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Tag: Legislative Council Staff

Colorado budget improves 9.5 percent while spending, not revenue, drives the shortfall
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State, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Colorado budget improves 9.5 percent while spending, not revenue, drives the shortfall

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice State economists brought the Joint Budget Committee a number that sounds like relief. General Fund revenue is projected to grow 9.5 percent this fiscal year. Then came the rest of the September forecast.  The same document that promises 9.5 percent growth also shows Colorado's labor force shrinking at a pace the state's own analysts say normally shows up only in a recession.  It shows the state keeping money it used to send back to taxpayers.  And it shows spending that Legislative Council Staff, the legislature's nonpartisan forecasters, say is the real reason the budget keeps breaking. Read past the headline and the improvement is less about a growing economy than about the state holding onto ...
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Were Colorado voters sold a bill of goods on Props LL and MM?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Were Colorado voters sold a bill of goods on Props LL and MM?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Sold a bill of goods on Props LL and MM? Part 1 The Complete Colorado piece by Nash Herman linked first below poses an interesting question with its first line. Quoting: “Were Colorado voters duped into passing Propositions LL and MM based on false information?”The answer is not a simple one. The question itself isn’t. If voters had perfect information, would they have voted differently? Was anything done intentionally? If there were omission/mistakes with no intent, how did they come about?Perhaps most important of all, what lessons can we take for the future?Getting anywhere close to an answer to the above will require three posts, all of which will be today. I’ll summarize my thoughts on the questions and...
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