House Dems thwart GOP efforts to pare down state budget

DENVER - House Democrats rebuffed repeated attempts by Republican lawmakers to pare down additional workers on the state payroll Wednesday, leaving next year's proposed budget almost untouched.

A total of 1,335 state workers are slated to be added beginning July 1 under the $17.6 billion budget plan, the majority of them in the corrections and higher education departments and the judicial branch. Democratic leaders say that the increases mirror expected growth in the number of prisoners and college students and that the state is boosting the economy by hiring employees.

Republicans argued in vain that hiring so many new employees - along with raises for most state workers - is irresponsible at a time when the economy is slowing and could lapse into a recession.

Among their failed attempts to slash the work force was Rep. Douglas Bruce's bid to eliminate the 524 new higher education workers.

The Colorado Springs Republican wanted to further reduce the higher ed payroll by 60 positions, and two other Republican proposals would have cut some workers' raises and eliminated 21 new positions for regulating oil and gas drilling permits.

Majority Democrats held their ground on the budget proposal during 12 hours of debate, cutting only three employees who have been working on a program on the health disparities between racial groups in Colorado. That amendment passed after House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, showed that Department of Public Health officials were not open about the amount of money needed to continue the program.

Joint Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, declared afterward that lawmakers had succeeded in preserving increased funding for critical needs: higher education, public health care programs and developmental disability services.
"At the end of the day, we've done good things for Colorado," Buescher said of the budget that faces a final procedural vote today before moving to the Senate. "We've done good things for the children of the state."

Highlands Ranch GOP Rep. Frank McNulty said the spending could haunt the state if revenue projections continue a recent decline and officials must choose between firing workers and trying to raise revenue as residents struggle with household finances.

"I'm concerned that House Bill 1375 (the official name of the budget) is an imprudent step in the face of declining revenue forecasts," McNulty said. "It is not in the interest of Colorado's working families. It is not in the interest of good government."

Of the minor changes made to the budget plan, one shifted $1.5 million from a fund for roads leading to gambling towns to community colleges to develop curricula to train renewable-energy workers. Another shifted $200,000 from alcohol- and drugtreatment programs to family and youth drug courts.

Rep. Paul Weissmann, a Louisville Democrat and death penalty opponent, almost eliminated the fourperson unit in the state Attorney General's Office that aids death penalty cases. His proposal, which failed by two votes, would have transferred the funding to solving cold cases.

Bruce caused a small stir by attempting to cut $11.3 million in federal funds for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Legislators from both parties overwhelmingly rejected the move after little discussion, however.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (303) 837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com.