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Lawmakers to tackle $26B budget

State legislators on Wednesday will begin debating the details of a proposed $26 billion budget.

DENVER – Colorado lawmakers will begin debate Wednesday on a proposed $26 billion state budget, with money carved out for refunds for taxpayers.

The so-called Long Bill will begin in the Senate before making its way to the House for approval, then eventually on to the governor for his signature.

The bipartisan group of lawmakers who wrote the proposal hailed the process.

“Every member of the committee, whether Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, worked hard to produce a budget that could win the acceptance of both houses of the Legislature,” said Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, chairman of the Joint Budget Committee. “I credit this initial success to their ability to rise above partisanship in favor of a reasonable, balanced, consensus-oriented approach.”

More than $9.5 billion of the proposed budget will come out of the General Fund, the all-purpose fund that comes from tax revenue. In total, the overall proposal reflects about $1.6 billion more than the current fiscal year, or a 6.6 percent increase.

Colorado is positioned fairly well, so well that lawmakers are planning for tax refunds, generated by a budget surplus. The 1992 voter-approved Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, requires refunds when revenue exceeds the combined rate of inflation and population growth.

The budget proposes setting aside a total of $187 million for traditional TABOR refunds, which account for both the current and upcoming fiscal year. It also proposes another $58 million for a refund specifically related to marijuana taxes, which also add to the state’s surplus.

The Joint Budget Committee, however, is working on a bill that would ask voters to let the state keep the marijuana revenue.

As usual, education funding has seen some of the biggest fights. Stakeholders wrangled over how to provide additional funds. The current proposal calls for $3.5 billion out of the General Fund, or about 5.5 percent more compared with the current fiscal year.

The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which oversees Medicaid in the state, would see $2.5 billion out of the General Fund in the upcoming fiscal year, or about a 6.5 percent increase. Another $5.3 billion would come from federal funds to address Medicaid, which marks an increase of 14.2 percent.

There still are outstanding budget issues, including whether to raid $20 million from severance taxes to fund other parts of the state budget. The Legislature is debating the proposal as a separate bill.

Severance-tax dollars currently go to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the Colorado Department of Local Affairs for local-impact grants and wildlife conservation, among other needs.

La Plata County Finance Director Diane Sorensen said her department does not have enough information yet to analyze the impact to the county, but she added that any reduction would affect revenue.

Budget writers set aside $8.5 million for pending bipartisan workforce-development legislation and another $5 million to extend a program that provides intra-uterine devices to low-income women. Senate Republicans, however, have not committed to passing the bill that would fund the birth-control program, which is sponsored by Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose.

Meanwhile, a long list of bills face the chopping block as a result of ongoing budget negotiations, because only $5 million for each chamber has been set aside to spend on legislation.

“I believe we have built a solid, balanced budget that will help move Colorado forward,” said Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, a member of the Joint Budget Committee.



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