Rich Jones

A proposed temporary tax bailout for education and a bill that could give parents a big tool to force closure of failing schools rolled out at the Colorado Capitol Monday.

Randy Woock
Trinidad Times

A bill to monitor and review tax credits and other exemptions by the state that result in reduced tax revenues, and provide that information to the legislature and public in annual reports, was killed in committee last week.

By Joseph Boven
Colorado Independent

A Democratic move to bring pay-as-you-go legislation to the Colorado General Assembly died in the Republican controlled House Finance Committee Thursday, an outcome sponsor Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Niwot, said was no surprise. The bill, HB 1052, died on a 6-6 vote.

House Bill 11-1052 – Concerning the Adoption of Pay-As-You-Go Requirements

Rich Jones, Director of Policy and Research
The Bell Policy Center
February 10, 2011

From the Denver Daily News

By Scot Kersgaard
Colorado Independent

Rep. Cherylin Peniston, D-Westminster, announced today that she will introduce a bill to restore funding to the Colorado Department of Education's free breakfast program. Republican members of the Joint Budget Committee last week thought $125,000 for the breakfast program would be a good place to start cutting expenses to make up for major tax-revenue shortfalls this year.

By Rita Wold
The Denver Post

Most Colorado minimum-wage workers will see an increase of 11 cents an hour next year to $7.36, based on a small increase in the inflation rate.

The increase is meant to keep the real spending power of minimum-wage earners on pace with inflation – the general price movement of goods and services.

Last year, Colorado's minimum wage was cut from $7.28 an hour to $7.24 because of a drop in inflation. But most employers had to meet the federal minimum wage, which was $7.25 an hour, thus the 11-cent increase.

DENVER – Colorado's 57,000 minimum wage workers will see a small spike in their paychecks this year. Wages went up by 11 cents to $7.36 an hour.

A measure was passed in 2006 to adjust the minimum wage amounts each year based on Colorado's inflation rate.

"Any dollar helps," said Rich Jones, Director of Policy with the Bell Policy Center in Denver.

Jones says the small increase will benefit people in the minimum wage bracket.

By Jack Weinstein
Steamboat Pilot

Steamboat Springs – Steamboat residents Neil and Helen Bergman wanted to get information about November ballot measures intended to reduce taxes and government spending.

One of those measures, Prop­­osition 101, would repeal the Funding Advancement for Sur­face Transportation and Eco­nomic Recovery legislation. FASTER, which was approved last year, resulted in higher vehicle registration fees to generate revenue that would be used to fix the state's ailing road and bridges.

El Semanario
July 15, 2010

"Would you share your hours with co-workers to avoid layoffs?" asked Rich Jones, director of policy and research at the Bell Policy Center. "Its a relevant question since Gov. Bill Ritter recently signed a work-share bill into law. Since the law is new there are a lot of questions about what it means for Colorado workers. We'd like to provide some answers."

In a column for the Colorado Editorial Forum, Jones elaborated on the new law.