Spring Break
Lawmakers working to remove state spending cap
Steven K. Paulson - Associated Press
Issue date: 2/17/09 Section: News
DENVER - Lawmakers are considering a plan to eliminate a cap on spending as they seek ways to cut $625 million from this year's state budget.
Increases in state revenue usually require voter approval. But Rep. Don Marostica, a Republican from Loveland who sits on the Joint Budget Committee, says lawmakers believe they have the authority to change the law.
Monday's proposed change would do little to help lawmakers with their current budget crisis, but it would allow the state to spend more money when the economy recovers without having to go back to voters as they did in 2005. That year, Referendum C allowed the state to keep tax surplus refunds for five years to help recover from the last economic slump.
The spending limit, known as the Arveschoug-Bird limit from its 1991 sponsors, set a 6 percent cap on increases in general fund spending, the state's bank account used to pay for big ticket items like higher education, criminal justice, schools, corrections and health care.
Jean Dubofsky, a former member of the state Supreme Court and policy analyst for the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, said legislative legal advisers made a mistake nearly two decades ago when they assumed TABOR and Arveschoug-Bird were both limits on spending. She said the law told lawmakers how to spend the money, but it didn't set limits.
"By accepting this unnecessary restriction on its authority, the Legislature has allowed its hands to be tied when it comes to fixing Colorado's fiscal mess," Dubofsky said.
Marostica said a bill to end the limits would be filed this week after lawmakers were briefed on a plan to balance the current budget ending July 1.
The money has to be cut as tax collections
Increases in state revenue usually require voter approval. But Rep. Don Marostica, a Republican from Loveland who sits on the Joint Budget Committee, says lawmakers believe they have the authority to change the law.
Monday's proposed change would do little to help lawmakers with their current budget crisis, but it would allow the state to spend more money when the economy recovers without having to go back to voters as they did in 2005. That year, Referendum C allowed the state to keep tax surplus refunds for five years to help recover from the last economic slump.
The spending limit, known as the Arveschoug-Bird limit from its 1991 sponsors, set a 6 percent cap on increases in general fund spending, the state's bank account used to pay for big ticket items like higher education, criminal justice, schools, corrections and health care.
Jean Dubofsky, a former member of the state Supreme Court and policy analyst for the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, said legislative legal advisers made a mistake nearly two decades ago when they assumed TABOR and Arveschoug-Bird were both limits on spending. She said the law told lawmakers how to spend the money, but it didn't set limits.
"By accepting this unnecessary restriction on its authority, the Legislature has allowed its hands to be tied when it comes to fixing Colorado's fiscal mess," Dubofsky said.
Marostica said a bill to end the limits would be filed this week after lawmakers were briefed on a plan to balance the current budget ending July 1.
The money has to be cut as tax collections
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