TABOR & Fiscal Policy

Colorado state government collects revenues from a variety of sources, and divides them into specific types of funds. The legislature appropriates money from these funds to pay for state government activities. State law places limits and restrictions on how the legislature can use the money from each type of fund.

A quarter century 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 25 years, and at some of the economic and political factors that drove those decisions.

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.

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.

Three Colorado nonprofits today released Looking Forward: Colorado???s fiscal prospects after Referendum C, a new report that gives Colorado citizens a baseline about future fiscal conditions for state government.

Consultants release cost comparisons for health care reform proposals; P-20 Education Council puts price tags on five education reforms; Carbon tax amendment proposed for ???????08 ballot; Executive branch department budgets now posted on governor????????s website; Treasurer developing interactive state tax website