SB 228

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.

The Denver Post
Feb. 3, 2009

By Tim Hoover

Amid the hand-wringing over cuts to vital programs this year, a small group of lawmakers has been quietly mulling over an effort to undo one of the key constraints on the state budget.

And they have found new hope in a legal opinion that says their target, known as the Arves-choug-Bird limit, is not protected by the state constitution.

The Bell Policy Center is a nonpartisan public policy center and advocacy organization. I am speaking today in support of SB 09-228, to repeal the Arveschoug-Bird 6 percent limit on General Fund appropriations and increase the legislature’s flexibility to appropriate state revenues.

The Bell has been studying state fiscal policy since 2001, when we began researching the impacts of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). This work intensified with the economic downturn and the historic decline in state revenues during the first half of this decade.