Bell testifies with eye toward equity, opportunity

The General Assembly has gotten off to a fast start, and Bell Policy Center staffers have testified on bills we believe will improve access to insurance, increase educational opportunities and add some balance as the state wrestles with its budget shortfall.

Yesterday, policy fellow Debra Judy submitted an Opportunity Note in favor of House Bill 1008, which would prohibit consideration of gender in setting insurance premium rates.

Summary of the Bell's position in favor: By equalizing the cost of health insurance premiums paid by men and women in the non-group market, the bill will reduce gender discrimination in health insurance. The bill will help reduce the financial barriers that women face in securing quality, affordable health care in Colorado.
Click here for the Opportunity Note

Here's a quick look at some of our other testimony:

Senate Bill 35: Allowing automatic enrollment in employee retirement plans
Summary of the Bell's position in favor: Research has demonstrated that automatic enrollment in defined contribution plans such as 401(k) plans has resulted in a greater percentage of workers participating in these plans. In particular, automatic enrollment has significantly increased participation among lower-income and younger workers, who historically participate in these plans at much lower rates than other employees.
Click here for full testimony

House Bill 1040: Promotion of CollegeInvest for adults to pursue their own post-secondary educational opportunities
Summary of the Bell's position in favor: By helping more adults save for their own post-secondary educational opportunities, and by allowing employers to match their employees' contributions in these savings accounts, the bill is good education policy, good workforce development policy and good economic development policy.
Click here for full testimony

House Bill 1002: Restoring the state Earned Income Tax Credit as the first TABOR refund mechanism
Summary of the Bell's position in favor: This proposal would make it more likely that low-income working families will receive the EITC when there is a TABOR surplus. A broad range of studies have concluded that the federal EITC lifts people out of poverty, encourages low-income workers to participate in the labor force, reduces welfare, stimulates local economies and increases the economic well-being of low-income working families. The state EITC further promotes the economic well-being of low-income working families.
Click here for full testimony

Package of bills to limit, suspend or repeal several tax exemptions and tax credits
Summary of the Bell's position in favor: The Legislative Council projects the state will receive $6.7 billion in income, sales and use tax revenues in the current year. For the record, that's 3.2 percent of the state's estimated $207 billion economy. The council also projects that the state will forgo about $2.17 billion this year in income, sales and use tax revenues due to tax exemptions. In other words, existing tax rates alone would generate about $8.9 billion in income, sales, and use tax revenues this year. But the state will not receive nearly a quarter of that revenue because of exemptions enacted by previous legislatures. While we endorse the premise of encouraging businesses to locate and create jobs in Colorado, we also believe in fact-based decision making. It is important to determine the effects these tax credits and exemptions actually have on business growth and development. Currently, that does not happen. We enact them, then we forget about them. In essence, we spend almost a quarter of General Fund revenues every year without any review or debate about priorities or levels or effectiveness. Given our current budget challenges we believe that all options should be considered, including Colorado's current tax credits and exemptions. Many of these may make sense in good times -- and some may make sense today. But given the severity of the budget gap confronting us in the coming fiscal year, every option needs to be on the table. We urge the legislature to take a balanced approach in addressing our budget shortfall, which includes limiting, suspending or repealing some of the existing tax credits and exemptions.
Click here for full testimony

Also, please note that you can keep up with bills important to the Bell on our Legislative Status Report.