Larimer legislators seek to balance bills, budget

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

Larimer County legislators have hopes of transcending what is expected to be a bitter budget battle amid fierce political posturing in the current session of the Colorado General Assembly.

"There will be common ground on some of these things, but because it's an election year, it will get political and contentious," said Rep. John Kefalas, a Fort Collins Democrat.

"This has started out even before the session to be the sharpest discourse I've ever seen," agreed Sen. Kevin Lundberg, a Berthoud Republican.

The conflict centers on dealing with a budget that continues to bleed. The combined $2 billion shortfall of the last two budget years was bridged through temporary elimination of tax-credit programs, forced furloughs of state employees, and tapping one-time cash and federal stimulus funds.

The troubles can only grow with a $1.3 billion deficit already projected for the 2010-11 budget beginning in July.

While both parties agree on the necessity of more budget cuts, they are divided about the need for the surgical versus the severe.

Kefalas said he believes the budget can be balanced in a "very intelligent way, not slashing and burning."

Fort Collins Democratic Rep. Randy Fischer asserted that some program cuts can be avoided with continued job creation through the state's focus on the "new energy economy."

"We have to live within our means," Lundberg countered. "We will come out of this process with a much leaner budget."

The fundamental solution comes down to some serious belt-tightening across the board, agreed Rep. B.J. Nikkel, a Loveland Republican. "We have to stop spending," she said.

All in the Larimer County delegation acknowledged that primary and secondary education are most vulnerable to cuts because legislators have greater discretion to trim them.

Beyond the budget, there's the hot-button issue of regulating the proliferating medical marijuana industry created with voter approval of a constitutional amendment. "I'm hoping we can strike the right balance to reign that in," said Lundberg.

But while pot is hot, it isn't a burning priority for Larimer legislators.

Kefalas is carrying a load of legislation. Translating often-vague insurance policies into plain language is the goal of one bill. It would require that policies be written at the 10th-grade level and "not in lawyer talk," he said.

Kefalas also will carry some of the eight bills coming out of the Economic Opportunities Task Force. It was established in 2009 to develop a comprehensive plan for cutting in half the state poverty level within 10 years. One bill would authorize an independent analysis of how Temporary Assistance to Needy Families funds are used to assess the effectiveness of the program, according to Kefalas.

He also is sponsoring legislation to create an "all-payer health claims database" to make public the cost of medical procedures by region and how much insurance companies paid for them. The idea, he said, is allowing consumers to make more informed decisions about the cost and effectiveness of procedures.

Additionally, Kefalas is sponsoring a bill mandating that delinquent taxpayers bear collection costs. Currently the expense of hiring third-party collectors comes from the taxes recovered at a cost to all taxpayers. Kefalas said his bill would place the burden where it rightly belongs and generate $4.5 million in additional revenue to the state in the next two years.

Lundberg said he is committed to rolling back what he estimated as $1 billion in taxes disguised as fees slipped into the previous budget. Principal among his goals is repealing the $100 late fee for vehicle registration, returning to the maximum $10 penalty assessed at the discretion of county clerks.

Lundberg additionally will resurrect bills he unsuccessfully carried in previous sessions.

One would provide a $1,000 tax credit for parents of children moving from public to private schools. Lundberg said it could result in a substantial savings from the nearly $8,000 in state support provided annually for each pupil in public schools.

Also, Lundberg said, "It means public policy says we endorse both public and private educational approaches."

Lundberg also will make another run at a bill offering greater flexibility for those requiring medical care or living assistance under the Medicaid program.

Currently, he said, such services can be provided only in Medicaid-approved facilities by approved providers. With a federal waiver, Lundberg said, his bill would allow such services to be performed by family caregivers or smaller care facilities at a greatly reduced cost.

Lundberg also wants to fire a shot across Congress' bow with a nonbinding resolution saying "thanks, but no thanks" to national health care. "This is to inform Congress that they have no business imposing this," he said, insisting that the effort is an unconstitutional intrusion on states' rights.

Fischer will make another run on a bill that would limit the creation of urban renewal authorities. Municipalities, including Timnath and Loveland, have created URAs using broad standards to declare properties "blighted." Fischer said that has resulted in such designations being applied to undeveloped farmlands to subsidize growth.

Once URAs are formed, towns and cities can retain the new revenues generated with development to cover the costs of providing roads, utilities and services to those developed areas. Much of that new revenue otherwise would go to counties and school districts.

"This is starting to become a major issue with state financing, too," Fischer said, noting that the state was obligated to "backfill" those reduced school revenues to the tune of $50 million in 2008.

Fischer said he has worked closely with Fort Collins – which he contended has been the victim of much URA abuse – to fashion a bill "that places reasonable limits on the conversion of ag land."

Once again, Fischer also will carry a bill that would give Colorado State University student government a voting seat on the Board of Governors.

Two other bills being shepherded by Fischer are aimed at promoting alternative energy. A "net zero" bill calls on state parks to generate as much energy as they consume by 2020. The other would increase the required amount of alternative energy supplied by utilities from the current 20 percent to 30 percent by 2020.

Nikkel said she also aims to repeal the "unconstitutional" new vehicle registration and late fees. "Let them do it as a referendum rather than these backdoor ways," she said.

Nikkel will seek to close a loophole in her bill passed last session calling for creation of a web site detailing all the state's expenditures. Instead of breaking out individual expenses, she said, spending is now grouped in broad categories making it impossible to scrutinize.

Restoring the homestead credit for seniors living 10 years or more in the same home is another of Nikkel's goals. She also will carry bills to establish National Guard Readiness Centers in Windsor, Grand Junction and Alamosa, and another to create livery license plates identifying legitimate limousine drivers.

Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, said he is carrying "nothing interesting at this time." One bill, he said, would eliminate the "smoke and mirrors" system established in 2002 that complicated the process for students applying for stipends from the state College Opportunity Fund.

Bacon also is the senate sponsor of a bill requiring uranium milling operations to prove they will not contaminate groundwater.

The legislation is aimed at a mill now operating in Cañon City and another resuming operation in western Colorado. It also would apply in the event Powertech attempts to establish milling operations at the site of its proposed in-situ leach mine between Wellington and Nunn.