Gov. John Hickenlooper gave his fifth State of the State speech to the Colorado Legislature on Thursday, and after outlining the booming and varied state economy that is drawing so many people to Colorado, Hickenlooper turned to the challenges that influx is bringing, as well as those that underlie all decision-making in the state.
Transportation and housing shortages, as well as education and water resources, are among the governor’s top concerns, as are the ever-complicated budgetary constraints that limit the flow of dollars to these and other critical program areas. As is chronically the case in Colorado, the list of funding demands exceeds the revenue available to allocate – largely because of constitutional hamstrings that bind the state’s budget. The governor is correct to look at these long-term needs and call on Colorado to find creative ways of addressing them.
The state demographer’s office projects that Colorado’s population will grow to approximately 8 million by 2040 – from 5.4 million in 2014. With limited water and housing as well as an overcapacity, under-resourced transportation and education infrastructure, welcoming those new Coloradans will require investment. The Colorado Water Plan, completed late in 2015, outlines a path to meeting future water demand, and now the state must begin implementing it. Hickenlooper plans to advocate legislation that will give the Colorado Water Conservation Board increased flexibility to allocate existing state funds to priority water projects. That is a good first step, but fully actualizing the water plan will require new money. That was not on Hickenlooper’s mind on Thursday, but the conversation is impending.
Hickenlooper identified Colorado’s growing housing shortage – both in terms of inventory and attainability – as a problem the state must help address. In proposing an extension of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, the governor issued a challenge to communities and the state to invest in housing for people experiencing homelessness. The tax credit offers builders incentive to construct housing for vulnerable populations, and gives communities leverage to encourage such projects. Durango could be a leader in this effort, and help erode a growing housing gap locally.
The governor’s push for a construction-defects bill that would protect builders from some lawsuits related to poor construction of multifamily housing is a less-clear path to bringing down the cost of housing. While Hickenlooper and advocates of the measure that has twice failed to pass in the Legislature see the construction-defects proposal as a way to encourage developers to build affordable units, the connection is vague at best. Those who build shoddy projects should be accountable. Linking that issue to affordable housing is disingenuous and will not solve Colorado’s housing crunch.
With inadequate funding for highways and a proposed $20 million cut in higher education for the coming year – and no increase in financial aid – Coloradans must steel themselves for a difficult conversation about increased taxes, as well as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and the limitations it places on state spending. Hickenlooper set the stage for that, and has steadily pitched reclassifying the state’s Hospital Provider Fee as an enterprise fund, a move that would exempt approximately $575 million from revenue caps. While the change would help today’s budgetary challenges, it is not a long-term fix. In the end, Colorado will very likely have to re-examine TABOR and its many convoluted implications for the state.
