Colorado requires a plan to coordinate education and workforce services

A committee in the governor's office must recommend how to bring education after high school, job training, and employment services together. The committee must seek input from students, workers, employers, and program participants. It must reach people across Colorado as far as practical. The committee must use existing state funding. The governor's office may also accept money and donated services. Recommendations cannot violate federal law or change the membership or appointment rules of the specified apprenticeship councils and committees. Recommendations cannot change the legal status of the State Apprenticeship Agency, Colorado Office of New Americans, or Colorado Disability Opportunity Office. The last two offices must retain their regular access to the governor's office and power to bring state agencies together. Committee members receive no pay or expense reimbursement. The committee provisions took effect upon passage and expire June 30, 2027.

The Department of Higher Education will oversee a system that brings education after high school, training, and employment resources together. The mission covers resources for Coloradans. The plan covers employment and training programs, adult education, and offices serving immigrants and people with disabilities. The plan must recommend how specified workforce programs and offices would move to the department; that requirement does not itself move them. Lawmakers state their intent to review the recommendations, make needed changes to state law, and rename the department. The department's director may organize internal units and advisory boards as needed to carry out its work. The department's mission and authority to organize internal units take effect July 1, 2028.

The executive director will hold the Department of Higher Education title. Appointees must have substantial training and experience in higher education and workforce development. These provisions cover the leader of Colorado's Department of Higher Education. The governor appoints the director with the Senate's approval. The commission director serving June 30, 2028, takes the department role unless the governor appoints someone else to start July 1, 2028. These leadership provisions take effect July 1, 2028. The provision carrying the incumbent into the role expires January 31, 2035.