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‘Fully funded’ education: Panelist cites 30–70% increase as Sen. Kipp says “TABOR is why we don’t have nice things”
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Christian Home Educators of Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

‘Fully funded’ education: Panelist cites 30–70% increase as Sen. Kipp says “TABOR is why we don’t have nice things”

By Colleen Enos | Commentary, Christian Home Educators of Colorado Friday, January 16th, Day Three of the legislative session, began in a manner that seemed to promote general agreement in the Colorado House of Representatives. Since the upcoming Monday, January 19th, was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a legal state holiday, the House began with a resolution recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Things went south when Representative Naquetta Ricks compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations to the German Gestapo of Adolf Hitler. This was a shocking statement to make in the middle of recognizing the civil rights efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. Representatives DeGraff and Bottoms brought some much-needed perspective to the conversation, in addition to Rep...
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Colorado Lawmakers Acknowledge Shared Responsibility for Budget Crisis
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Acknowledge Shared Responsibility for Budget Crisis

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...
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Runaway Medicaid Spending Forces Colorado Toward Hard Choices
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Runaway Medicaid Spending Forces Colorado Toward Hard Choices

By: Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee (JBC) recently held a hearing with the Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing (HCPF), the Governor’s office, and Manatt, a healthcare consulting firm, to address the unsustainable growth of Colorado’s Medicaid spending. Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the hearing. Runaway spending According to HCPF and the Governor’s office, General Fund spending on Medicaid increased at an average rate of 6 percent from fiscal year 2015-16 to fiscal year 2018-19. However, after the federal government windfall from COVID, General Fund spending blew up, growing at an average rate of 19 percent from fiscal year 2021-22 to fiscal year 2024-25. Health c...
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Behind the zero: What Colorado’s opening day didn’t say about the true cost of lawmaking
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Behind the zero: What Colorado’s opening day didn’t say about the true cost of lawmaking

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice “Governor Polis told us we should please work together,” Sen. Janice Rich said Wednesday, recounting a recent exchange as she stood on the Senate floor during opening session. Inside the chamber, legislative leaders spoke about shared goals and economic pressure on families. What didn’t make it into the speeches, according to Rich, was where many of the real financial consequences of those bills are already hiding. Rich, the Senate Minority Whip and vice chair of the Statutory Revision Committee, said the optimistic tone often masks how legislation actually moves once the gavels come down—particularly in how costs are presented, debated and ultimately shifted onto taxpayers and local governments. “They say they want to work...
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Colorado Democrats Push Plan That Threatens Future TABOR Refunds
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Push Plan That Threatens Future TABOR Refunds

State lawmakers will gavel in the 2026 legislative session Wednesday and the budget will once again dominate debate. By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado The general fund is $850 million in the hole and it could get worse as the Trump Administration threatens to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to Colorado. Despite the dire fiscal outlook, Democratic leadership made it clear they won't cave to pressure from the federal government. "It is going to be a powerful session. We will be standing up to Washington," said Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie.By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
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Colorado Lawmakers Warn School Meal Taxes Could Return to Ballot Yet Again
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Warn School Meal Taxes Could Return to Ballot Yet Again

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun The $95 million a year voters approved when they passed Proposition MM in November is expected to generate enough to fund the Health School Meals for All program. But it might still go back to the ballot. Just two months after Colorado voted — for the second and third times — to raise taxes for a school meals program, legislative analysts are warning state lawmakers they might have to go back to the ballot for round four. The news reduced Joint Budget Committee Chair Emily Sirota to a three-letter response during a December meeting: “O … M … G …” This time around, the stakes aren’t quite as high. The $95 million a year voters approved when they passed Proposition MM in November is expected to generate enough to pay f...
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Colorado Taxpayers Miss Out on TABOR Refunds Under Polis Budget Plan
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Taxpayers Miss Out on TABOR Refunds Under Polis Budget Plan

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Denver Gazette Gov. Jared Polis on Friday submitted revised budget requests for the next two fiscal years, calling for new public safety spending, changes to Medicaid growth, and renewed efforts to privatize Pinnacol Assurance. Notably, the governor said Colorado residents won’t get refunds from the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). “We are focused on protecting the issues that Coloradans care most about – education, access to health care and safety — while delivering a balanced budget for Colorado,” he said. “In this difficult budget environment, we are doing everything we can to deliver the best possible results for Colorado and know that the Joint Budget Committee will have challenging decisions to make in the months ahead. We look forwar...
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When caps don’t cap costs
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

When caps don’t cap costs

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A familiar promise, a familiar frustration Voters are often told that a policy includes a built-in safeguard — a cap, a limit, a hard stop designed to keep costs under control. In Colorado, that promise came with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, approved by voters in 1992 as a constitutional amendment limiting how much revenue state and local governments can keep and spend without voter approval. Nationally, it appeared in the Affordable Care Act’s limits on how much of each insurance premium can be kept for administration and profit under the law’s medical loss ratio rules. The two systems regulate very different things. One governs government revenue, the other private insurance markets.  But cr...
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Colorado Progressive Tax Plan Advances Seeking End to Flat Tax and TABOR Limits
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Approved, Complete Colorado, State

Colorado Progressive Tax Plan Advances Seeking End to Flat Tax and TABOR Limits

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER — After years of voter-approved measures scaling back Colorado’s income tax rate, proponents of significantly higher government spending have cleared a major hurdle at the state Title Board towards raising taxes by $4.1 billion annually.   Proposed Initiative #181 would replace Colorado’s flat income tax with a so-called “progressive” tax where taxpayers are charged higher rates based on their income.   The initiative is being put forth by the Bell Policy Center, a progressive nonprofit led by former Colorado state rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy, who while in office advocated multiple times for such things as reducing refunds under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) and universal healthcare. The Title Board gave the green light to move forw...
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Colorado Courts Deliver Split Decisions on TABOR in 2025
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Courts Deliver Split Decisions on TABOR in 2025

By Rob Natelson | Commentary, Complete Colorado During 2025, Colorado appellate courts issued two important decisions construing the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR. One continued the judiciary’s long practice of defeating and weakening TABOR. The other decision, however, was a rare victory for Colorado taxpayers. Background The Colorado Constitution, like the charters of almost all other states, includes terms restricting public debt, taxes, and spending. Such terms are called “tax and expenditure limitations” or “TELs.” State constitution-writers started to insert TELs during the mid 19th century, after several states went bankrupt from overspending. This helps explain why the Colorado Constitution, as adopted in 1876, included some very strict TEL...
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