Section 3. 5. Homestead exemption for qualifying senior citizens, veterans with a disability, and surviving spouses receiving dependency indemnity compensation - definition.

1. (1) For property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2002, fifty percent of the first two hundred thousand dollars of actual value of residential real property, as defined by law, that, as of the assessment date, is owner-occupied and is used as the primary residence of the owner-occupier shall be exempt from property taxation if:

   1. (a) The owner-occupier is sixty-five years of age or older as of the assessment date and has owned and occupied such residential real property as his or her primary residence for the ten years immediately preceding the assessment date;
   2. (b) The owner-occupier is the spouse or surviving spouse of an owner-occupier who previously qualified for a property tax exemption for the same residential real property under paragraph (a) of this subsection (1); or
   3. (c) For property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2007, only, the owner-occupier, as of the assessment date, is a veteran with a disability.

   4. (d) For property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2023, only, the owner-occupier, as of the assessment date, is an eligible spouse.

      (1. 3) An owner-occupier may claim only one exemption per property tax year even if the owner-occupier qualifies for an exemption under both paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section and either paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section.

      (1. 5) For purposes of this section, veteran with a disability means an individual who has served on active duty in the United States armed forces, including a member of the Colorado national guard who has been ordered into the active military service of the United States, has been separated therefrom under honorable conditions, and either has established a service-connected disability that has been rated by the United States department of veterans affairs as one hundred percent permanent disability through disability retirement benefits or a pension pursuant to a law or regulation administered by the department, the department of homeland security, or the department of the army, navy, or air force or has individual unemployability status as determined by the United States department of veterans affairs.

      (1. 7) As used in this section, eligible spouse means either a surviving spouse of a United States armed forces service member who died in the line of duty and received a death gratuity from the department of defense pursuant to 10 U. S. C. sec. 1475 et seq. or a surviving spouse of a veteran whose death resulted from a service-related injury or disease as determined by the United States department of veterans affairs if the surviving spouse is receiving dependency indemnity compensation awarded by the United States department of veterans affairs pursuant to chapter 13 of part II of title 38 of the United States code, chapter 5 of part I of title 38 of the United States code, and any other applicable provision of federal law.

2. (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, section 20 of this article, or any other constitutional provision, for any property tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2003, the general assembly may raise or lower by law the maximum amount of actual value of residential real property of which fifty percent shall be exempt under subsection (1) of this section.
3. (3) For any property tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2002, the general assembly shall compensate each local governmental entity that receives property tax revenues for the net amount of property tax revenues lost as a result of the property tax exemption provided for in this section. For purposes of section 20 of article X of this constitution, such compensation shall not be included in local government fiscal year spending and approval of this section by the voters statewide shall constitute a voter-approved revenue change to allow the maximum amount of state fiscal year spending for the 2001-02 state fiscal year to be increased by forty-four million one hundred twenty-three thousand six hundred four dollars and to include said amount in state fiscal year spending for said state fiscal year for the purpose of calculating subsequent state fiscal year spending limits. Payments made from the state general fund to compensate local governmental entities for property tax revenues lost as a result of the property tax exemption provided for in this section shall not be subject to any statutory limitation on general fund appropriations because the enactment of this section by the people of Colorado constitutes voter approval of a weakening of any such limitation.

Source: L. 2000: Entire section added, p. 2784, effective upon proclamation of the Governor, December 28, 2000. L. 2006: (1) amended and (1. 3) and (1. 5) added, p. 2953, effective upon proclamation of the Governor, L. 2007, p. 2963, December 31, 2006. Referred 2022: (1)(d) and (1. 7) added, Amendment E, L. 2022, p. 4293, effective upon proclamation of the Governor, December 27, 2022. See L. 2023, p. 3634. Referred 2024: (1)(c) and (1. 5) amended, Amendment G, (HCR 23-1002), effective upon proclamation of the Governor, December 17, 2024.

Editor's note: (1) The Governor issued the required proclamations on December 27, 2022, making the changes to this section by Amendment E effective as of that date.

(2) Provisions in this section were changed by Amendment G, effective upon proclamation of the governor, December 17, 2024. The vote count for the measure at the general election held November 5, 2024, was as follows:

FOR: 2,212,022

AGAINST: 812,638