Session Marked by Partisanship and Race to Expand Government

House Republican Leader Mike May, R-Parker, today summed up the 2009 legislative session by saying that the Legislature and the Ritter Administration have failed to meet their responsibilities to manage the government.

“It is astonishing that Democrats have found ways to expand government bureaucracy even in the midst of a recession,” May said. “The mismanagement of Colorado’s state government that we have seen from this governor has reached new heights.”

Republican lawmakers have been critical of the many Democrat backed proposals to raise fees, expand government bureaucracy, and push through their social agenda. May says these Democrat initiatives are going to hit Coloradans hard.

“The real story about this session is that Colorado families are going to see a major increase in their cost of living in the form of increased fees and taxes,” May said. “Pair that with the Democrats race to shut down the energy industry and embolden labor unions and we have a recipe for continued job losses.”

May is referring to Governor Ritter’s push to approve new rules on Colorado’s oil and gas industry, rules that many industry leaders say will lead to a drop in energy industry activity in the state.

“Where has the governor been on leading this state out of the recession?” May said. “The lack of leadership from the first floor of the capitol has set the second floor adrift. If we are going to get Colorado back on track, we are going to have to do a lot better.”

Many Republicans could not remember a session as marked by partisanship. As examples, they cited partisan gridlock on transportation, the removal of a key government spending cap and a Democrat push to expand their social agenda.

“Republicans went into this session hoping to work on getting Colorado out of this recession, what we got was exactly the opposite,” May said. “It was discouraging to see the Democrats raise taxes and fees this year by close to $1 billion dollars, even as families struggle to make ends meet in a shrinking job market.”

Republican Leader Chides Raid on Transportation Funding

House Republican Leader Mike May, R-Parker, today had sharp words to say regarding a Democrat proposal to remove a key state spending restraint.

Passed by the House today on Second Reading, Senate Bill 228 would repeal the Arveschoug-Bird provision, which limits growth in the state's general fund to 6 percent a year. Billed by the governor and Democrats as a transportation funding bill, House Republicans proved that the bill would do nothing to fund transportation by passing an amendment to shift the included transportation dollars to education.

“It is extremely disingenuous for the Democrats to remove this spending cap under the guise of creating transportation funding,” May said. “We proved today just how easy it is to siphon those so-called transportation dollars right out of the bill and put them wherever you want.”

Republicans argued against removing the spending cap saying it places an important check on the growth of state government and preserves a guaranteed revenue stream for transportation funding. Currently, all revenue collected above the limit is dedicated to transportation. Republicans have called the bill a raid on transportation dollars because it would effectively remove dedicated funding to roads and bridges.

“This unique spending cap has served Colorado well for many years,” May said. “The important limit it places on the growth of government bureaucracy has left us in much better shape than some of our neighbors to the east and west that are being ravaged by the recession.”

May argued that there is no guarantee of transportation funding within the complicated spending formula being backed by the governor. He also noted that the complicated formulas within the bill are nothing more than a series of earmarks.

“I made the point during the debate on this bill that it is chock full of special interest earmarks,” May said. “This so-called compromise being backed by the governor is full of problems for Colorado.”

Republicans counter that this change needs to be sent to a vote of the people and granted constitutional protection from legislative raids on the transportation funding and cash reserves.

“We worry that future legislatures are going to treat this money like a piggy bank they can use for their pet projects,” May said. “This proposal is the classic bait and switch. I am only hopeful that we can get some kind of guarantee that this money will not be spent foolishly.”

Democrats Push Through Tax Hike on Senior Citizens; Republicans Object

Amid GOP objections, House Democrats today granted final approval to a bill that would leave less money in senior citizens’ pockets.

Assistant Republican Leader David Balmer, R-Centennial, led the fight against the measure.

“Our state budget should not be balanced on the backs of senior citizens who are struggling to survive on fixed incomes,” Balmer said. “Senior citizens living on fixed incomes are already going to be hit hard with higher car registration fees, and now they will have to absorb higher property taxes as well.”

The proposal, Senate Bill 276, would suspend the senior homestead property tax exemption for three years, effectively increasing taxes on over 154,000 senior citizens throughout Colorado.

“In 2007 and 2008, House Republicans repeatedly warned Governor Ritter to scale back state spending to prepare for the looming recession,” Balmer said. “Instead, he ignored our warnings and grew government by adding over 1300 new state jobs. Now, Governor Ritter is asking senior citizens to bear the cost of his excessive spending.”

Passed in 2000 by Colorado voters, the exemption offers qualified citizens a 50 percent exemption on the first $200,000 of value of eligible homes. If this exemption is set aside, many senior citizens will see a dramatic increase in their property tax bills.

“While going door to door in my district, I have listened to thousands of seniors explain to me the challenges they confront in this economy,” Balmer said. “Many of Colorado’s senior citizens are living on tight budgets, and use this extra money to buy their medication and pay their bills.”

House Republican Leader Mike May, R-Parker, contends that there are other options that would not hit Colorado’s seniors. May argued for a 2 year suspension of theColorado Conservation Easement program that allows land owners to agree to conserve land in exchange for a tax credit. An estimate by legislative staff shows that the state could collect $98 million a year by suspending the program.

“It is crazy that Colorado’s seniors will be hit with higher property taxes while a few wealthy individuals and corporations are enjoying this special earmark program,” May said. “There is just not enough development going on right now to justify this program.”

Keeping Criminals Out of School Employment

State Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, today will present his proposal, House Bill 1324, that would prevent the employment of non-licensed persons, such as youth sport coaches, and with certain enumerated criminal offenses to be employed in public and district school systems.

“This would ensure further safety of our children when they are participating in extracurricular activities,” McNulty stated. “It is a mandatory disqualification for licensed educator’s who have been convicted to be employed, shouldn’t the same requirements be applied to the people coaching our children’s sports teams."

Most recently a local sports coach was arrested for the possession, cultivation and distribution of marijuana. School official’s were aware of the prior offenses but could hire the man due to current law that says teaching licenses are only declined to felons whose crimes are violent, sexual or dishonest in nature, drug and other charges do not apply, this also does not apply to hiring to non-teaching positions. House Bill 1324 would mandate these requirements.

“State law ought not to allow school districts to hire convicted felons to positions where they are in constant contact with kids,” McNulty says. “At the very least, the law needs to be broadened to include felony drug crimes. Greeley West High has fired Arnold Martinez, and they maintain that hiring felony applicants is extremely rare, and is “not typical” for the district to hire someone with a felony conviction.”

Republicans Oppose Job-Killing Oil and Gas Regulations

Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, today led the fight against new regulations on Colorado’s energy industry by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission; regulations many believe are stifling the industry and destroying jobs in Colorado.

“Governor Ritter, through his support of these restrictive rules on Colorado’s energy industry, is driving jobs out of the state,” Gardner said. “He has urged job retention as a part of his economic strategy, yet his administration has written job-killing rules for the oil and gas industry.”

Gardner spoke out against the rules during the hearing on the annual rule review bill, House Bill 1292, by the Joint Committee on Legal Services. Gardner cited recent news reports that up to 50 percent of the state’s oil rigs are currently sitting idle and jobs are being lost at an alarming rate.

“Now is simply not the time to pass regulations that will drive up costs and dampen this industry's to bring more jobs to the state, particularly as energy companies are cutting back across the country”, Gardner said. “I am extremely disappointed that Gov. Ritter has chosen to place the agenda of environmental extremists and his government bureaucrats above the livelihood of the many Coloradans who are employed by the energy sector.”

The amendments which would have repealed the most damaging of the regulations were defeated on a party-line vote. The bill will now head to the full House for consideration. Gardner said that he expects a very spirited debate concerning the regulations on the House floor.

“If this Legislature is serious about protecting Colorado’s economy and keeping jobs in the state, they will stand up to the governor on these job-cutting rules and speak out against their damaging impact on our economy,” Gardner said.

HB 1292 is expected to be heard by the House on Thursday, March 12.

Committee Dems Reject Tax Credit for Home Buyers

State Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs, today fought to ease the financial burden for new homebuyers by proposing a tax credit for buyers of new single-family homes. House Finance Committee Democrats killed the proposal on a party-line vote

“The root of our current economic crisis falls flat on the fact that people are no longer purchasing homes,” Liston said. “By providing this incentive for new home buyers, we could start getting this market moving again and put these people back to work.:

Liston’s House Bill 1212 would have allowed buyers of new single-family homes to receive a tax credit of 3 percent of the purchase price, up to a maximum of $10,000.

“This was a solid job creation bill that could have gone a long way toward getting Colorado’s economy back on solid footing,” Liston said. “We need to be looking at every way we can to get the housing market moving again. This proposal would have provided a great incentive for people to go out and buy a home.”

HB 1212 had garnered a unanimous recommendation by the Joint Select Committee on Job Creation and Economic Growth.

"Potential new home buyers are sitting on their cash, afraid to make that investment,” Liston said. “My bill would have given that potential homebuyer an incentive to engage a homebuilder in constructing a new home, getting those people back to work.”

Liston says that the construction of new homes provides well-paying jobs for carpenters, electricians, plumbers, designers, and many others. “These are high-paying jobs,” Liston said. “Some of these jobs pay upwards of $100,000.”

“This was a modest proposal to get our economy moving again,” Liston said. “I am sorry that the Democrats sitting on the House Finance Committee disagreed. Hopefully we can move beyond these partisan votes and work together to get the economy back on track.”

HB 1212 was killed today on a party line vote in the House Finance Committee.

Accurate Reporting of Foreclosure Data

The House Local Government Committee, today, unanimously approved House Bill 1197 proposed by Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, that is designed to ensure accurate reporting of foreclosure data in the State of Colorado.

“With Colorado already fighting an economic head-wind we need to do our best to ensure that key economic indicators, like foreclosure data, are reported as fairly and accurately as possible,” said Rep. McNulty. “HB 1197 is an important step toward standardizing these critical numbers.”

House Bill 1197 identifies the foreclosure information that provides the most accurate numbers, and sets the Colorado Division of Housing as the official agency to report foreclosure data for Colorado.

“This common sense reform will help remove one more speed bump we would otherwise face on the road to economic recovery,” said Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen. “Simply reporting accurate numbers puts Colorado in a better position.”

Concerns have been raised that foreclosure numbers for Colorado are inflated related to other states that have already implemented standardized reporting procedures. This over reporting puts Colorado at a significant disadvantage when national numbers are analyzed and compared, and has a negative effect on home values in our state.

“This bill is extremely important so we can have an accurate and official report on foreclosures in Colorado,” said Sunny Banka, a Realtor who testified in support of the bill on behalf of the Colorado Association of Realtors. “HB 1197 will help prohibit the inflated numbers reported by third party companies.”

HB 1197 will now go to the full House for consideration.

In-State Tuition for Military Veterans Clears First Legislative Hurdle

State Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, is celebrating success today with the passage of his proposal to expand access to higher education for honorably discharged veterans and their families was unanimously approved by a House Committee.

“Granting in-state tuition to the men and women who have served our nation in the armed forces is one small way to show our gratitude for their service and sacrifice,” McNulty said. “I am pleased that my colleagues saw the wisdom of providing this assistance to deserving Americans.”

House Bill 1039 would allow colleges to grant honorably discharged veterans and their families eligibility for in-state tuition at state universities when they make their home in Colorado.

“Extending this opportunity will benefit our veterans and their families by helping them begin their new lives in Colorado and will no doubt ease their transition to the private sector,” McNulty said. “I’m convinced that Colorado will benefit greatly by inviting our veterans here and they will make our state an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.”

HB 1039 today was unanimously approved by the HouseState, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee and will now go to the House Appropriations Committee for consideration.

Session Marked by Partisanship and Race to Expand Government

House Republican Leader Mike May, R-Parker, today summed up the 2009 legislative session by saying that the Legislature and the Ritter Administration have failed to meet their responsibilities to manage the government.  
“It is astonishing that Democrats have found ways to expand government bureaucracy even in the midst of a recession,” May said. “The mismanagement of Colorado’s state government that we have seen from this governor has reached new heights.”
Republican lawmakers have been critical of the many Democrat backed proposals to raise fees, expand government bureaucracy, and push through their social agenda. May says these Democrat initiatives are going to hit Coloradans hard.
“The real story about this session is that Colorado families are going to see a major increase in their cost of living in the form of increased fees and taxes,” May said. “Pair that with the Democrats race to shut down the energy industry and embolden labor unions and we have a recipe for continued job losses.”
May is referring to Governor Ritter’s push to approve new rules on Colorado’s oil and gas industry, rules that many industry leaders say will lead to a drop in energy industry activity in the state.
“Where has the governor been on leading this state out of the recession?” May said. “The lack of leadership from the first floor of the capitol has set the second floor adrift. If we are going to get Colorado back on track, we are going to have to do a lot better.”
Many Republicans could not remember a session as marked by partisanship. As examples, they cited partisan gridlock on transportation, the removal of a key government spending cap and a Democrat push to expand their social agenda.
“Republicans went into this session hoping to work on getting Colorado out of this recession, what we got was exactly the opposite,” May said. “It was discouraging to see the Democrats raise taxes and fees this year by close to $1 billion dollars, even as families struggle to make ends meet in a shrinking job market.”