This year’s state budget enjoys the notoriety of being one of the most popular in decades, that is if you consider votes in favor of the Long Bill as signs of popularity. The Joint Budget Committee did a remarkable job this year. Not only did we work well as a team and bridge partisan and ideological divides, but we also did some heavy lifting. We balanced the budget, we avoided partisan gridlock, and we sponsored a remarkable array of legislation that solved problems and responded to budgetary and programmatic needs of state government.
The Long Bill is required to be passed each year by the Colorado Constitution. HB 12-1335 contains the appropriation of state funds from taxes and fees, and it notes the allocation of federal funds received by the state for various programs. All told, the state budget for FY 2012-13 tops $19 billion, with approximately $7.5 billion of that amount coming from the general fund, which consists primarily of income tax and state sales tax revenues. It’s called the Long Bill because it is hundreds of pages long, filled with line items and fund sources for programs in every department of state government. It takes about five months to prepare the Long Bill, a process that begins in November and culminates in March and April.
- Members of the Joint Budget Committee and legislative leadership watch as Governor Hickenlooper signs the FY 2012-13 Long Bill into law.
Increasing tax revenues are the reason for the popularity of this year’s Long Bill. As the economy continues to show signs of slow but steady recovery, projections of tax revenue collections have been revised upwards for the past two quarters. With revenues returning, budget decisions became easier. We avoided a partisan battle over the senior homestead property tax exemption just as we avoided many other unpleasant choices because we didn’t have to avail ourselves of extreme budget balancing maneuvers. For this reason, the Long Bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 64 to 1, and in the Senate the vote was 30 to 5. The final tally came in a little lower because as the bill passes each chamber it gets amended and is then referred to a conference committee (the JBC) to iron out the differences. The final conference report saw a few of the bill’s previous supporters peeled off as three House members voted against it. Governor Hickenlooper signed the bill into law on Monday, May 7, 2012.
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K-12 school funding increased by $57 million, the first increase in three years. This pays for growth in enrollment, allowing per pupil revenues to be held constant rather than decline.
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State employees no longer are paying a portion of the state’s employer contribution to their PERA pension accounts as the 2.5% “PERA Swap” was allowed to sunset.
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State employees were not required to dig deeper into their own pockets to pay increases in health care premiums – the first time in 3 years that rising health premiums didn’t result in a net reduction in take-home pay for state workers.
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State employees paid biweekly will be happier in June 2013 because we’ve taken the first step toward reversing the so-called payday shift enacted in 2003. This budget balancing move pushed the June 2003 payday to July 1, and out of that fiscal year. Ever since then the June payday has been July 1. For salaried employees paid monthly at the end of the month, this wasn’t a big deal. But for temporary and hourly workers paid biweekly this shift caused a major delay and cash flow problems. Next June they’ll thank us!
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A $45,000 cut to the Court Appointed Special Advocates (“CASA“) program was reversed.
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Tourism promotion funding was increased by $3.7 million above the formula amount from limited gaming tax revenues, a move necessitated by declines in gaming tax revenues. Two other programs funded through gaming revenues, the Council on the Arts and Local Community Gaming Impact Grants, were also funded above the formula amount.
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Services for people with developmental disabilities were funded at an increased level, allowing a few more people to be taken off of waiting lists.
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Higher education funding was cut by $5.8 million. No cut was made to financial aid or work study programs. In the governor’s original budget request filed in November, the proposed total cut had been $60 million.
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The economic development commission received a $5 million increase for incentives for luring companies to Colorado, expanding businesses and job creation. The existing budget had been just over $1 million, so this is a respectable increase.
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Film production incentives were increased by $3 million. The existing budget had been less than $1 million, so this also makes a big difference.
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Funding for the Colorado Energy Office was restored to $3 million. This helps expand Colorado’s renewable energy industries and create jobs in energy efficiency and weatherization.
- Veterans will have greater access to mental health services and programs to assist with homelessness prevention and job training. Specialty courts that assist veterans in the criminal justice system also received expanded funding.
- The grant program to assist in the development of affordable housing had all budget cuts from previous years restored and was then increased by $200,000 by floor amendments to the Long Bill. These dollars are highly leveraged and create lots of construction jobs.
- Another state prison was closed, the second in two years. Known as CSP II, this facility consisted entirely of solitary confinement “administrative segregation” cells. A lawsuit and a recent study are leading us away from keeping so many prisoners, especially those with mental illness, in this type facility. Existing staff at CSP II will be transferred to other facilities in the Canon City/Pueblo area and no layoffs are projected.
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A three-year commitment was made to finally repair and make functional the Colorado Benefits Management System (“CBMS“), with a significant appropriation of approximately $12 million in FY 2012-13. County social service agencies across the state have been demanding a solution for this troubled computer system, and everyone seems to think HB 1339 will get us there.
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County social service agencies also rejoiced in the plan to mitigate reductions in federal funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (“TANF“) program. JBC staff gets much of the credit for finding creative solutions, but I was a vocal proponent of not creating unfunded mandates for county programs that serve the needy.
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Community-based drug treatment programs for offenders in the criminal justice system will receive additional funds. Sentencing reforms from 2010 were supposed to generate savings in the corrections budget that were to be reinvested in addiction treatment. I made sure this happened with supplemental increases to FY 2011-12, additional money in the Long Bill for FY 2012-13 and a scheduled increase in statute for FY 2013-14 in SB 104/HB 1310.
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Restoration of the senior homestead property tax exemption required $98.5 million in new funding to reimburse local governments for reduced property tax collections.
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Low-income seniors receiving Old Age Pension from the state will receive a cost of living increase, and dental care services for this population will be restored. HB 1326 increases funding for these purposes by $9.7 million. Seniors did well in this budget.
