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Colorado Lawmakers Clash Over Wolves, Health Subsidies and State Budget
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State, Approved, The Denver Gazette

Colorado Lawmakers Clash Over Wolves, Health Subsidies and State Budget

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Day three of the legislature's special session ended with the Senate working late into the night to begin debate on the House tax bills sent over earlier in the day, after the House wrapped up voting on those measures, along with bills on health insurance and the Healthy School Meals for all ballot measures. The House's work Saturday night included debate on Senate Bill 5, which would prohibit Colorado Parks and Wildlife from using general fund dollars to acquire more wolves in the current fiscal year. The bill also diverts $264,000 to the Health Insurance Accountability Enterprise to pay for subsidies for health insurance premiums purchased through the state exchange. Those premiums are expected to soar for the individual market by as much a...
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Colorado Legislature Opens Special Session With Taxes and Spending Bills
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State, Approved, The Denver Gazette

Colorado Legislature Opens Special Session With Taxes and Spending Bills

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Colorado legislators began to advance proposals dealing with an $800 million budget shortfall on Thursday, just hours after the legislature officially re-convened to deal with the revenue shortfall.  They started with a hearing on Senate Bill 1, which adds a requirement to the existing state law that outlines the governor's authority to make spending reductions in case of a significant drop in revenue. Under SB 1, Gov. Jared Polis would be required to develop a plan and present it to the Joint Budget Committee before it goes into effect. Lawmakers and the Polis administration have indicated that budget cuts should be put into place by Sept. 1 in order to spread out any reductions over 10 months, instead of waiting until next Februa...
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Denver Eliminates Jobs but Preserves Core Public Safety Services
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Denver Eliminates Jobs but Preserves Core Public Safety Services

By Deborah Grigsby and Dan Boniface | The Denver Gazette Denver's Office of Transportation and Infrastructure lost the most employees with 31 layoffs. The specifics of Denver's staffing layoffs became clearer on Wednesday, when Mayor Mike Johnston revealed the positions that have been eliminated within city agencies this week. Some agencies took a heavy hit, where the Johnston administration cut as much as a third of their budgeted workforce. The public safety agencies saw nearly 100 vacant positions eliminated, though no officer was laid off.   The mayor sought to guarantee no impact to several services, but he hinted that the cuts will affect programs. Even his own initiative on homelessness — he had promised to end the crisis in his first term as may...
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$277M in state funds go only to “pro-affordable housing” communities under Polis
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

$277M in state funds go only to “pro-affordable housing” communities under Polis

By Hannah Metzger | The Denver Gazette Gov. Jared Polis last week followed up on a May executive order that would limit hundreds of millions in state grants to only communities that adhere to new laws on housing, land use and parking restrictions. In May, the governor had threatened to pull at least $100 million in funding from local governments that have balked at the difficulty of implementing zoning, building codes, and other “affordable” housing changes pushed by the Colorado General Assembly over the last two years. The executive order defines noncompliance as a nonsatisfactory completion of requirements outlined in those laws, a local government adopting a resolution or policy not to conform with them, or acting contrary to the directives in those statutes. Polis hinted a...
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