State's $17.6B budget passes House

All but one GOP representative votes against fiscal measure

March 28, 2008

By Joe Hanel | Herald Denver Bureau

DENVER - Representatives approved the state's $17.6 billion budget after partisan debate about the size of state government.

Every Republican but one voted against the budget Thursday morning.

Rep. Douglas Bruce, R-Colorado Springs, led the GOP charge, calling the budget "a railroad of socialistic spending," "budgetary blasphemy" and "fiscal child abuse."

The budget amounts to more than $3,500 per Colorado resident, Bruce said.

But that's a bargain, said Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder.

"I'm happy to take that out and sell it. $3,500 a person. I bet your health-insurance company has a hard time providing your grandma health insurance for $3,500," Pommer said.

The state runs an insurance program for the poor and elderly, and also provides primary education and colleges for young people; law enforcement and prisons to deal with lawbreakers; and a transportation network for everyone, Pommer said.

Republicans focused their attacks on the 1,335 new state employees in the 2008-09 budget.

But the budget reflects the growth of the state, Democrats said.

An estimated 1.01 percent of Colorado's population will be on the state payroll next year, up just 0.01 percent from last year and down more than a quarter of a percent since the early 1990s, according to the Legislature's nonpartisan researchers.

"We operate one of the leanest budgets in America, and we are still trying to serve one of the fastest-growing populations in America," said Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver.

The House passed the budget on a 40-24 vote, with every Republican except Al White of Hayden voting against it. White serves on the committee that wrote the budget.

The Senate will debate the budget next week.

Representatives succeeded in making only four changes after a nine-hour debate that ended late Wednesday night.

The biggest change repeals a $900,000 tax on energy companies to fund new employees at the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The 21 new employees still will be hired, but they'll have to be paid with existing money available to the commission, not an increased tax on companies.