DENVER – The Colorado House on Wednesday debated several amendments to the $25 billion state budget, revisiting issues such as birth control and education.
The budget still must receive a final vote by the House – expected Thursday – before likely heading to a conference committee to work on a compromise between the House and Senate versions. Spending would be for the upcoming fiscal year that begins in July.
A total of 12 amendments were passed by the House, more than the three passed by the Senate when the so-called “Long Bill” was in that chamber last week.
Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, continued his quest to secure funding for birth control, with an amendment that would add $5 million to the Family Planning Program, administered by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The Democratic-controlled House advanced the amendment.
Coram also has proposed a separate bill that would add $5 million to a program that provides the intrauterine devices, or IUDs, to low-income young women, in an effort to extend the program that has resulted in a 40 percent drop in teen pregnancies. But that bill faces a loss in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Even though the IUD funding passed in the budget, it could be removed during continuing negotiations with the Senate in the days ahead.
“It’s more than 50 percent symbolic,” Coram said. “We just got the word back (Tuesday) that Colorado is leading the nation in the lowest teen pregnancy rate. This is simply a way of putting it in.”
The House also passed an amendment that would add $1 million for film incentives, an issue close to Southwest Colorado, where there is a long history of filmmaking. Quentin Tarantino currently is filming in Telluride.
Several other amendments, however, failed during the budget debate, including efforts to eliminate funding for certain controversial student assessments.
“There is no doubt that the pendulum has swung way too far in favor of testing,” said Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio. “We need to have some accountability ... but we have gone way too far with testing.”
Budget writers said the spending bill wasn’t the appropriate place to address the issue, pointing out that several other bills are moving through the Legislature in an effort to reduce testing.
There also was a proposal to address a looming $20 million raid of severance tax dollars, which are provided to local governments to address impacts from natural-gas and oil development. Budget writers say they need the money to meet expected refund obligations to taxpayers. The Senate already passed a measure transferring the dollars, and the House gave initial approval Tuesday night.
“This is digging in the couch cushions,” Coram said. “We’re taking funds away from the communities that need it the most.”
Rep. Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan, proposed tweaking the Hospital Provider Fee, which is used to acquire a higher Medicaid match by the federal government, in order to free-up $20 million to save the severance dollars. But that effort failed.
Water issues also lost during the debate, including a measure by Coram that would have added $5 million to combat phreatophytes, a plant that consumes a significant amount of water. Brown then attempted an amendment that would have added $190,000 to study possible water storage areas along the South Platte River.
Brown also was irked that his colleagues did not advance an amendment that would have provided $15 million for transportation projects.
“We must start to take this seriously,” Brown said. “It is time that we took some leadership and we did something about highways in Colorado.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com
