordance with information provided by the appropriate agency of the federal government as to source and amount.

(3) (a) The boards of county commissioners of the counties receiving the payments specified in subsection (2) of this section shall allocate a minimum of twenty-five percent to the county road and bridge fund and a minimum of twenty-five percent to the public schools in the county; except that the county may allocate less than twenty-five percent of the national forest payments to the county road and bridge fund in order to maximize the receipt by the county of federal payments in lieu of taxes pursuant to 31 U.S.C. sec. 6901 et seq., referred to in this section as "PILT". The allocation of the remaining fifty percent of the national forest payments shall be determined pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (b) of this subsection (3).

(b) (I) A total of three representatives from the school districts in the county and three members of the board of county commissioners, or their designees, shall meet and shall negotiate the remaining percentage allocation of the national forest payments to either the public schools in the county or the county road and bridge fund. In determining the allocation of the national forest payments, the parties shall seek to maximize the total amount of federal funds that may be received by the county and the public schools in the county.

(II) Unallocated national forest payments shall remain unspent until such time as the parties agree upon the allocation of the national forest payments between the county road and bridge fund and the public schools in the county.

(c) If there is more than one school district in the county, the amount allocated to each district shall be in the proportion that its pupil enrollment during the preceding school year bears to the aggregate pupil enrollment in all districts in the county during said preceding school year.

(4) Notwithstanding the minimum percentage allocations to the public schools in the county and the county road and bridge fund set forth in paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of this section, in any federal fiscal year in which the national forest payments received by the state from the federal government are less than six million dollars, the parties specified in paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of this section shall allocate one hundred percent of the national forest payments to either the public schools in the county or the county road and bridge fund pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of this section.

(5) Repealed.

Source: L. 73: R&RE, p. 1141, § 2. C.R.S. 1963: § 112-9-1. L. 90: (3) amended, p. 1847, § 44, effective May 31. L. 2009: Entire section amended, (HB 09-1250), ch. 240, p. 1091, § 1, effective August 5. L. 2010: (3)(a) amended and (5) added, (SB 10-209), ch. 411, p. 2029, § 1, effective June 10.

Editor's note: Subsection (5)(c) provided for the repeal of subsection (5), effective July 1, 2011. (See L. 2010, p. 2029.)