One of the more significant, but not widely known, accomplishments of the 2022 Colorado Legislature is passage of the Colorado False Claims Act (HB 22-1119).
This law does several things to first deter and then punish attempts at fraudulently obtaining money from state and local government agencies. Included here are such things as invoices for work never done or goods never delivered and applications for benefits by someone not entitled to the benefits. The pandemic, thanks to big chunks of money pouring into federal and state relief programs, has created inviting new opportunities for scamming government agencies.
Since 2010, Colorado has had a false claims act limited to fraudulent claims under Colorado’s Medicaid program. However, the new act covers all government activities and gives the Colorado Attorney General’s Office enhanced tools for investigating and prosecuting false claims. It also creates big fines for violators on top of liability for their ill-gotten gains. And it establishes attractive new incentives for whistleblowing.
The Colorado False Claims Act is modeled after the federal False Claims Act, which makes it illegal for anyone to defraud the federal government. Both the federal and Colorado acts allow for the collection of actual damages, times three, plus steep per-violation fines. Under the Colorado act, those fines are currently set at not less than $11,800 and not more than $23,600 per violation, and will undergo an annual inflation adjustment.
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