Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Tag: State Budget

Democrat TABOR Revenue Reclassification Plan Draws Scrutiny at State Capitol
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Democrat TABOR Revenue Reclassification Plan Draws Scrutiny at State Capitol

By Nash Herman | Complete Colorado Similar to last year’s Senate Bill 173, legislative Democrats are returning this year with another effort to bypass Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) by reclassifying certain state revenue streams.  While Senate Bill 26-042 may have some plausibility under specific TABOR terms, it raises broader concerns about the runaway growth of Colorado’s state government, and the mechanisms legislators pursue to evade voter consent over taxation.  What the bill does  While TABOR generally limits the growth of a portion of state revenue to a modest formula of population growth plus inflation, it allows for certain carve outs such as “damage awards” and “collections for another government.”  ...
Read More
Colorado Budget Panel Halts Proposed Medicaid Pay Reductions for Family Caregivers
No Comments
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Budget Panel Halts Proposed Medicaid Pay Reductions for Family Caregivers

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The Colorado General Assembly’s budget decision-makers have put proposed pay cuts on hold for people who care for a family member with a disability who receives Medicaid. The Joint Budget Committee made the decision after hours of testimony from family caregivers and several advocates. The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing has been struggling to manage a substantial spike in Medicaid spending, which accounts for about one-third of the state’s budget, even as Colorado faces a $1 billion budget deficit. Members of the JBC earlier expressed concerns with Gov. Jared Polis’ proposal last November on how to plug that deficit, which included a plan to fund Medicaid below its projected growth. “This isn’t a tr...
Read More
Lawmakers press agencies as SMART Act hearings expose budget growth and policy shifts
No Comments
Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Lawmakers press agencies as SMART Act hearings expose budget growth and policy shifts

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado The hearings were billed as SMART. The answers raised harder questions. The last two weeks have been full of SMART Act (State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent Government) hearings at the Capitol with a smattering of committee work on bills. The Joint Judiciary Committee met for three days, and the Joint Health and Human Services Committee met for two. Here are some of the highlights from the hearings. Attorney General Phil Weiser presented to the Joint Judiciary Committee on behalf of the Department of Law (DOL). During his presentation, he stated that Colorado, at his direction, has filed 51 lawsuits against the Trump Administration for a cost of approximatel...
Read More
Lawmakers admit the problem: One-time money built permanent government
No Comments
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Lawmakers admit the problem: One-time money built permanent government

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Reporters talk about shared reality, some want it to be their reality. Over and over I have heard and read journalists discussing our "shared reality"--the need to operate from a basis of fact.I don't disagree.The problem is that many of those same journalists want to substitute their take on reality, they want to be the arbiters of fact.This is not their role.I wrote an op ed on this dynamic using some statements and "reporting" by 9News' Zelinger and Clark as an example.More on the topic in the link below.https://completecolorado.com/2026/01/08/colorado-journalists-shared-reality-deciders/ Were it not for TABOR (weakened as it is) … I wanted to share the Sun article below, but per...
Read More
Medicaid billing error cost Colorado tens of millions, officials acknowledge
No Comments
Approved, Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary, Red State

Medicaid billing error cost Colorado tens of millions, officials acknowledge

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project HCPF really did accidentally pay millions in Medicaid claims. In an earlier op ed about Colorado's Medicaid expansion (see the first link below) and how that puts our state at higher risk of fraud, waste, and/or abuse, I asked the Colorado Division of Healthcare Policy and Financing, HCPF, the state unit which adminsiters Medicaid, about what they do to prevent or stop such problems.Their spokesperson responded with:“We constantly look out for fraud, waste and abuse (FWA) across all services & programs, but some programs or services are more susceptible to FWA than others. We have various processes/procedures in place for ‘high risk’ services to prevent inappropriate payments from going out the door. Tho...
Read More
How Medicaid growth is crowding Colorado’s budget priorities
No Comments
Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary, State, Top Stories

How Medicaid growth is crowding Colorado’s budget priorities

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Medicaid and Colorado’s Spending on Same I wanted to share Nash Herman’s op ed from Complete Colorado with you. I will leave it to you to read it in full, but there are a couple of pertinent things to share. The op ed does a good job of providing an overview of what will likely be a big issue this legislative session: Colorado’s Medicaid spending, a largely self-caused injury. In typical government fashion, the relevant state department, the Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing, engaged a third party and paid them $600K to study the issue. The contractor came back and recommended that, quoting the op ed, “... the state should prioritize reductions in behavioral health, long-term...
Read More
Medicaid Cuts For Disabled Coloradans Advance Without Board Approval
No Comments
The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Medicaid Cuts For Disabled Coloradans Advance Without Board Approval

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun State Medicaid officials said they have authority to continue with the plan through an executive order from Gov. Jared Polis and that they will ask again for board approval. When it came time for any of the Colorado Medical Services Board members to make a motion, there was only dead silence.  For two hours, the 11-member board that governs the state Medicaid program heard pleas from parents who provide round-the-clock care of their adult children with severe disabilities. And when the testimony was over, no one on the board would make a motion that would result in cuts to the parents’ monthly pay. The request from Medicaid officials for an emergency rule change that means a 10% pay cut for families of Colorado’s most vul...
Read More
Rising Inmate Numbers Put Pressure On Colorado To Expand Prison System
No Comments
CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Rising Inmate Numbers Put Pressure On Colorado To Expand Prison System

By: Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Gov. Jared Polis' budget director, Mark Ferrandino, is sounding an alarm. He says the Colorado Department of Corrections is limiting new admissions as it reaches capacity, and the state needs to open a new facility to house a growing number of inmates. Ferrandino urged Colorado's Joint Budget Committee to approve funding for more beds in the short-term.  "We are going to get to a place, unless the forecasts significantly change, where we are going to need additional capacity," Ferrandino told the committee.  Ferrandino said the state has closed seven prisons over the last 15 years, as Colorado's prison population has dropped by nearly 6,000 inmates. But he says the population is now growing rapidly, and the state...
Read More
Protests over ICE center in Hudson reveal liberal hypocrisy
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Protests over ICE center in Hudson reveal liberal hypocrisy

By RMV Editorial Board Hundreds gathered outside a dormant prison in tiny Hudson this week. They braved freezing cold to protest plans for a new ICE detention center. Signs demanded justice. CBS Colorado captured the scene. https://youtu.be/D0iUjF-7B5s?si=MRLq2wBXKyFbYqqP One organizer told reporters the facility would not protect or serve communities. A resident feared people packed like sardines in a can. Another warned expansion drives families into shadows and erodes trust. The last census puts Hudson at 1,651 people. Someone at the protest warned that a 1,200-bed detention center would somehow double the town overnight.  That only works if detention beds are treated as permanent neighbors, or if the facility somehow brings in far more p...
Read More
TABOR under pressure: How “think of the children” messaging is shaping Colorado’s education debate
No Comments
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

TABOR under pressure: How “think of the children” messaging is shaping Colorado’s education debate

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Note the “won’t someone think of the children?!” framing I don’t think there are any specifics yet, but as of last week, there were plenty of rumors about the Democrats taking another stab at TABOR, this time in conjunction with their paymasters the teacher’s unions. If you read the Sun article linked first below, you’ll see one possible form this effort could take: some way or another, tying lifting the TABOR cap to directing money into education. Doing so would obviously enable supporters to frame opposition as being cold hearted: won’t someone please think of the children? I have discussed framing before, and the best way to counter it is to be aware of the framing, presenting counter...
Read More

Join us at RMV's Freedom Festival

Click Here for Tickets!

This will close in 0 seconds