Arveschoug-Bird

Email to supporters: It's not our habit to intrude with multiple emails on one subject, but there has been an important development with Senate Bill 228, and we wanted to share the news with you. SB 228, the proposal to eliminate the Arveschoug-Bird funding formula, was not heard as scheduled Tuesday afternoon, and part of the reason for the delay was to allow time for negotiations on key elements of the bill.

Email to supporters: The Bell is asking our friends to join us in supporting Senate Bill 228, the proposal to eliminate the Arveschoug-Bird funding formula. Tomorrow afternoon, the bill comes up for debate before the House's Transportation & Energy Committee. Eliminating the 6% formula is a critical step in restoring fiscal sanity to Colorado.

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 27 years, and at some of the economic and political factors that drove those decisions. (An update of "The Road to 2007," part of "Looking Forward, Colorado's fiscal prospects after Ref C.")

Rich Jones quoted in article: DENVER – So far in 2009, state lawmakers have focused on spending measures, talk about babies with AIDS and a partisan rancor that festered as the Colorado General Assembly’s session neared its halfway point. But some political observers say lawmakers should turn their attention to 2010, when a timeout from revenue collection restrictions expires and when, some say, the state could be facing far worse budget problems than those happening right now.

We should make sure Referendum C is left in place and allowed to function as the voters intended. We should not do anything to limit the modest effects of Referendum C.