DENVER | With less than two weeks to go in Colorado’s legislative session, the Democrat-led House is debating a proposal to increase state spending on underfunded roads and schools.
A bill sponsored by House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst would boost that investment by removing a multimillion-dollar Medicaid fund from Colorado’s constitutional tax-and-spending limits.
Hospital fees pay for the fund. It can help trigger mandatory tax refunds if total state revenues surpass an annual limit that is set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
Hullinghorst says not counting it against TABOR would free millions of dollars that Colorado can spend on its roads and schools.
Those dollars would be in addition to spending already set for the fiscal year that starts July 1.