By Marianne Goodland
Legislative Reporter 

2021-22 budget heads to General Assembly; up $4 billion from this year

 

April 14, 2021



The 2021-22 State budget, as contained in Senate Bill 205, is on its way through the General Assembly. The State Senate last week had its first crack at the $34.1 billion budget, up by about $4 billion from the current year’s spending. 

Much of that extra money is in one-time funds left over from the 2019 tax year, due to higher-than expected income tax revenues. The Joint Budget Committee, the six-member group that annually crafts the budget, also cut $3.4 billion in general funds from the 2020-21 budget and that turned out to be more than was necessary.

The JBC, in developing Senate Bill 205, was able to restore about 90% of the cuts made to the programs in the upcoming budget, including reducing the debt to K-12 down to 2019-20 levels, about $572 million. 

The committee also recommended prepaying some state obligations, due to concerns that State revenues will fluctuate in the next few years. That included $380 million to the Public Employees’ Retirement Association.

Last week, the Senate added about $33.5 million to the budget, with $10 million in K-12 funding for children with the most severe disabilities; $2 million added to a bullying program within the Department of Education; and $3 million to purchase more body cameras for police. Those amendments all came from Republicans. 

One amendment that never surfaced: repaying the State’s severance tax cash fund, which lawmakers have tapped to balance the budget for the past 15 years. At least $300 million has been borrowed from that fund, which gets its money from companies that “sever” minerals from the ground, including oil and gas, coal and minerals such as gypsum and molybdenum. Those dollars fund water projects as well as cover the costs of mitigating the impacts of those activities on local communities. 

Senator Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, had one amendment in the package: to boost capital construction funding, which pays for maintenance and new construction, mostly at State colleges and universities. That amendment, with a price tag of more than $12 million, failed to win enough support to be added to the budget.

Republicans also advocated for amendments on transportation, 14 in all, but not one of them passed. 

The budget bill will be reviewed this week by the State House.

Sonnenberg is the sponsor of three new bills in the past week tied to the bipartisan Colorado Recovery Plan announced by Governor Jared Polis and legislative leaders from both parties last month.

House Bill 1262 would provide $3.5 million for the National Western Stock Show and $3.5 million for the Colorado State Fair, to stem losses both events have experienced during the pandemic. Another $2 million is set aside for other agricultural events. 

Under HB 1262, the commissioner of agriculture is required to contract with a third-party vendor to administer grants to agricultural events impacted by COVID-19. Local county fairs are given first priority for the grants. 

HB 1262 is sponsored in the House by Reps. Susan Lontine, D-Denver and Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, and is scheduled for its first hearing the House Agriculture, Livestock and Water Committee on April 19. 

Sonnenberg and Senate President Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, will sponsor the bill once it reaches the Senate.

House Bill 1259 is intended to address the “lost year” of education experienced by so many Colorado’s K-12 students. The bill addresses applications for extended learning opportunity grants within the Department of Education. Those programs include summer school, extended school days or week, “high-impact tutoring” and mental health support. 

Under the bill, the Department of Education is also directed to reserve a proportionate share of State and Federal grants for rural local education providers. That would likely include some of the $27 billion headed to Colorado from the American Rescue Plan and potentially from some of the $800 million in additional State funds tied to the Colorado Recovery Plan. 

Senate Bill 234 sets up a fund for short-term agriculture and drought resilience. Under the bill, $3 million would be appropriated to prepare for and mitigate weather disturbances tied to drought or climate, with an expiration date of Sept. 1, 2022.

Senate Bill 236 would set up four new grants programs for early childhood care and education: a grant for employer-based childcare; another for early care and education recruitment and retention; a grant for childcare teacher salaries and a community innovation grant.

Finally, on April 10, the House Health & Insurance Committee held a 10-hour hearing to debate House Bill 1232, the Colorado Option Health Benefit Plan. 

Under the bill, the healthcare industry — doctors, hospitals and health care insurers — would have two years to reduce insurance premiums by 10 percent per year, for 20 percent total, for the individual and small group market (employers with 1 to 100 employees). The individual market, Coloradans who have to buy their own health insurance, is about eight percent of the market. The small group market is about 15 percent.

If the industry fails to hit those targets, the Commissioner of Insurance would set up a standardized health benefit plan, to be known as the Colorado Option, that doctors and hospitals would have to accept, or risk their licenses. Health insurers would be required to offer it.

Under the plan, the Commissioner of Insurance would set price caps on health care services in order to achieve those savings. 

The bill’s purpose is to insure more Coloradans — sponsors estimate an additional 18,000 Coloradans could afford health insurance under the plan — and to address historic inequities in the healthcare system, particularly for people of color, those in rural Colorado, and undocumented immigrants.

Dozens of doctors, insurance company officials and hospital representatives testified against the bill during Friday’s hearing.

Hospital executives, including those in rural Colorado, pointed out that COVID-19 has resulted in extensive costs, to cover personal protective equipment and that they’ve also had to deal with staff shortages. Doctors said they would not practice in Colorado under such a system.

Janie Wade of SCL Health pointed out to the committee that they’ve supported many of the measures designed to improve health care in the last couple of years, including reinsurance, a bill on out-of-network care, another on community benefit and one calling for more transparency in hospital pricing. She asked that the committee recognize the value of that work and build on those efforts, "rather than relying on this untested approach that we believe will destabilize the healthcare system.”

The bill also drew opposition from several labor unions, including Pipefitters and the Service International Employees Union, which represents workers at Kaiser facilities. 

Speaking in favor of the bill, the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative’s Adam Fox said HB 1232 will ensure Coloradans have access to more affordable health insurance options that provide consistent value while improving health equity.

The bill has been a two-year battle between the Polis administration and the healthcare industry, and even after the lengthy hearing on April 10, wasn’t ready for action. Amendments are anticipated and it will be back in front of the committee this week for a vote. 

 

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