Amendment 23

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It still feels like summer, but most of Colorado's kids are already back at school. General Fund is back at school, too, and working harder than ever just to make the grade.

In previous emails we talked about how General Fund is struggling to keep his obligations to college students, Medicaid patients and other Coloradans while revenues are slipping. And we've discussed how he may have to take on more responsibility for roads and bridges.

Almost three decades of constitutional amendments, legislative acts and economic ups and downs

To understand how Colorado finds itself in its current fiscal condition, it is helpful to look back at some critical decisions made by legislators and voters over the last 29 years, and at some of the economic and political factors that drove those decisions.

This op-ed appeared in The Denver Post on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009

By Matt Sundeen

There's a story going around that's so scary it ought to be told only in a whisper:

If Colorado tries to untangle the conflicts in its budget, it will end up like . . . California.

No self-respecting state would want that. The massive budget cuts, the IOUs, the celebrity governor autographing government-surplus sale items . . . yikes! Just the thought makes your blood curdle.

(This report was updated to reflect the repeal of the Arveschoug-Bird funding formula in April 2009. It was passed out during a presentation by Wade Buchanan to the interim Fiscal Stability Commission on July 9, 2009.)

The road to 2009
Almost three decades of constitutional amendments, legislative acts
and economic ups and downs

Take TABOR. Please. And while we’re at it, take Gallagher and Amendment 23 and the handful of other constitutional and statutory formulas that stand between us and a sane state budget. After a quarter-century of jumping from one ballot measure to the next, it's time to stop setting fiscal policy by formula.

Hank Lacey of Denver VOICE interviewed Wade Buchanan and Barry Poulson on the recession and anticipated cuts in Colorado's budget.

A Boulder Daily Camera commentary looking forward to the state's future fiscal needs and the conflicting constitutional provisions, TABOR, Amendment 23 and the Gallagher Amendment, that will limit the state.