March 23, 2011 05:37 PM UTC

Arveschoug-Bird Redux, Anyone?

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: A full calendar for the House Finance Committee has reportedly bumped this bill to adjournment tomorrow. So that’s a little longer heads-up for you.

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It hasn’t gotten much attention, but a bill to reinstate a version of the dreaded Arveschoug-Bird appropriations limits, House Bill 1280, is set for debate today in the GOP-controlled House Finance Committee. It will likely pass there after some acrimonious debate, and the real battle is likely to take place on the House floor. Should it pass there it will be DOA in the Democratic majority Senate, of course, so the net value for proponents is theatrics in the House.

It’s important to note that the limits wouldn’t matter until revenues recover enough to trigger them anyway–but that was the case when it was repealed in 2009, too. The repeal of Arveschoug-Bird was intended to restore some ability for the legislature to operate, just one Colorado’s vast number of interlocking restrictions and mandates essentially meant to prevent the General Assembly from doing its job each year. Nothing about that has really changed, it’s just something Republicans are going to grouse about on the record because they can.