(1) (a) There is hereby created within the department a division of state government to be known and designated as the division of public school capital construction assistance, the head of which shall be the director of the division of public school capital construction assistance. Pursuant to section 13 of article XII of the state constitution, the commissioner of education shall appoint the director, and the commissioner shall give good faith consideration to the recommendations of the state board and the board prior to appointing the director. The commissioner shall also appoint such other personnel as may be necessary to fulfill the functions and exercise the powers and duties of the division.
(b) The division and the director of the division shall exercise their powers and perform their duties and functions under the department as if the same were transferred to the department by a type 2 transfer, as such transfer is defined in the "Administrative Organization Act of 1968", article 1 of title 24, C.R.S.
(2) The function of the division is to provide professional and technical support to the board as the board exercises its powers and duties as specified in this article so that financial assistance can be provided for public schools in an equitable, efficient, and effective manner. In furtherance of its function, the division, subject to board direction, has the following powers and duties:
To support the board in establishing public school facility construction guidelinespursuant to section 22-43.7-107;
To support the board in conducting or causing to be conducted the financial assistance priority assessment of public schools throughout the state required by section 22-43.7108, and, as part of such support, to inspect and assess public school facilities or evaluate the results of any such inspection and assessment conducted by any contractor retained by the board;
At the request of the board, to undertake a preliminary review of financial assistanceapplications submitted by applicants and assist the board in the development of the prioritized list of public school facility capital construction projects recommended for financial assistance that the board is required to prepare pursuant to section 22-43.7-106 (2)(c);
To assist applicants and potential applicants in identifying critical capital construction needs using the public school facility construction guidelines as specified in section 22-43.7-107; and
To exercise such other powers and duties as may be necessary to adequately fulfill itsfunction.
(3) In addition to the functions of the division specified in subsection (2) of this section, if the governor declares, by executive order or proclamation, a disaster emergency in any area of the state pursuant to section 24-33.5-704 (4), C.R.S., the division shall, as soon as possible following the declaration of the disaster emergency, contact each affected school facility in any area of the state in which the governor declared the disaster emergency to assess any facility needs resulting from the declared disaster emergency. The division must report its findings to the board as soon as possible following its outreach.
Source: L. 2008: Entire article R&RE, p. 1045, § 1, effective May 22. L. 2014: (3) added, (HB 14-1287), ch. 226, p. 843, § 3, effective May 17.
Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 14-1287, see section 1 of chapter 226, Session Laws of Colorado 2014.