fiscal policy

By Peter Marcus
Denver Daily News

Colorado's fiscal and economic future is in "serious jeopardy" because of increased government control, according to a report released Monday by a conservative-leaning group.

But critics of the Americans For Prosperity Colorado report (published below) say the group is attempting to push a conservative agenda rather than honestly examine the state's economic future. Critics also call the "Colorado in Transition: Killing the Golden Goose" report to be "misleading," especially in the areas of health care and transportation.

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.

When it comes to the state budget, Colorado is digging a hole.

That's one of the conclusions in a new report, Looking Forward: Colorado's fiscal prospects amid a financial crisis, by the Bell Policy Center, the Colorado Children's Campaign and the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute.

Emailed to supporters June 3, 2009

Success from the session
SB 228 most significant
reform since Ref C

By Wade Buchanan
President
buchanan@thebell.org

Today marks a major milestone in the journey toward greater fiscal sanity in Colorado. This morning, Gov. Bill Ritter signed SB 228, one of the most important pieces of legislation of his term in office.

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.

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.")