Owens: Do not regress

Gov. urges lawmakers not to retreat from past years’ reforms in Colo.
By John Fryar
The Daily Times-Call

DENVER — Gov. Bill Owens urged lawmakers Thursday not to retreat from seven years of progress toward reforming education, reducing taxes and improving highways.
In the Republican governor’s eighth and final State of the State address, Owens said he’s been able to work well with leaders of both parties, including Demo- crats now in their second year of majority control of the Legislature.
There will be policy differences this year, Owens said, just as there have been in the past, such as when he vetoed a record 47 bills that lawmakers approved during last year’s session.
The governor predicted, though, that he’ll once again be able to work out most disagreements with lawmakers and sign into law most of the bills they send him.
Owens warned, however, that he’ll wield his veto pen again “if you send me a bill that in my opinion weakens Colorado families, puts our jobs- friendly climate at risk or reverses any of the great progress we’ve made in education.”
Longmont Democratic Sen. Brandon Shaffer said after the speech that while he doesn’t always agree with the governor, Owens is “a classy guy.”
Shaffer said Owens demonstrated that quality Thursday by taking time to recognize Coloradans’ efforts in aiding Hurricane Katrina victims and by applauding the work of this state’s military reservists and National Guard members, both in Iraq and in post-Katrina duties in the Gulf Coast.
Owens outlined an “ambitious” agenda for his last year as governor. That includes includes several state spending recommendations as well as calls for reforming a public pension system, reining in medical malpractice lawsuits, protecting Coloradans from violent sexual predators, and reducing the costs of government health-care programs for the poor.
“Anyone who came here today expecting a farewell address will be sorely disappointed,” Owens said.
Owens campaigned alongside Democratic leaders and some legislative Republicans last year to convince enough Coloradans to adopt Referendum C, which allows the state to keep and spend nearly $4 billion over the next five years.
Owens said Thursday that passage of Referendum C will allow Colorado “to recover from years of recession while keeping our taxes among the lowest in the country, and I want to thank the bipartisan team that helped make this possible.”
Owens and Democratic leaders have had unresolved disagreements over how much Referendum C money should spent on transportation, and he used his speech to restate his case for highway funding.
But the governor also told lawmakers he looked forward to working with them on several “critical budget items.”
“And I have a message today for my many friends who could not support Referendum C,” Owens added. “I want to benefit from your views as well as we shape this budget.”
After the governor’s speech, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said in an interview, “We heard a lot less saber-rattling than last year,” when Owens pointedly itemized a list of “basic principles” that the governor said he would not compromise.
Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said, “I think it was a kinder, gentler Gov. Owens” this year.
Pommer also contrasted the compromising themes that Owens expressed with a sharply partisan opening-day speech delivered Wednesday by House Minority Leader Joe Stengel, R-Littleton.
Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, said in a statement that Owens made “several points upon which we can agree,” including the use of “telemedicine” to lower health-care costs, streamlining services for Medicaid-eligible children and providing additional funding to help needy families pay home heating costs.
But Romanoff said he still disagrees with the governor’s request for a supplemental $80 million highway appropriation from this year’s budget. And Fitz-Gerald expressed disappointment that Owens did not talk about the need for more accountability for state government computer contracts.
Owens, meanwhile, told lawmakers that after voters “gave us the revenue we need so that Colorado can recover from recession,” it’s “now our duty to use these funds wisely.”
“That’s going to be the biggest challenge of this legislative session,” the governor said.
The governor’s agenda
In Thursday’s State of the State address, Gov. Bill Owens outlined his legislative agenda for his final year as governor. Items on his agenda include:
• Allowing biotechnology companies to generate capital for labs and employees by allowing them to sell portions of net operating losses from their startup years.
• Allowing the state Economic Development Commission to award financial incentives to companies that create high-quality, high-paying jobs, especially in rural Colorado.
• Exempting high-speed Internet voice communications from Colorado taxes charged on conventional telephone service.
• Discouraging repeat drunken driving by making first-time offenders help clean up highway rights of way as part of their sentences.
• Requiring voters to prove their identities and verifying their U.S. citizenship when they’re added to voter rolls.
• Requiring public colleges and universities to commit to supporting and retaining underserved students, especially minorities.
• Terminating the emissions-testing requirement for motor vehicles in the metro area.
• Creating dedicated state funding to help pay for fighting wildfires.
• Working with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to establish a basic statewide threshold and standard for awarding academic tenure at public colleges and universities.
• Retaining Colorado students’ eligibility for in-state college tuition when their parents are posted to out-of-state military assignments.
• Addressing Colorado’s nursing shortage through a student loan-forgiveness program and by allowing nurses to move to Colorado and work here without having to obtain a new license.
• Adding $10 million to this year’s tourism promotion budget by using part of the severance-tax money the state collects on oil, gas and mineral production.
• Adding $20 million, also from severance tax revenues, to the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program that helps needy families pay winter utility bills.
• Requiring the automatic notification of communities when convicted sexual predators move into neighborhoods, and subjecting predators to mandatory arrest when they fail to register.
• Reforming the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association to reduce current and future unfunded liabilities, possibly including a changing of benefit levels for current employees when they retire.
• Clarifying the out-of-pocket expenses to which plaintiffs would be entitled when they win medical malpractice lawsuits, and requiring experts to sign off on such cases before they can move forward in court.
John Fryar can be reached by e-mail at jfryar@ times-call.com.