STATE BILL COLORADO
This morning, we round up news coverage from yesterday’s budget cut announcement to the Joint Budget Committee.
NEWS
Associated Press: It was the second time this year Ritter has been forced to cut this year’s budget, which ends in June, and the governor’s office warned more cuts may lie ahead.
Denver Daily News: The governor addressed the bipartisan Joint Budget Committee yesterday morning, saying an “explosive” increase in Medicaid requests is fueling this latest need for cuts, which includes $145 million from higher education.
Denver Post: Even with federal stimulus money, Ritter said, higher education will be facing a still-to- be-determined net reduction in fiscal 2010-11 from its current level of $706 million.
Education News Colorado: College and university spending faces an even higher “cliff” in 2010-11, and the 2010 legislative session will face an even tougher challenge in trying to support higher ed.
Durango Herald: Now playing at the state Capitol: “Saw IV.”
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: A new round of state budget adjustments will punch higher education the hardest, but it won’t leave a bruise this year.
Pueblo Chieftain: Ritter and his budget director, Todd Saliman, said they did their best to spread the burden over all of state government, but the state’s budget laws are so restrictive it gave them few places to turn.
State Bill Colorado: “The governor directed us to look at other balancing options besides budget reductions,” Budget Director Todd Saliman told JBC members, possibly a reference to tax increases that would be created by cutting certain sales and capital-gains tax exemptions.
State Bill Colorado: Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, a gubernatorial rival to current Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, responded today to the release of Ritter’s latest budget-cutting plan by calling for a “fundamental reform of government.”
State Bill Colorado: Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll slammed a statement from Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry that questions the wisdom of continuing the governor’s energy office as well as the state departments of local affairs and higher education.
State Bill Colorado: Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter’s chief of staff says on a left-leaning political blog that the cash-deprived state has “long term … serious issues” that it needs to tackle.
COMMENTARY
Boulder Daily Camera: Colorado, and the entire nation, must come up with a long-term solution to keep state-funded institutions both truly state-funded, and affordable for their citizens who don`t — or can`t — choose a private school.
Denver Post: A grim day of reckoning awaits the state when lawmakers and the governor are forced to budget without the largess of the federal government to bail them out.
Pueblo Chieftain: Many private sector employers have had to resort to giving workers furlough days as the result of the recession. While this dents individuals’ budgets, it’s a far sight better than being laid off totally.
