Writers set aside $825M

2019 money will go to transportation, schools, pensions

The Joint Budget Committee on Wednesday agreed to set aside $825 million in next year’s budget to address the three biggest — and most contentious — financial issues of the 2018 legislative session: transportation, schools and the state pension fund.

The unanimous decisions by the bipartisan budget writing committee won’t be the final word on how the funding is divvied up among the three. But they will set something of a financial benchmark for the ongoing spending negotiations by lawmakers in each chamber.

Transportation would get the biggest infusion — $500 million in one-time money, as requested by Democratic Gov. John Hicklenlooper, after the latest revenue forecasts showed the state government surprisingly flush with cash for next year. The committee also agreed to set aside $100 million to reduce the annual amount the state under-funds public schools and $225 million to help pay down the Public Employees’ Retirement Association’s unfunded liability.

“We have to do something as a

state about this,” said Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, the committee vice-chair. “Really, for the first time since we passed (the 2010 PERA reforms), I think we finally have people’s attention that this is really, really a major problem in the state.”

In other key decisions Wednesday, the committee approved 3 percent raises for state troopers and most other state employees, at a cost of $59.6 million. The committee also voted to boost the pay of Department of Law attorneys by 3.2 percent.

The budget committee’s proposal hasn’t yet been finalized — there are decisions left to make Thursday morning before the long bill is drafted. But the discussion Wednesday was a far cry from last year’s effort, which saw budget writers agreeing to deep cuts to schools and hospitals, much of which were later averted through late-session compromises.

Where last year’s proposed budget left virtually everyone unhappy, this year’s has more money for nearly every major priority. The difference: Under the latest forecasts from the governor’s office, state revenue is now projected to jump by 12.9 percent this fiscal year, or $1.3 billion, and another 3.2 percent in 2018-19, for a total general fund of $13.1 billion.

Much remains unsettled. Even as budget writers were making their decisions Wednesday, other lawmakers were scrambling to strike a deal of their own on infrastructure funding ahead of a scheduled evening vote on a Republican bill to borrow $3.5 billion for transportation projects.

A bipartisan bill to shore up the state pension fund is moving quickly to the Senate floor, but it’s already changed significantly from the initial proposal, and further changes are expected when it reaches the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, lawmakers have yet to introduce the School Finance Act, the final piece of the state’s three-pronged spending puzzle.

“I think right now, this moment, we have an incredible opportunity to work within this building to put all options on the table and try to get done as much as we possibly can before the session is done,” House Speaker Crisanta Duran, DDenver, said in a recent news briefing.

The budget doesn’t call for taxpayer refunds under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Revenue forecasts from the Colorado Legislative Council suggested some could occur, but budget writers adopted a similar forecast from the governor’s office that does not call for refunds, because more money would come in sooner, narrowly averting the constitutional limits on growth over the next two years.

In other actions, the JBC this week:

• Set aside $20 million as a placeholder to boost funding to the state prison system, while a working group continues to discuss broader correctional reform.

• Agreed to set aside $8 million to address K-12 teacher shortages, including $200,000 for a teacher training pilot program.

• Appropriated an additional $6.5 million for rural broadband, using funding from a state telecom fee.