DENVER – Lawmakers presented their ideas to those with rural Colorado interests this week at the Capitol, underscoring looming battles over the budget and oil and gas regulations.
The annual two-day marathon held by Club 20, Action 22 and Progressive 15 – which represent most rural Colorado counties – offered a voice to areas of the state that often feel overshadowed by an urban-focused agenda.
“Your voice matters, and especially when you make the trip, whether it’s out on the Eastern Plains, or Southwest Colorado or Northwest Colorado ... when you make that trip in, it carries a huge amount of weight,” Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, told the audience.
She pointed out that 87 of the Legislature’s 100 lawmakers represent communities along the Interstate 25 corridor – the Front Range. But she said that doesn’t necessarily limit the rural voice.
“Rural legislators are a strong force,” Roberts said. “We have to be three times as good as any other legislator here because there are so few of us.”
Perhaps the largest question on the minds of attendees surrounded the budget. Budget writers are constrained by a constitutional cap on how much the budget can grow. About $156 million must be refunded to taxpayers this year.
Gov. John Hickenlooper has called for restructuring a hospital-provider fee as an enterprise fund, or government-owned business. The fee is expected to generate $756 million in revenue this fiscal year. The move would take the revenue out of a calculation under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, thereby lowering refunds to free up money.
Republicans in the Legislature have generally opposed the proposal. But some rural county commissioners at the meetings this week wondered why Republican leaders would oppose a move that would allow more money to be spent on things such as crumbling roads, without having to ask voters to raise taxes.
“We don’t see this as solving our problem ...” answered Republican Senate President Bill Cadman of Colorado Springs. “It’s a small sliver of money.”
Cadman and fellow Republicans would rather address entitlement spending.
The GOP also has raised constitutional concerns, pointing to a nonpartisan legislative legal memo that raised questions with whether the hospital fee could be construed as an enterprise fund, suggesting that restructuring it would be illegal.
“The oath means something to me, and the constitution means a whole lot more,” Cadman said. “We can do this. We don’t have to challenge or violate the constitution to do it.”
Playing into budget discussions is slumping revenue from oil and gas. Those in rural areas are worried about further damage, as anti-fracking interests plan ballot measures for this year that would offer local governments the ability to ban fracking. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission also is in the middle of rule-making in an attempt to offer local governments more input.
Meanwhile, some Democratic lawmakers are discussing legislation that would require the oil and gas industry to compensate homeowners for lost property value as a result of nearby fracking activities. Discussions are taking place around again increasing fines on the industry and adding state inspectors to monitor operations.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Christi Zeller, executive director of the La Plata County Energy Council, who attended the meetings in Denver. “We have lost in 2015 in the state 6,000 jobs, and I can guarantee you if aerospace lost 6,000 jobs, we wouldn’t be putting proposed legislation at the door...”
Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, who also spoke at the meetings, pointed out that the state severance tax has declined by 70 percent, which is money that goes to local governments and will impact budgets this year.
“That’s real money in these rural communities,” Coram said. “That’s huge. It’ll affect every county and every city in the state of Colorado.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com