Tag: Bob Rankin
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Colorado Senate Republican put Barbara Kirkmeyer on Joint Budget Committee
Colorado Senate Republicans on Friday unanimously chose Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer to be the caucus’s representative on the Joint Budget Committee. Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican who is halfway through her first term, replaces Sen. Bob Rankin. The Carbondale Republican was the committee’s longest-serving member, having been on JBC since 2014. He announced Dec. 1 he would…
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Candidates line up to replace Rankin, both on JBC and in SD5
Sen. Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale, who announced he would resign his western slope Senate district seat on Jan. 10, is leaving the Joint Budget Committee as of Monday, prompting the Senate GOP caucus to scramble to find a replacement to join the influential panel. The committee is already well into its work on the 2023-24 budget…
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Lawmakers roll out payback for unemployment insurance trust fund
Federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars will play a major role in paying back a $1 billion federal loan the state had to take out to cover unemployment insurance checks during the pandemic. Senate Bill 234, if signed into law, will take $600 million in pandemic relief funds to allow the state to pay back…
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Colorado lawmakers take preliminary action on PERA repayment
Despite concerns around gubernatorial opposition to making up a missed 2020 payment to the Public Employees Retirement Association, the House Finance Committee took first action this week on House Bill 1029. That measure would not only make up the $225 million payment due in 2020 that was suspended due to the recession, but also add…
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Unsustainable? Colorado’s government keeps growing
Proponents of Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights designed the constitutional amendment to curb government’s voracious appetite for more spending. But the state’s most recognizable tax law, which turns 30 this year, hasn’t stopped the government from growing. Not even close. Consider this: Lawmakers propose to spend $36.4 billion in the next fiscal year, an amount…
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COVER STORY | Is Colorado’s government expansion sustainable?
Proponents of Colorado’s TABOR designed the constitutional amendment to curb government’s voracious appetite for more spending. But Colorado’s most recognizable tax law, which turns 30 this year, hasn’t stopped the state government from growing. Not even close. Consider this: lawmakers propose to spend $36.4 billion in the next fiscal year, an amount that funds 63,349…
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Robert Werthwein to step down from state Office of Behavioral Health
Robert Werthwein, the director of the state’s Office of Behavioral Health since Sept. 2017, will resign at the end of February next year, he announced in an email Tuesday. Axios Denver, which first reported his resignation, said he did not cite a reason for his resignation, only that he intended to pursue other opportunities. A spokesperson…
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With mental health needs in crisis, will a new state agency help?
Mental health services, far outstripped by the need for both youth and adults, are the focus of a new state agency being created within the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS). The new agency, which will be known as the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA), is to be housed, until at least 2024, within CDHS. The…
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Backlog of people waiting for treatment at Colorado’s mental hospital could lead to more death: Report
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save More criminal defendants with untreated psychosis languishing in Colorado jails will maim and kill themselves if the state doesn’t reduce a growing backlog of nearly 350 people waiting for treatment at the state’s primary mental hospital, court-ordered monitoring reports predict. And court documents and budget…
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Balancing Colorado’s budget means juggling optimism, reality
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Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Colorado’s state budget is slated to be introduced on Monday, three days ahead of deadline. What a difference a year makes. The spending plan, which insiders call the Long Appropriations Bill, will look dramatically different…