Amendments

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Wade Buchanan
The Bell Policy Center
303-297-0456, ext. 221

Carol Hedges
Colorado Fiscal Institute
720-379-3019, ext. 221

Bell Policy Center, Colorado Fiscal Institute file amicus
in case challenging Taxpayer's Bill of Rights

When Gov. John Hickenlooper and TBD Colorado issued a call for comments and ideas on education and transportation, state residents stepped up.  

TBD Colorado asked, and you answered – and are still answering. That's prompted TBD to add some more questions to consider.

In just a few days, more than 2,000 residents have visited www.etbdcolorado.org. Respondents from 70 towns, cities and rural areas across the state have offered more than 100 ideas and 2,200 comments.

When Gov. John Hickenlooper announced the TBD Colorado effort last year, he said he wanted Coloradans to "share their vision and priorities for our state."

Thousands of residents – including many of you – did just that by attending meetings across the state to identify important issues facing our state. The governor's goal was to spur conversation and gather opinions, and Coloradans delivered.

Today, we take the next step in the process. TBD Colorado wants to get your thoughts and opinions on education and transportation.

On Jan. 1, Colorado and nine other states will increase their minimum wage, providing a boost in income for nearly 1 million low-wage workers.

In Colorado, the 14¢ increase, to $7.78 per hour, will benefit 66,000 workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). For employees who work full time, the increase means an additional $300 for the year.

By Tim Hoover
The Denver Post

Twenty years after Coloradans approved the most restrictive tax and expenditure limitation in the country, the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights has reshaped state government and sparked debate on similar proposals across the country and now is under greater assault than ever before.

VALLEY – On November 14, The Bell Policy Center aired ‘Colorado: Boom or Bust', a TV special showing the past, present and future of Colorado. The television special, produced with Colorado Public Television and ProgressNow Colorado, provides history about the state and some of the fiscal challenges that Coloradans face with the goal being to start a conversation about the state's future.

Colorado: Boom or Bust, our television special, is now available on our website – the whole show and its various segments, along with supplementary informational graphics.

The show explores our state's financial condition in everyday language, in the same way a family would talk about its budget around the dining room table. That's the goal of the show – to get a family-style conversation going about Colorado and the investments we make in our state.

By Wade Buchanan
Guest columnist

Backpackers have a saying: Leave it better than you found it.

For generations, Coloradans have done exactly that. Ranchers and farmers, rural residents and city dwellers, businesses large and small, they all dreamed big and invested in themselves and their children's future – in our future.

They built schools, they built colleges, they built hospitals, they built roads through the mountains, they built dams, they irrigated fields, they built parks, they built cities.

They built a great state.

If you missed the premiere of Colorado: Boom or Bust, you're in luck. It will be repeated at 5 p.m. Saturday on Channel 12.

Our television special, produced with Colorado Public Television and ProgressNow Colorado, provides some history about the state we built and some of the fiscal challenges we face, but our goal is to kick-start a conversation about our state's future.

Previous generations dreamed big and invested in themselves and their children's future. How are we doing now? What kind of legacy will we leave?

Monica Potts
The American Prospect