And so it begins.
But as the 2012 General Assembly convenes today in Denver, Coloradans who are sick or unemployed and looking to their government for help should avoid harboring unrealistic expectations.
Because while record Medicaid enrollment, stubborn unemployment and the persistent threat of more budget cuts indicate the state’s economic and fiscal house is still on fire, the leading lights of the legislature have responded with squirt guns — the cheap plastic kind from the toy aisle in a drugstore.
Whether you believe government policies can play a critical role in jump-starting a stalled economy or that government is a lot better at wrecking the marketplace than helping fix it, you could be forgiven for looking at the jobs bills that both sides are proposing and asking: Why bother?
Democrats control the Senate. The centerpiece of their economic strategy, Senate Bill 1, which they have dubbed HIRE Colorado, would give a bidding preference on state construction and service contracts to companies that employ Colorado workers.
It is a tweaked version of a bill that failed last year but still prompts at least as many questions as it answers.
Pressed for details on how much, if anything, SB-1 might cost the state and who would watch companies to ensure they actually hired Coloradans, Senate President Brandon Shaffer said it was all still unknown.
“If these are the conversations we’re having for 120 days, this is a good session,” Shaffer said.
Actually, those conversations would have made for a good November caucus meeting. Once you have drafted the bill and hosted the news conference, it is time to debate the merits, not to start casting about to see if the proposal has any.
The Republicans, who control the House, are slightly better prepared (their handout has a picture of a combine harvester on it; the Democrats just had a sketch of the Capitol dome). But their ideas are no more creative, nor do they seem any more likely to help put a dent in the state’s 8 percent unemployment rate.
House Speaker Frank McNulty points specifically to the proposed CLEAR Act. It would require the state to grant or deny a permit for a business activity based on the rules that were in place at the time the application was filed, rather than any changes that took place while the application was pending.
That’ll sure shorten the line at the free clinic.
Legislative leaders do recognize the depth of the problems facing the state. Asked how large Medicaid looms as a state issue this year, McNulty didn’t hesitate:
“The issue is so big that it calls for leadership, and it calls for bipartisan leadership.”
But first, someone has to lead.
Which brings us to Gov. John Hickenlooper. His administration will be active during the session supporting legislation to “retain, grow and recruit companies and jobs in Colorado,” according to Hickenlooper spokeswoman Megan Castle. We’ll see. So far, Hickenlooper’s proposal to add $6 million to the budget for economic development equates to spending $9.76 for each of the 614,146 Coloradans who have essentially declared poverty by enrolling in Medicaid. That’s about the same as a 20-cap let pack of Sudafed. Not bold.
As for dealing with that Medicaid crisis in a bipartisan fashion, Castle said: “Gov. Hickenlooper has repeatedly said, ‘Everything is on the table’ regarding the state budget, including Medicaid.” He also has previously proposed some adjustments that could save the state about $30 million on the program next year. It’s a start.
Here’s a proposal: As long as legislators are here for the next four months, how about they really seek solutions — not slogans? Rather than passing bills with clever acronyms in one chamber, only to watch them die in the other, what if they all agreed to take on the biggest problem facing the state — not by trying to gut Medicaid or debating its worth but by seeking ways government can help people get back to work and out of poverty so they can get off it.
“What we need to have is a constructive dialogue between elected leaders from the Republican Party and the Democratic Party with Gov. Hickenlooper to determine how we’re going to move forward,” McNulty said.
It can start today.
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Chuck Murphy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-954-1829, cmurphy@denverpost.com or , or subscribe at
