Improving Colorado’s budget process

This past June, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed into law a more than $26.8 billion 2017-18 state budget. That’s an astonishing 45 percent increase over the past 8 years. What are you getting for your tax money? How do you know it’s spent wisely? Who is guarding the interests of the Colorado taxpayer?

Colorado’s citizens deserve a government that respects their hard work and common sense. We believe the time has come to bring some of that hard work and common sense to the state budget process by requiring all 100 members of the General Assembly to take on more responsibility for the wise use of taxpayer money.

While the Colorado General Assembly alone has the legal obligation to develop and propose an annual, balanced budget for the state, within this collection of 100 elected officials the work of a mere six is decisive. For many years, the Assembly’s Joint Budget Committee, composed of three House members and an equal number of Senators (weighted according to majority/ minority status), has shouldered the burden of shaping the annual budget.

JBC members are conscientious and hardworking, but it is practically impossi-

ble that so few people can comprehend in meaningful detail the budgets of 210 state departments and agencies. We propose five changes to this process, nonpartisan in nature, which will benefit all Coloradans.

One, require committees of reference to be briefed, hold hearings about and create departmental budgets for their areas of oversight. These budgets would then be referred to the JBC by a date certain. At present, the JBC and its staff spends time with agency heads discussing proposed budget increases, but they rarely have time to discover whether a particular program is necessary, effective or wisely managed. That job is simply too large, even for the most talented and dedicated six people. The flip side of the current over-reliance on the few is an under-use of the many; to be more specific, there are scores of Republican and Democrat members whose experience and expertise could be useful to the budgeting process. Among current members are businessmen, financial planners, pilots, farmers, entrepreneurs, homemakers, lawyers and others whose real-life experience with budgets and departments could insure the state budget is given the scrutiny and insight it deserves. Their input will ultimately benefit the people of Colorado.

Two, committees should also be required to initiate a zero-based approach to budgeting to maximize department efficiency. It cannot be assumed that a given department or agency is using its money wisely, nor can it be assumed that programs are eternally useful. Elected officials must be required to decide if a given program is fit for purpose and actually benefits our citizens, and a zero-based approach makes that possible.

Three, we could dedicate a specific portion of the session to budget-only issues. The Assembly could spend the first 30 days, or the last 30 days or both, on the budget, enabling legislators time to hold hearings to discover how well and wisely a given department or program is run, a prerequisite — one would think — for deciding how taxpayer money will be spent. At present, about a week is given to debate the budget. More time is needed.

Four, once House and Senate amend the budget prepared by the JBC, the Assembly should employ an expanded conference committee made up of JBC members and committee chairs to reconcile the two. At present, only the six JBC members review the changes.

This would insure that a larger group of elected leaders than the six give final approval to the budget.

Finally, require agencies and departments to present a fiveyear forecast of anticipated spending to House and Senate committees every year. Families regularly develop longer-term plans to insure that longer-term goals are achieved, money isn’t wasted and long-term expenses are anticipated. Government should do the same.

While this approach would be new to Colorado, it is hardly unprecedented: Lawmakers in 46 states, including big states like Florida and Texas, already employ it or something very much like it. It cannot be assumed that our current approach is “the best one” or “the best one for Colorado.” In fact, it’s simply what we’ve done.

But the future belongs to the bold. As one of the fastest-growing states in the union we are obliged by history to lay solid foundations for a future Colorado where taxpayers are free to pursue their dreams, unburdened by the weight of foolish, wasteful, or simply unexamined government spending — an improved approach to budgeting will make that possible.

State Rep. Patrick Neville, R-castle Rock, is the minority leader in the Colorado House of Representatives. State Rep. Cole Wist, R-centennial, is the assistant minority leader in the House.