Colorado's 68th General Assembly Commences

The 68th General Assembly began its 120-day session yesterday morning. It was a historic morning for many reasons, not least of which being the most closely divided house in Colorado history.

The atmosphere was one of bipartisanship, pageantry and celebration with legislators and their families (including young children) sitting on the House floor. Chief Justice Michael Bender, prior to swearing in the House members, expressed his appreciation that the event was indoors (a not-so-veiled swipe at Governor John Hickenlooper's outdoor inauguration held the previous day). Outgoing Democrat House Speaker Terrance Carroll passed the gavel to incoming Republican House Speaker Frank McNulty with a gigantic bear hug.

Speaker Frank McNulty furthered the bipartisan atmosphere with his inaugural speech. However, the Speaker did point out the large budgetary problem the Assembly faces and insisted that working families and small businesses be spared the burden of closing the $1 billion gap (as recorded in the House Journal):

Our state faces an historic budget gap of more than $1 billion. On this, let me be clear. The days of balancing the state budget on the backs of working families and small businesses are over. We cannot treat the state budget differently than families across Colorado treat their own budgets. We have the next 120 days to learn how to do it.

The bill for kicking the can down the road has come due. We will not spend what we don't have, and yes, I recognize that this will require the State of Colorado to further tighten its belt. But that same belt tightening has gone on throughout Colorado by working families and small businesses for the past four years. If we refuse to make the tough choices now, these same choices will become more difficult for Colorado to bear down the road. These tough choices will require working in good faith.

Governor Hickenlooper; and my friends in the Senate: We stand ready to work with you and make the tough choices. But we must—and we will—adhere to our core principles and to the will of the people of Colorado.

Contrasting Speaker Frank McNulty's bipartisan, pro-business approach, Minority Leader Sal Pace took a partisan, pro-big government approach with a veiled swipe at Republicans.

To neglect programs or slash services without method; to penalize hardworking state workers and teachers to score political points; to demonize people because of their skin color or national origins; and to balance our budget on the backs of the poor, the elderly, the sick and the young – these are not acceptable solutions to the people of Colorado. And they should not be acceptable to any of us.

If cynicism and fear influence the choices we make in this room over the coming months, then we all have fundamentally failed the people who put us here.

In that spirit, I call on all of us in this room to set aside the partisan differences that divided us during the campaign, and to turn down the rhetoric.

Of course, Minority Leader Sal Pace works represents the labor unions and government workers exclusively in the legislature, so he is merely fighting for his constituency. His straw man arguments about the rhetoric (read: anything with which Sal Pace disagrees) effectively poisoned the bipartisan atmosphere and left a sour taste in the mouths of many of the attendees.

--David Carpenter

Ideas to help small biz

• Repeal HB1190,which eliminates the tax exemption on energy used by businesses. Energy costs are no longer tax deductible. (In what universe is not paying a tax, then having to pay a tax not a tax increase? Only the world of the Colorado Supreme Court that found that elimination of a tax exemption is not a tax subject to a TABOR vote of the citizens.)
• Bring businesses into the regulatory process earlier.
• Fight any initiative that will put a sales tax on services. Ex: the auto mechanic, hair stylist, web designer, gardner, dry cleaner, childcare provider, home health nurse, accountant, attorney, computer tech, house cleaner, plumber, electrician, manicurist, tailor, writer, caterer, event planner, fundraiser, payroll services administrator, etc. etc will have to add and collect tax for their service, and spend the requisite time and effort to pay and report it.
• Change PERA from a Defined Benefit to a Defined Contribution. Stop paying pensions for government workers on the backs of private-sector workers struggling to save for their own retirement.

The effect of just these four changes would dramatically and positively open Colorado's business environment.

Go to www.solutionsforcolorado.com for more ideas or to post your own.

Reining-in regulation

Today, Governor Hickenlooper cited the most pressing need for Colorado is the creation of "jobs!"

Wealth is only created in the private sector, so for jobs that actually contribute to the overall economic health of the state, legislators need to take action to allow the private sector to thrive.

Legislators pass laws, then the various agencies of government write the rules and regulations that often create mischief and mayhem for business. Why? Little to no accountability on the part of bureaucrats who are incentivized to levy fines to fund their department, as opposed to educating businesses to comply with the law.

Too often, regulators fine businesses for not following the "spirit" of the law - an arbitrary definition. Small businesses generally can't afford the legal expense of challenging an agency that fails to write the "letter" of the rules they seek to enforce.

What to do?

• Bring businesses into the regulatory process sooner.
• Open discussion between rule-making agencies and industry representatives to identify the hoped-for outcomes and the unintended consequences of regulations.
• Require a cost/benefit analysis prepared by government agency staff with industry input. If the benefits of a regulation don't outweigh the cost, DON'T DO IT.
• Review the cost/benefit analysis wth public input before it's final.

The likely result?

• Less regulation; less government intervention.

See more good ideas and contribute your own at www.solutionsforcolorado.com