TABOR & Fiscal Policy

The revenue portion of the Looking Forward project involved projecting state revenues for one final year of the six-year study period, FY 2012-13. For the first five fiscal years in the study period, we used the Colorado Legislative Council staff revenue projections published in September 2007.

Overview

The Department of Higher Education receives funding from a variety of sources. These include state General Fund dollars, General Fund Exempt dollars, made available through Referendum C, Cash Funds, Cash Funds Exempt, which include tuition and fees spending authority, and federal funds.

The Colorado Department of Health Care and Policy Financing (HCPF) is responsible for administering the state???s Medicaid program and other federally subsidized health care programs for children, the disabled, elderly, low-income and uninsured Coloradoans.

The Department of Human Services has 11 budget areas: Child Welfare, Disability Services, Division of Youth Services, Mental Health & Alcohol/Drug Abuse, County Administration, Executive Director???s Office, Information Technology, Operations, Child Care, Adult Assistance and Self-Sufficiency.

Appropriations for the Department of Corrections pay for the costs of incarcerating primarily adult prisoners in Colorado.

Colorado uses appropriations for capital construction to construct, maintain or renovate buildings or roads. In addition, capital appropriations can be used to purchase land or equipment (in excess of $50,000), including information technology systems.

Referendum C, passed by voters in 2005, allows state services to recover from cuts made during the 2001-03 downturn or that might be made during future recessions. It does this by bypassing TABOR???s ???ratchet effect.???

New report examines Colorado's fiscal prospects after Referendum C; Two recent studies examine fiscal, economic effects of immigration; Message from summit: It's everyone's business to cut state's dropout rate; Individual health mandates could work; Experts find holes in Federal Reserve report on payday lending; Guaranteed retirement accounts offer rescue plan for failing system; Two Bell staffers move on to new opportunities

Analysts from the Bell Policy Center, Colorado Children's Campaign and Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute focus on FY 2007-08 through FY 2012-13 ? – the last three years of the Referendum C time-out and the first three years of the new Ref C revenue cap. Looking Forward projects revenues and expenditures for the five largest state agencies, analyzes the effects of TABOR, the Arveschoug-Bird 6 percent spending formula and the varying forces that drive spending, agency by agency.