The lo-o-ong budget bill

The lo-o-ong budget bill

April 3, 2001

Life in the Legislature
By State Representative Mark Larson

I was sitting at my desk in my capital office thinking that this weekend would be mostly fun stuff like visiting the first State High School Rodeo event of the season at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds or attending the 59th District Central Committee meeting in Durango. About that time my legislative assistant, Brian Ash, took great delight in plopping down the 703 page budget bill, otherwise known as the Long Bill (because it is sooo long). Accompanying the Long Bill was a 253 page narrative that meticulously explains all of the decision items for each department of state government. Fortunately for me, the Long Bill starts in the Senate this year so I will have more than one or two nights to pore through it. Many legislators dread the budget process and the multiple caucuses necessary to render the final product. Personally, I love crunching numbers and trying to make it all fit. Next week will be challenging as I try to assure those budget items I have been working on of importance to Southwestern Colorado stay in the Long Bill. So much for the "fun" weekend!

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Last week the School Finance bill (SB-129) finished up in conference committee. I listened to the proceedings in my office on the Internet as I banged out e-mail. The conference committee worked very hard trying to reach consensus. I was particularly proud of the conference committee conferees as they considered amendment after amendment. Both sides of the discussion exuded courteous, genuine and pragmatic statesmanship and delivered a bill that, while not incorporating everything members may have wanted, continues to send a message that education is our number one priority. I must say that Speaker Dean did a masterful job leading the House contingency.

I pushed for a couple of key provisions in SB-129 that were suggested during my visits to the school districts last summer. The bill adds ELL (English Language Learners) students to the definition of "at risk" students, making available $3.8 million to help primarily Hispanic/Latino students. I heard many times this summer that there were not enough resources for non English speaking student assistance programs. This should help.

I also heard that the school lunch programs were under funded and that rural schools paid significantly higher cost for food supplies. SB-129 adds $2.5 million for the School Lunch Program increasing the match for federal funds.

Other provisions in the bill I supported include adding 1,000 pre-school slots for qualified children, adding 500 slots to full-day kindergarten and capital funding for both public and charter schools.

Most importantly, the bill provides a 5.92 percent increase in the general fund spending (or "maintenance of effort') for fiscal year 2001-2002. That means a 9.6 percent increase for Durango 9-R School District, a 5.2 percent increase in Montezuma/Cortez RE-1 School District, an 8.41 percent increase for Pagosa Spring 50JT School District and an 8.62 percent increase for Bayfield School District 10. SB-129 represents a whopping 8.2 percent increase in school funding. With this $3.8 billion commitment already decided, the legislature can now try to figure out how to fund the rest of the state budget.

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HB-1062 died in the Senate Agriculture committee this week as expected. Sen. Dyer and I, with the help of La Plata County and local stakeholders, tried hard to draft amendments that would be agreeable to all stakeholders. The industry was unwilling to budge from its deal with the Dept. of Natural Resources on language that specified what the appraisers could consider when placing a value on the surface damage resulting from a drilling operation. I think we were close to negotiating a compromise but time ran out. I will be working this summer to craft my own bill with no deals or provisos attached, with ALL the stakeholders at the table during drafting.

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Friday was the 80th day of the session. 40 days remain. 588 bills have been introduced; 374 in the House and 214 in the Senate. 169 bills have been postponed indefinitely (killed) and 112 have been signed by the governor. If you do the math, with 307 bills remaining I predict we will be working a weekend or two.

Mark Larson is a state representative from Cortez. He can be reached at the Capitol by phone, (303) 866-2914; by fax, (303) 866-2218; or by email at mlarson@sni.ne t. He also has a web site at www.larsoncolorado.com .