In a flurry, state budget writers sliced and diced the roughly $26 billion spending plan to bring it into balance Monday — the final step before the “long bill” lands later this week.
The Joint Budget Committee expects to introduce the bill in the Senate on Friday, meaning the first votes would come in the middle of next week.
But first, the budget writers had to find about $125 million to balance the bill — prompting a series of motions to pull money from other sources and cut major programs.
The initial $75 million set aside to lower the state’s debt to school districts — the so-called “negative factor” under Amendment 23 — was cut to $25 million, far less than Democrats and Republican had requested. Gov. John Hickenlooper asked for a one-time $200 million reduction.
Rep. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, called her move to trim the money “the most unfavorable motion” in her career. “We don’t have the money to make that commitment today,” she said of the original $75 million.
Other areas that took a last-minute axe included a $1 million cut to state courthouse renovation and a $2.5 million trim from the $5 million earmarked for the state’s film incentives program, just as neighbor and competitor . An expected increase in the fees hospitals collect from Medicaid patients also didn’t increase as much as once hoped, saving another $21 million.
Unlike the other votes, the JBC split 5-1 on whether to pull $20 million from the pot of severance tax money to help cover the expected TABOR refunds. Hickenlooper wanted to use $47 million from the fund to offset the taxpayer payouts in 2016, but lawmakers settled much lower.
Rep. Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale, was the dissenting vote. To make the transfer official, the legislature must approve a separate bill that will surely draw fierce debate. The severance taxes paid by the oil and gas industry goes toward projects in local communities to mitigate the effect of drilling and extraction operations.
The final votes culminated months of negotiations about how to spend taxpayer dollars on priority areas in state government. The JBC started its work in November.
The state budgetap introduction to make the final number fit the state’s revenue forecast, which didn’t get released until Wednesday.
The bill’s introduction in the Senate on Friday will set in motion two weeks of legislative debate on the spending plan. The Senate could vote Wednesday and Thursday, sending it to the House for votes a week later. The two chambers would then have a week to negotiate any differences and finish by April 17.
