Healthy, High Performance School Facilities:
Developments in State Policy

Colorado

Citation: Colorado Statutes §§ 24-30-1301, 1305 (2007 Co. Senate Bill 07-051)
Effective: September 2007
Available: HERE

This law establishes green building requirements for state agencies controlling the construction or substantial renovation of facilities that are at least 5,000 square feet and that receive state funding equal to at least 25% of the project cost. [In 2008, a separate law (Co. House Bill 1335) increased the state’s role in funding school building projects.] Covered projects must use a state-approved high performance building rating system and must achieve the highest rating that can be attained with a 15-year payback of any increased initial costs. The law directs the Office of the State Architect to adopt a rating system and provides general criteria for doing so, but does not specify the rating system.

The Office of the State Architect has established a high performance certification program that incorporates the LEED rating system and targets LEED Gold as the standard for compliance with the law. [See http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/dfp/SBREP/energy.htm.] State officials indicate that the certification program will be revised to allow covered school projects to achieve either LEED Gold or the recently-established Colorado Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CO-CHPS) criteria, which were adapted from the original California CHPS. [See CO-CHPS at http://www.chps.net/dev/Drupal/node/37.]