At a ceremony Tuesday, May 28, on the CU Boulder campus, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis ushered in a new bill to support the state’s rapidly growing quantum industry.

Quantum mechanics is a branch of physics that zooms in on the strange behavior of very small things—from atoms to electrons and exotic states of matter that only emerge at extremely cold temperatures. If the state receives federal funding, the new bill, HB24-1325, will provide a series of tax incentives to foster businesses, research organizations and more that seek to tap into this realm to develop new technologies. It will provide $74 million for the state’s quantum industry and could unlock up to $1 billion in new investments for the Colorado economy.

The effort highlights Colorado’s status as a new Silicon Valley for quantum technologies. They include computers that could one day outperform even the fastest supercomputers today at certain tasks and sensors that can detect methane leaks in the air above oil and gas operations.

“Quantum technology is the future of computing,” Polis said in a statement. “Today we proved that quantum is bigger and better in the West! As home to four Nobel Prize winners for quantum science, more than 3,000 quantum workers, and five of the top 20 quantum companies, Colorado is the clear future of quantum.”

CU Boulder faculty members and alumni have also helped to found a number of quantum companies, many based in Colorado. They include Infleqtion (formerly ColdQuanta), Vescent Photonics, LongPath Technologies, FieldLine, Inc., Atom Computing, Stable Laser Systems, KM Labs, Mesa Quantum Systems and Icarus Quantum.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed. Last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce named Elevate Quantum, a coalition of 120 organizations including CU Boulder, as an official tech hub for quantum information technology—one of only two entities in the country to receive that designation.

HB24-1325 will add to that legacy. Elevate Quantum is currently competing for up to $70 million in funding from the federal government. If the state receives that funding, HB24-1325 will provide a “100% refundable income tax credit for qualifying investments in fixed capital assets as part of a coordinated plan to create a shared quantum facility.” It will also provide income tax credits for groups investing in quantum companies.