A Feb. 1 article in The Colorado Statesman outlines the National Federation of Independent Business’s opposition to Gov. John Hickenlooper’s proposal to shift the hospital provider fee into an enterprise fund. In it, Colorado NFIB members’ opposition is attributed to a belief that “reworking the fee so that it is no longer controlled by the state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights — as the plan aims to do — would mean the fee could be raised without a vote of the people.” To be clear, shifting the provider fee into an enterprise fund is not about taking power away from Colorado taxpayers, as NFIB membership contends.

The provider fee is not a tax (something upon which multiple lawyers, including the Legislature’s own legal counsel, agree), regardless of whether it’s in an enterprise fund or counted as general revenue. The fee is structured based on hospitals’ revenue, which won’t change if it’s put into an enterprise fund. It’s important to also keep in mind that nothing in this proposal impacts Coloradans’ ability to vote on tax increases. If it did, we wouldn’t be supportive either.

The plan to repeal and reauthorize the hospital provider fee as an enterprise fund is one supported by organizations in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. It’s important because today the hospital provider fee is contributing more than half a billion dollars toward Colorado’s TABOR cap, even though the funds aren’t collected from taxpayers like you and me and can’t be used for anything other than health care. Colorado is hitting that cap and the result is potential rebates of $200 million or more that will crowd out some education and transportation funding. Reauthorizing the hospital provider fee into an enterprise fund would ensure that a TABOR cap only triggers when our economy has actually grown at a greater rate than that outlined by the TABOR cap formula.

The fact is that this move by the Legislature actually honors TABOR by keeping the formula in line with what voters approved when the cap was reset in 2005. It also helps maximize federal funds coming home to Colorado and it will free up much-needed money for priority needs like transportation and education.

NFIB members also have concerns that none of the funds retained as a result of this would be earmarked for specific needs. Existing law has already taken care of that, though. If future spending assurances are what NFIB needs in order to support this move, Senate Bill 09-228 and Amendment 23 already ensure that funds will go to transportation and education should the Legislature repeal and re-enact the provider fee into an enterprise fund.

We all agree that the state is struggling to meet its obligation to provide and maintain adequate transportation infrastructure. While we don’t know how our economy will be in 10 years, we do know that failing to fund infrastructure will have a negative impact on it.

This is an opportunity for Colorado’s future and one that our Legislature should take. Coloradans across the state agree that the Legislature, the same governing body that approved the hospital provider fee back in 2009, is the right place for this issue to be addressed.