Following an at-times testy debate that stretched over two days, the Colorado House of Representatives on Friday gave preliminary approval to a $26.8 billion state budget proposal that covers a $400 million shortfall through steep cuts to hospitals, schools and taxpayer refunds, but punts a long-term solution to the state’s intractable financial challenges.
The measure passed second reading on a voice vote, largely along party lines, after the chamber’s Democratic majority spent much of the debate swatting away Republican attempts to scale back Medicaid and a number of state agencies in order to boost funding to schools and roads.
If the measure receives final approval Monday, as expected, it would send to conference committee a revised budget that shifts millions of dollars in spending to a number of programs, but keeps the most significant pieces of the initial proposal largely intact.
Some of the changes adopted by the House include:
- A $9 million boost to rural broadband infrastructure, funded through existing utility fees.
- $1.5 million for a film industry incentive program that was previously scrapped.
- $5.4 million for ambulance service in rural Colorado, funded by shifting money in the Health Care Policy and Financing budget.
- $8 million for substance abuse treatment, funded with marijuana sales tax revenues.
- Earmarking $750,000 in severance taxes to fill nine vacant positions in the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to boost inspections of wells.
- In a budget footnote targeted at Republican Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, Democrats also tacked on a stipulation to her budget barring the Department of Law from using its funding to sue a local government on behalf of private interests. Coffman earlier this year sued Boulder County for failing to lift a moratorium on oil and gas development after Supreme Court case preempted local regulations that conflict with state law. It’s unlikely to survive conference committee.
Taken as a whole, the budget proposal will only increase pressure on lawmakers to come to an agreement on two of the state’s most pressing problems: transportation funding, and a looming $264 million cut to a hospital bed fee that could force some rural health facilities to close.
