Each year, lawmakers in Colorado have the unenviable but unavoidable task of producing the next years budget . In recent cycles the effort has been growing pronouncedly less fun. As revenues shrink, demand for expenditures rise and the ratchet effect of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights makes limited dollars even more scarce, budgeting is an exercise in aging and frustration as much as it is one of political wrangling. Nevertheless, it is the most important of lawmakers functions and, painful or not, it gets done each year at least at the state level; the federal undertaking is another question.
It seems unnecessary, then, to add the threat of a penalty to lawmakers should they not produce a budget as expected, but that is what Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, has proposed. Under Senate Bill 19, all state legislators would have their pay and benefits suspended in the event that they fail to pass a budget on time. On its surface, the measure could be read as an altruistic devotion to accountability, regardless of party. Just beneath the veneer, though, it seems more an attempt to impress voters with Shaffers selfless dedication to the job he was elected to do or would like to be elected to do he is running for Congress.
Whatever the true intentions of the legislation, it is not needed.
On the other end of the spectrum is a measure that could do much good for a small group of young people deserving of encouragement to pursue a path to success. Senate Bill 15, sponsored by Sen. Michael Johnston, D-Denver, would lower tuition rates for children who are in the country illegally, provided they have attended three years of high school in Colorado. The students would not pay tuition at the in-state rate, but would pay far less than the out-of-state tuition.
By making this discounted rate available to students who might not otherwise be able to pursue post-secondary education, lawmakers would be sending a strong message that education is a value we should encourage, without waiting for federal immigration policy to clarify how immigrants and their children are treated. The measure has some bipartisan support, though Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, is not among its proponents, saying that until the larger issue is settled, students will still struggle, They will come out with a degree in a difficult job environment with debt and still be here illegally. We have done nothing to ensure that these young people once they are graduated, they have the ability to get a job legally not only in Colorado but in this country, Roberts said Wednesday.
While those are valid points, there is no indication that the larger problem will be fixed any time soon. In the meantime, driven, high-achieving students are being discouraged from pursuing the education they will need to succeed wherever they live. Making that pursuit unattainable does nothing to solve the larger federal immigration policy problem that Roberts is correct in identifying, it simply adds more collateral damage.
Finally, Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, has a bill pending that is nothing short of self-interest all the wrong reasons to float a proposal. House Bill 1119 would end the states ability to levy fines on mining companies in violation of state regulations monitored by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. As an owner of four uranium mines, Coram should know better than to advocate for such a blatantly self-serving measure. As a lawmaker ostensibly committed to empowering the state to serve its residents, Coram should see the counter-productivity of this bill. It is the wrong thing to do, justified by all the wrong reasons.
