(1) The general assembly finds and declares that:
Both the United States and Colorado face a historic demographic shift over the nextfifty years. As unprecedented numbers of workers retire and longevity increases, the percentage of the population fifty years of age and older will increase rapidly and significantly.
This aging of our population will have wide-ranging economic, workforce, and socialeffects on all sectors of our society. A great many families, communities, businesses, public agencies, and programs are insufficiently prepared to meet these challenges effectively.
The aging of our population creates opportunities for using this population's experience and wisdom in the workplace and through volunteer opportunities;
The aging of our population will place significant financial pressure on all families,but especially middle- and lower-income families, who will be challenged to provide long-term care, services, and supports for loved ones. Few of these families are fully aware of or prepared for the challenges of aging, retirement, and caregiving.
The aging of Colorado's population will have significant long-term impacts, bothpositive and negative, on the state's workforce, businesses, and economy, including private-pay long-term care services and infrastructure, creating both challenges and opportunities;
The aging of our population will place unprecedented long-term demands on publicsector programs and budgets, including social security, medicare, medicaid, housing, transportation, and health at the federal, state, and local levels;
The aging of Colorado's population could significantly impact future state incomeand sales tax revenues as well as local sales and property tax revenues; and
Colorado families, communities, businesses, and public agencies would all benefitfrom more comprehensive research into the issues related to the broad challenges of aging and from the development of a long-term strategic action plan and set of recommendations for addressing those challenges.
It is therefore the intent of the general assembly to establish a multi-disciplinaryprivate and public sector stakeholders' group to develop a comprehensive strategic action plan on aging in Colorado through the year 2030. The group shall provide to the governor and general assembly comprehensive data on and specific recommendations regarding private and public options for addressing this demographic shift for the state to consider.
It is the intent of the general assembly that the recommendations of the group createdin this part 34 will lead to the implementation of programs, services, projects, policies, and procedures starting by November 1, 2016, in both the public and private sectors.
Source: L. 2015: Entire part added, (HB 15-1033), ch. 275, p. 1117, § 1, effective June 4.