Arveschoug-Bird

House Bill 12-1075

Testimony to the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee

Rich Jones, Director of Policy and Research

April 30, 2012

Reinstating 6 percent limit on General Fund appropriations

House Bill 12-1075

Testimony to the House Finance Committee

Wade Buchanan, President

February 15, 2012

Senate Bill 11-1280
Testimony to the House Finance Committee
Wade Buchanan, President
April 21, 2011

My name is Wade Buchanan and I am President of the Bell Policy Center. The Bell Policy Center is a non-partisan public policy center and advocacy organization committed to making Colorado a state of opportunity for all. I am speaking today in opposition to HB 11-1280, which would reinstate the 6 percent annual growth formula for General Fund appropriations.

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.

My name is Wade Buchanan and I am president of the Bell Policy Center. The Bell is a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization. I am speaking today in support of SB 09-228, to repeal the Arveschoug-Bird 6 percent formula and increase the legislature’s flexibility to appropriate General Fund revenues.

Colorado’s Fiscal Challenge
Presentation to the Colorado Long-term Fiscal Stability Commission

Click below for PDF of PowerPoint presentation

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.

(This report was updated to reflect the repeal of the Arveschoug-Bird funding formula in April 2009. It was passed out during a presentation by Wade Buchanan to the interim Fiscal Stability Commission on July 9, 2009.)

The road to 2009
Almost three decades of constitutional amendments, legislative acts
and economic ups and downs

Take TABOR. Please. And while we’re at it, take Gallagher and Amendment 23 and the handful of other constitutional and statutory formulas that stand between us and a sane state budget. After a quarter-century of jumping from one ballot measure to the next, it's time to stop setting fiscal policy by formula.