Face The State Staff Report
With just one day remaining in the state legislative session, Republican leaders are calling the current session a "fiscal train wreck" and "extremely partisan."
At a Monday press conference, Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, criticized nearly $1 billion in fee and tax increases that were backed by Democrats and which he says fall squarely on the backs of businesses and working families.
Penry was most critical of the session's major transportation bill. Dubbed “FASTER,” it reflected a combination of vehicle registration fee increases intended to generate $265 million in additional revenue annually. After weeks of negotiations, Democrats rejected Republican amendments to the bill and Gov. Bill Ritter signed it into law March 2.
“Bill Ritter and the Democrats did not help the [budget] situation but made it worse,” said Penry. “The transportation debate epitomizes that.”
House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, contends the new revenue generated by FASTER will not result in a net increase in transportation funding due to provisions from another bill backed by Democrats that eliminates a 6 percent growth limit on the state’s general fund budget. The bill means transportation will receive less money because it eliminates a previous formula that required all revenue over the 6 percent mark to go into a fund benefiting transportation projects. “How long before that money is kicked into other pet projects?” May asked.
Democrats also backed the Colorado Healthcare Affordability Act, legislation establishing a fee for hospital services expected to bring in around $600 million annually. Penry and May says this fee will disproportionately fall on business owners, who fund the bulk of private health insurance.
Also drawing Republican criticism was a bill imposing a new state sales tax on cigarette packs, expected to bring in $30 million annually, and a suspension of a property tax exemption for seniors, expected to generate an additional $100 million.
The legislature had to cut $1.4 billion out of its combined budgets for 2008-09 and 2009-10. Fourth quarter revenue projections come out June 20, and May predicted there would be a special session to address additional cuts.
Penry called on Democrat leadership to “make difficult choices” instead of using “gimmicks “ and “accounting tricks” to balance the budget. He acknowledged that Republicans resorted to the same measures during the last recession in 2002, such as transferring cash funds suspending tax credits to balance the budget, but he cautioned the Democrats not to make the same mistakes, saying those policies lost Republicans the majority. “There is this ticking time bomb that the leadership in this building continues to ignore,” Penry said of Ritter and the Democrat majority in the legislature.
During last month’s budget debate, Democrats shot down more than 22 Republican amendments that would have resulted in about $400 million in savings to this year's $18.9 billion budget.