The Colorado legislature’s $46.8 billion budget for state government is nearing the finish line, though a final set of key decisions looms before the General Assembly decides on sending the spending plan to Gov. Jared Polis.
The Colorado Senate approved the budget bill 25-10 on Thursday morning. But the body, like the House of Representatives last week, added a number of amendments. Some of those changes might throw the balance of the budget off kilter, while others would redirect spending — and potentially affect jobs — to pay for specific priorities.
Now the Joint Budget Committee will evaluate the 20 amendments adopted by the House or the Senate to decide which, if any, will make it into the final document. That decision is expected early next week.
The two chambers will then conduct final formal votes to accept the document. Members of the bipartisan committee have emphasized throughout the legislative session how painful their decisions have been as they’ve sought to close a general fund deficit of more than $1 billion — requiring the third round of deep cuts in two years.
The Colorado Constitution requires the state to adopt a balanced budget, and it is one of two must-pass bills during each year’s session. The budget will take effect for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The overall general fund for the upcoming fiscal year will be $17.4 billion. That represents a $212 million year-over-year increase — less than inflation and less than the skyrocketing costs in some must-spend areas like Medicaid and the system that houses the prison population.
Many of the cuts this year have nonetheless landed on Medicaid patients and providers.
“This was an extraordinarily hard budget,” Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat and vice chair of the budget committee, said. “It kept me up at night (on) many, many days. Itap taken a huge emotional toll.”
Bridges said the committee generally gives preference to amendments adopted by both chambers of the legislature, but “unique circumstances” in the House meant that “the process this year may look a little different.”
Last week, Rep. Brandi Bradley, a Littleton Republican, asked to have the 661-page budget bill read at length, chewing up some 16 hours of floor time and leading the Democratic majority to limit debate on amendments to keep the budget process on schedule. Some 20 proposed amendments in the House were not debated as a result.
Still, both chambers approved amendments aimed at bolstering funding for courts that handle veterans with substance-use problems and behavioral health disorders; allowing the treasurer’s office to hire more people to help return money in the unclaimed property trust fund; moving money from the governor’s mansion maintenance fund to the veterans trust fund; and creating new line items to pay for a special-needs parole program and private nursing homes for prisoners, which are minimally funded at $1 apiece.
Another amendment, which would prevent a proposed cap on Medicaid-paid caregiver hours for people with severe disabilities and limit the increase in a waitlist for people awaiting services for severe disabilities, also cleared the Senate. Its sponsor, Sen. Lisa Frizell, a Castle Rock Republican, made clear that her support of the budget was contingent on that amendment remaining. She also acknowledged that her amendment, like others, was a “long shot” to stay in the final budget bill.
Frizell was the only Republican who’s not on the budget committee to support the budget package in Thursday’s Senate vote.
“These are parents who bear burdens and responsibilities that are beyond comprehension,” Frizell said of her support for families with severely disabled children. “They are people whose biggest fears are dying before their disabled child.”
