A recent evaluation found that changes to Colorado’s TANF program mean the program better serves kids and families and reduces costs for the state.
In 2022, the Colorado legislature passed HB22-1259 – Modifications to Colorado Works Program. HB22-1259 made several changes to Colorado’s TANF program to better serve kids and families. In particular, HB25-1259 added a 10% increase to basic cash assistance (BCA) and an annual cost-of-living adjustment to prevent continued erosion of BCA due to inflation. The bill also paved the way to easing the “cliff effect” in TANF, when a family makes too much to qualify for the program but too little to reach economic stability. Families now have a short period of time to get their feet under them after finding a job, before the new income disqualifies them from being enrolled in TANF, referred to as “earned income disregard.”
In 2025, the legislature passed HB25-1279 – State Level Data for Colorado Works. In addition to improving data on TANF spending, the bill required an evaluation of the impacts of HB22-1259. This evaluation was recently conducted by the Social Work Research Center at Colorado State University. The results of this evaluation showcase the positive impacts of HB22-1259.
The evaluation found that increases to BCA payments and changes to the earned income disregard policy had the biggest impact for TANF families.
Both increases to BCA payments and the earned income disregard increased the average number of families served monthly in the program, by 7 percent and 4.8 percent respectively. Importantly, however, both policy changes also reduced the number of times that families “churned,” or left and returned to the program within a year, by 5 percent and 23 percent respectively. These findings indicate that more eligible families have accessed the benefits of TANF since the passage of HB22-1259, and that increased monthly payments and easing the cliff effect led to families more effectively moving toward self-sufficiency during their time in the program, so that they did not need to re-enroll in TANF shortly after leaving.
Increasing BCA payments decreased the number of months a family participated in TANF by 1.5 months, which also indicates that families were able to move toward self-sufficiency in a shorter period when they received more substantial support. The earned income disregard policy slightly increased the amount of time a family participated in the program, by 0.43 months, which aligns with the intent of that policy change to provide families with additional time to get their feet under them after connecting to new employment.
The TANF program serves children and families in Colorado who are experiencing extreme poverty through BCA payments and other types of support. Families experiencing extreme poverty are making less than $15,000 per year. BCA payments help cover the cost of necessities, such as diapers, food, and transportation. As of July 2025, the average BCA payment amount is $526 per month.
