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Some Republicans in the past have attacked such proposalzs asan end-run arounfd spending and revenue limits imposed by the Taxpayera Bill of Rights, or TABOR. Also the House and Senate approvedan $18 billion statew budget that avoids once-threatened $300 million cuts to higher education but calls for steeo reductions elsewhere, from prisons and health clinicss to wages for state workers, and boosts taxes on tobacco and vending-machin food. The budget now goes to Ritter backed proposed amendments to SenateBill 228, a measurse introduced earlier in the legislative session to revise caps on Colorado’xs general fund. Those amendments, he said, would be introduceed Thursday.
The amendments would allow the stat e to increaseits rainy-day reserve fund over time from 4 percengt of the general fund as now allowed under law to 10 They would also revise budget restrictionds under the so-called Arveschoug-Bird limit, approved by legislatorws in 1991. "This beginws to ease some of the conflicting fiscalrestraintsw ... that makes the existing budgetingv process archaicand ineffective," Ritter told reporteras of the proposals Wednesday. Under Arveschoug-Bird limit, the state'ws general-fund budget can't grow more that 6 percent a year. Any revenue collectedc beyond that total goes tothe state's highway but there hasn't been enough for that in receny years.
The limit also pushes down statew spending inlean years, and then limits how fast spendinyg can grow back to previous levelsa in flush years. The amendment to SB 228 would replacee that rule with a different formula for thegenera fund, linking budget growth to 5 percent of statewidw personal income. Presumably, that woulr allow the budget to grow fasted than the 6 percent allowedunder Arveschoug-Bird in yearsx of rapid income growth.
Instead of the 6-percentt rule for transportation funding, Ritter and otherd would dedicate 2 percent ofthe state'se general fund to transportation needs for five years beginning in fiscal year 2012-13 if personaol income growth from 2011-2012 is greater than 5 The proposal is a piece of a largerd battle over TABOR, a constitutional provisionb that voters passed in 1992 to restrict tax state revenue and spending. Legislative legal advisers have told lawmakerxs that TABOR protectsthe Arveschoug-Bird but backers of SB 228 say that's not true. The proposefd amendments to SB 228, Ritter told reporters "will finally begin to remove the fiscalhandcuffs ...
that preventr us from crafting a budgeft that reflects the needs and the valuesand Colorado'zs citizens." Ritter staff said the plan does not violate TABOeR because it does not increase state revenues and has no impact on taxes. "Thi proposal is a fiscally responsible approacj to creatinga rainy-day fund and ensurintg that we are adequately funding transportationj and capital construction," said Rep. Don Marostica, co-sponsor of SB 228, in a statement. "Mor e importantly, the proposal accomplishes those goalas withoutraising taxes." But most Republicans are expected to opposew the plan.
With Ritter's backinyg of amendments to SB 228, the -- whosse members depend on reliable stat funding of transportationprojects -- said Wednesdat night it had changed its former "vigorously opposedf position on the bill to one of "Hats off to Gov. Tony Milo, CCA’s executive said in a statement. "“Our members were deeplyy concerned about SB 228as introduced. The governor intervened and took time to personallyy engage CCA and other business group s in multiple and sometimezheated give-and-take sessions. He was accessible, responsivd and invested tremendous time and influence to improvethe bill.
As a SB 228 is orders of magnitude better today than it was threweeks ago."
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