U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
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(D) Michael Bennet
(D) Phil Weiser
60%↑
50%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Jena Griswold
60%↑
40%↑
Sec. of State
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(D) A. Gonzalez
(D) J. Danielson
(R) Sheri Davis
50%
40%
30%
State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(D) Jeff Bridges
(R) Kevin Grantham
40%
40%
30%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Somebody
80%
40%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Somebody
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Manny Rutinel
(D) Yadira Caraveo
45%↓
40%↑
30%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
January 28, 2009 02:39 AM UTC
14 Comments
Perhaps accountants could come up with something that would allow us to continue spending on necessary services, while running up a deficit that we could pay back in flush years. Not sure what we would call it.
Oh well, in the meantime, I think we can all agree that balancing the budget is much, much more important than providing essential services. After all, demand for governmental services tends to rise and fall in lockstep with tax revenue, so there’s no reason why an enlightened democracy would allow for alternative contingencies.
Is a legal requirement. Colorado doesn’t print its own money.
Of course, Colorado has not just that but also TABOR. Just saying, it doesn’t have to be this bad. You don’t need to print money to run a debt, you just have to issue bonds. States and even decent-sized cities do it all the time.
The only state that does not have a balanced budget constitutional requirement is Vermont. All others have it.
Though apparently there’s no actual legal penalty for not balancing the budget, and states (like California, perhaps most famously) do run deficits.
Didn’t realize that many states had passed constitutional provisions that they couldn’t possibly follow or enforce though.
Given the fact that there is a stimulus plan being debated in Congress right now that could mean more than $2 billion for Colorado (plus direct benefits to most if not all Coloradans in the form of tax credits), and that we’re facing a $631 million shortfall THIS fiscal year, doesn’t it seem like state leaders should slow down, take a breath, see what shakes out on the federal level, and then figure out the best course of action? Because here’s the problem with all the talk of cuts: unlike other states, Colorado won’t get cuts back, because of the ratchet effect induced by the 6% formula. So these proposed cuts could actually amplify and lengthen the recession because of the countercyclical nature of need for government services. Unemployment is at 6.1 percent–a five year high–and it’s going to get worse. So as more families lose jobs, lose health insurance, etc., is it really a good time to be cutting $224 million from health care and another $54 million from human services? Colorado’s safety net is already frayed, so it’s scary to think what these cuts would do. We’re cruising downhill pretty fast right now, so it just seems like we need to tap the brakes a little.
either that or just accept the fact that we are going to push our economy down below Alabama levels.
Regardless, I do think it is time to be bold and stretch the limits. What happens if the budget isn’t approved, intentionally? CA used to issue warrants when they ran into the wall of having no budget. Put it off to the end of the session or a special session later? A temporary budget, unratchetable, until the federal calvary arrives?
BTW, the pain is here in FL, too. The lege doesn’t start until February, but the advance budget team is warning of very similar consequences. At least no TABOR.
The $2 billion is not a fairy tale number, those are the actual numbers from the House stimulus plan being voted on today. $2.133 billion over two years, and that does not include all the tax credits and income assistace, which could mean more than $1 billion in tax relief for Coloradans. I’m not saying we should rely soley on that to solve all of our problems, but we might want to hold off on devastating cuts until we know what we’re getting.
And on top of that, fixing TABOR would not solve this problem either. It’s a necessary step, but if you really want to maximize federal stimulus and strengthen the long term fiscal health of Colorado, then you have got to get rid of the 6% formula.
is to secede from the Union and become a sovereign state. Then we can simply print our own money and deficient finance like the feds do.
The geniuses/bastards in the Republican controlled House, Senate and Gov’s Mansion cut the income tax and the state sales tax. Even then, the state was growing so fast that there were ‘TABOR refunds’ of billions of dollars. Now had the same geniuses figured out a way to sypnen off some of that ‘overtaxation’ or the ‘refunds’ into a Billion dollar ‘budget stabilization’ fund or Rainy Day Fund, we’d be a bit better off wouldn’t we? And in the flush times of the late 1990’s it would have been relatively painless to do. But did they do that? Did they do then what they say now is SO pressing, almost an emergency situation? No, they didn’t because they wanted to take credit for substantial ‘refunds’ and ‘tax cuts.’ Better to stop the government “theft” of “your money.” The craven schmucks. So now we get to deny kids preschool, cut off nursing home access, cut off vaccinations, close DMV branches, borrow money from sacrosant cash funds, and (basically) turn ourselves into Mississippi because of the recession. And while the recession will have been horrible and distressing to hundreds of thousands of people in COlorado, we might have preserved our ability to take of people who need it and carry on with basic services. Thanks John Andrews, Vicki Agler, Bill Owens, and the cast of dozens more Colorado legends.
the short-sighted income tax cut then the desperate borrowing from trust funds when the economy took a nosedive after 9/11. The bigger picture, of course, is that this is all part of TABOR’s design and intent. Until we wise voters fix TABOR, we will never be able to approach our state budget with a longterm view, and our legislators will never be able to make good tax or expenditure decisions.
To them long terms is looking out 2 elections…
When Owens was Governor and proposed the major Highway package to be funded by bonds backed by revenue anticipation notes (anticipation of federal highway funding)there was what I thought was an outstanding proposal to fund the projects (unfortunately, it never got any traction).
Rather than issue bonds, the money could have been borrowed from the Tabor Surplus (which at the time was equivalent to the mount bonded) and then pay the surplus back with interest. That way the surplus would have remained to be paid back to taxpayers and grown by virtue of the interest earned. In essence, the taxpayers of Colorado would have been the bond holders.