By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun
Nonpartisan staffers told lawmakers this month that the way they spent billions of dollars in one-time federal funds given to Colorado during the COVID pandemic contributed to the state’s budget shortfall.
he Colorado legislature is at least partially to blame for the structural deficit forcing lawmakers this year to cut state programs and services to address a roughly $850 million funding shortfall.
The General Assembly contributed to the deficit through its handling of billions in one-time federal funding that flowed into Colorado during the coronavirus pandemic, nonpartisan staff for the legislature’s powerful Joint Budget Committee told the panel earlier this month. At issue was how some of that money was used to fund line items with ongoing costs.
“That is definitely a part of the problem,” JBC staffer Amanda Bickel told the committee. “I think it’s in some ways as much a symptom as a cause.”
The revelations come as the legislature debates the causes of and solutions to the structural deficit over the next four months. The deficit represents the gap in how much the legislature is allowed to spend under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights versus how much it costs to continue providing the same level of government programs and services.
Democrats generally say TABOR, which caps government growth and spending to the annual change in inflation and population, is liable for the shortfall. Republicans, who are fierce defenders of TABOR, allege mismanagement on the part of the Democratic majority.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE COLORADO SUN
![FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B[1]](https://rockymountainvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B1-300x300.png)