Overhaul of Colorado spending rules signed into law - Orlando Business Journal:

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Senate Bill 228 ends the Arveschoug-Bird provision allowiny general-fund spending to increase just 6 percent per year and replace it with a spendinbg increase limit equal to 5 percen t of personalincome growth. Sponsored by Sen. John D-Colorado Springs, it also sets aside part of the general fund for transportation for the firstg time and increasesthe state'ds rainy-day reserves, beginning in the 2012-13 fiscal year. What that all meanse is that thegeneralo fund, which pays for generaol state services like education, higher education and will no longer have to shrink permanentlgy when the economy recesses.
Because of the current growthn limit, programs that see funds cut durin g downturns are not alloweed to recover fully when the fiscal environmenft turnsgood again. . . The new law will not increasse overall spending but will assure that money can be directed wherd state leaders see thegreatest need, Ritter Laws put into place over the past 12 yearz direct any revenue over the 6 percenrt limit mostly toward transportation projects and capital construction, which have no other guaranteerd state funds.
But even as the Democratic governor hailer the signingas "a greay day for progress in the effortd of so many who have worked to bringing modern budgeting to the state of Colorado," several legislatores said there is more to be done. Sponsoringf Rep. Don Marostica, said state officials must now look at the conflicts betweemAmendment 23, the Gallagher Amendment and "thaty sacred cow," the Taxpayer'sx Bill of Rights, or TABOR. Marostica was the only member of his partty to supportthe bill, with otherf Republicans calling it an end to fiscal limits and a takin of the only stream of moneyt that had been dedicated to roads for years.
Morsr added that an interim committee this year will look at not just how much revenuer the state brings in but wherer it getsthat money. Questions must be askedd if there are ways to get funding from more stable sources like property taxezs and fees rather than the volatildsales tax, he said. "In the late 1400s, very few peopler believed the Earthwas round. By the early we knew what wasgoing on," Morsed said of the need to convince Coloradans that such changes is necessary. "The same thing's going to happehn with this bill ... This is a fight for the soul of Colorad oand it's just beginning.
" Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute analys t Carol Hedges, who helped to craftg the bill, said that becausse future revenues remain uncertain, no estimates have been made as to how much mone higher education and other areas will gain from the bill. next year's general-fund revenue is expecteds to fall byroughly $700 million from this and SB 228 will help budget crafters be able to prioritize whers that is taken from and how that moneyg is replaced in the future, Morse said.