DENVER—A stalemate over government spending in Colorado entered its third week Monday, when education cuts and other spending decisions paralyzed bickering lawmakers.
Democrats and Republicans huddled in rival meetings Monday trying to figure out a spending plan that could win agreement. Democrats are looking for ways to soften education cuts proposed by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper. Republicans want to send more money back to businesses that collect sales taxes, plus require state employees to contribute more toward their retirement plans. That could mean a deeper pay cut than Democrats advocate.
The budget-writing Joint Budget Committee was torn, with three Democrats and three Republicans unable to agree on a spending plan for next fiscal year. The Senate threatened to introduce its own spending plan, then left for the day without one.
Lawmakers from both parties told reporters a deal was just around the corner—but no one was sharing details of what the deal would look like. There were few bright spots in the budget talks between Republicans ruling the House and Democrats in the Senate, led by Senate President Brandon Shaffer.
“It hasn’t gotten to the point where I and the president have agreed to mud-wrestle, so the people of Colorado should be grateful for that,” Republican House Speaker Frank McNulty joked.
McNulty’s joke belied a souring mood as lawmakers struggled to close a budget shortfall estimated at $450 million for the budget year starting in July.
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in February suggested a spending plan that trimmed some $332 million from K-12 education, a cut that would likely require teacher layoffs, bigger class sizes and even the closure of some schools. Since then, improving state finances have sparked hope in Democrats that the K-12 cuts can be eased.
Those education cuts seemed the biggest sticking point Monday. Republicans accused Democrats of trying to dip too deeply into the state’s education fund, a sort of savings account for education funded by income taxes. The GOP says Democratic spending plans would leave that education fund too skimpy for future years.
The GOP was pushing for changes, too. Republicans want to see the state reverse its policy over the last two years of keeping all sales taxes owed to it, instead of refunding a small fraction to retailers to compensate them for the trouble of collecting it. The GOP says the “vendor fee” worth more than $60 million a year should go back to small businesses, arguing the money would spark job growth.
Budget negotiators worked into the night with no budget deal to announce. The clock was ticking. The phonebook-sized budget takes about two days to print, then typically takes three weeks to work through both chambers of the Legislature.
Lawmakers then prefer to give themselves time to override a possible gubernatorial veto. To have that option, lawmakers would have to deliver a spending plan to Hickenlooper a couple weeks before leaving Denver in mid-May.
“We’ve spent months trying to come up with a bill,” said an exasperated Rep. Mark Ferrandino, a Denver Democrat who is a House budget negotiator. “We’re looking at every item, line by line. It hasn’t been easy work. … But if this goes on, we’re going to have to really rush to get anything out.”
