TABOR

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.

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.

Overview

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.???

Our goal was to take the current state General Fund budget and extend it six years into the future. Looking Forward estimates how much it will cost to keep pace with growth in the major forces that are driving the budgets in each area.

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.