January 11, 2012 06:14 PM UTC

Beating Arveschoug-Bird's Dead Horse

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• by: Colorado Pols

Noted by the Colorado Statesman’s Peter Marcus in a list of Republican legislative priorities:

Reinstating the 6 percent government spending limit that Democrats eliminated in 2009. Reps. Don Beezley, R-Broomfield, and Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, are sponsoring that piece of controversial legislation. McNulty views the proposal as a way to tighten controls on amounts that exceed the 6 percent cap. Fifty percent of funds above that limit would be allocated to a state reserve fund that could only be accessed by a two-thirds majority vote of the House and Senate. The remaining 50 percent would be split equally between transportation and capital construction.

Republicans attempted to reinstate the spending cap last year, but Democrats, who control the Senate, killed the legislation. Democrats argue that the spending limit is “arbitrary” and that such a mandate ties the hands of government to fund necessary state services such as education.

Ferrandino said a spending limit might become an even stickier issue following a recent Denver District Court decision that the state’s school finance system violates constitutional funding guarantees and is being underfunded by estimates of more than $4 billion per year. That case is currently being appealed. While Republicans call the spending limit “responsible budgeting,” Ferrandino said it would actually put the state in a more difficult position.

“It’s exactly the opposite; it’s irresponsible budgeting,” said Ferrandino. “We would never be able to make up for the cuts… if they pass that law.”

As was the case last year when a similar attempt to undo the 2009 repeal of the obscure but consequential Arveschoug-Bird spending growth limit, it would first be necessary to be in a situation where further spending cuts, on top of years of such cuts, are no longer necessary for it to matter. The fact is, especially given the long-term fiscal problems the state is projected to face, and looming major challenges in the pending Lobato court case on education funding, you pretty much couldn’t pick a more out-of-touch idea to spend precious legislative time on.

So naturally, here we go.