Bill Ritter

Years of hard work paid off yesterday when Gov. Bill Ritter signed the payday lending bill into law.

We view this as a long, overdue victory for consumer protection in Colorado.

In 2002, the Bell identified predatory lending as a crippling practice that holds back too many families, preventing them from building wealth and achieving self-sufficiency.

Legislative economists project that Colorado will face an additional $40 million shortfall in its General Fund budget for fiscal year 2009-10 due to a continued drop in revenues since their September forecast.

Reducing the high school dropout rate in Colorado has long been a goal of the Bell Policy Center, and we're gratified to see the attention this issue has recently been getting both in our state and nationally.

Four new reports shed light on the dropout problem, and they point the way toward potential approaches to addressing it. And a fifth report quantifies the economic benefits of cutting the dropout rate in half, both for the new graduates and for society.

Gov. Bill Ritter presented his budget for fiscal year 2010-11 to members of the Joint Budget Committee today.

He is requesting a $7.2 billion General Fund budget for fiscal year 2010-2011, which begins on July 1, 2010. This budget closes a $1 billion shortfall between projected General Fund revenues and expenditures and comes on the heels of a $2 billion shortfall in fiscal year 2009-10.

Gov. Bill Ritter presented a plan to the Joint Budget Committee today that closes an additional $271 million shortfall in the state budget for fiscal year 2009-10.

When combined with the $320 million in cuts he proposed in August, it eliminates a gap projected to be $589.4 million below September's revenue forecast.

Ritter used a mix of one-time cuts, transfers and federal funds to balance the budget.

Contact: Joe Watt
Wade Buchanan
303-297-0456

Statement on Gov. Bill Ritter's latest budget reduction plan

Wade Buchanan, President, Bell Policy Center

October 28, 2009

Gov. Bill Ritter today announced a new round of budget cuts and adjustments to keep the state budget in balance in the face of continuing weak revenues due to the ongoing national recession.

Peter Marcus
Denver Daily News Staff Writer

Gov. Bill Ritter said last Thursday that he is working with groups outside the Capitol to craft a 2011 ballot initiative that would eliminate aspects of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.

Speaking to members of the Colorado Alliance for Retired Americans -- an arm of the AFL-CIO union -- Ritter explained how Colorado's constitution makes it difficult for lawmakers to prevent severe budget cuts to departments such as human services and public safety.

Gov. Bill Ritter presented his plan to balance the fiscal year 2009-10 budget today before a packed house at a meeting of the Joint Budget Committee. The overall plan totals $320 million and includes $261.2 million in cuts to the General Fund, $39.8 million in transfers from cash funds and $19 million in other revenues and reserve changes.

Colorado remains mired in a deep recession. General Fund revenues are projected to fall short by more than $1 billion over the next two fiscal years.  

Budget cuts are a certainty. They will be real, and they will hurt. That makes it imperative that Gov. Bill Ritter and legislators approach budget decisions thoughtfully and strategically.  

Like other states, Colorado faces its second major budget shortfall in less than a decade. But unlike others, we are heading into this deepening economic crisis with one of the smallest budgets in the nation, whether measured by population or the size of the state economy. We already spend less than almost every other state on the public structures and services our future depends on: our schools, colleges, roads and bridges, health care and other assistance for poor families and children.