Hours after the news broke that the state faces a $384 million budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year, the Colorado state employees’ union, Colorado WINS, asked the Joint Budget Committee for higher pay and benefits. Talk about awkward timing.
COLORADO'S FRONTPAGE
Face the State
Content Index: TABOR
Follow this topic by RSSA tale of two think tanks - and the state budget
Colorado's Long-Term Fiscal Stability Commission held its first hearings Wednesday and Thursday. Both the liberal Bell Policy Center and libertarian Independence Institute gave presentations on the future course of the state budget, and Face The State brings you the highlights.
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6/24: Marostica says fixing Amd. 23, Gallagher come first
Don Marostica is back in the news, but this time he's defending taxpayer protections.
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Marostica: hands off TABOR; focus on Amd. 23, Gallagher
June 17, 2009
Rep. Don Marostica, R-Loveland, found himself on the outs with his own party last session for siding with Democrats on key budget issues and his sponsorship of Senate Bill 228, which eliminated the 6 percent growth cap on general government spending.
Face The State recently caught up with Marostica, who was appointed to serve on the legislature's Long-Term Fiscal Interim Committee.
6/8: Morse's soul-saving crusade
State Sen. John Morse is fighting for your soul, whether you like it or not.
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FTS Humor: Morse Code
Face The State Humor
June 5, 2009By Andrew Ripemoff
In an effort to duplicate the wildly successful California budget process, Governor Bill Ritter signed into law on Tuesday a bill repealing Colorado’s Arveschoug-Bird Amendment.
Speaker Carroll 'tweets' for TABOR
May 28, 2009
Our loyal readers know we love to write about the status updates Colorado lawmakers post on Twitter, the short-message social networking site. Last night we received a post-Nuggets game tweet from House Speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, which cannot be ignored.
After the Lakers beat the Nuggets 103 to 94 in game five of the Western Conference finals, Carroll wrote: “that's ok Laker fans...you got this one. But, at least our state isn't going broke.”
Segment 2 - State Sen. Shawn Mitchell's filibuster for taxpayers
FTS visits with state Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, who this week mounted a one-man filibuster against a measure designed to penalize school districts which reinstate spending limits in the wake of a recent supreme court decision.
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Nannies and cabbies beware: tax credits may get the ax
A Face the State Staff Report
April 2, 2009Taxpayers who pay someone to take care of their children or businesses that use alternative fuel are at risk of losing the tax credit they benefit from under current Colorado law.
2009 School Finance Act could hurt taxpayers
FTS Opinion
April 1, 2009A recent Colorado Supreme Court decision upholding a 2007 property tax increase is causing school districts to consider reinstating revenue caps in order to keep property taxes low. The problem is, these districts could end up penalized under this year’s School Finance Act, which was introduced Monday.
3/25: Fiscal restraint in the crosshairs
More talk of tinkering with Colorado's Constitution in the name of budget reform.
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Experts debate whether legislature can lift 6 percent spending cap
A Face the State Staff Report
March 5, 2009As the state legislature debates Senate Bill 228, a bill seeking to eliminate the 6 percent growth limit on the state’s General Fund, questions are already arising about whether the lawmakers can make such a move without voter approval. Also at hand is the issue of whether or not a lawsuit would arise should the bill pass this session.
1/30: Warning! Tax hikers are on the march
Here we go again. Just months after being shellacked at the ballot box, Colorado's tax hikers are gunning for your wallets.
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JBC vice-chairman: 'Ref C wasn't designed to fix anything'
During a Joint Budget Committee presentation before the House Agriculture Committee last week, legislators were discussing the state's budgetary woes. As it often happens under the Capitol dome, conversations about the budget inevitably lead to questions about Referendum C.
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Segment 2 - Taxpayer protections in Colorado Springs
Blogger and former Colorado Springs Gazette editorial page editor Sean Paige is out to save Colorado Springs' local Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.
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Springs city council rethinks anti-TABOR vote
A Face the State Staff Report
January 14, 2009
Under intense public pressure to maintain a city requirement that all proposed spending increases go to a vote of the people, the Colorado Springs City Council has decided to draft ballot language for a TABOR revision instead of a full repeal.
1/14: Debt by any other name is still debt
When is public debt...not really debt?
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Timeline: Ritter Flip-flops on Budget
A Face the State Staff Report
January 5, 2009
Throughout 2008, Gov. Bill Ritter advocated for growing the budget and spent his summer campaigning for tax increases. He only more recently acknowledged the dire fiscal shortages facing the state.
12/23: A $600M budget crunch
The numbers are in, and they’re not pretty: Lawmakers must find nearly $600 million in spending cuts, in just six months.
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Rep. Bruce may be eccentric, but he's right on TABOR
December 18, 2008
Outgoing Rep. Doug Bruce, R-Colorado Springs, may be bitter, but he’s right.
In a Wednesday e-mail to reporters and a group of fellow state lawmakers, Bruce calls out the Denver Post editorial board for lying about his baby, better known as the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.
Education establishment stalled after defeat of 59 and Ref O
A Face the State Staff Report
November 24, 2008
Following the defeat of two measures on the statewide ballot, a joint effort by Colorado's three largest education lobbying groups to alter the state's tax system has been left in a lurch.
9/29: Doug Bruce is right this time
Our favorite ex-state legislator is at it again. And no, Doug Bruce didn’t kick another photographer.
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9/16: Cary Kennedy vs. TABOR
You can’t make this stuff up – the state Treasurer says she wants to “drive a stake in the heart” of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.
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