President Trump’s first foray into the thickets of Washington-style budgeting naturally is generating a lot of media attention, but back here in Colorado, in the General Assembly, we’re also about to enter our most critical week in terms of hammering-out our spending priorities. And because our state budget probably has an even greater impact on Coloradans than any federal spending bill, I thought I would share some highlights (and lowlights) from this year’s debate from a Republican perspective.

It’s almost always a good-news, bad-news situation when you begin diving into budget details, so let me start with some good news, which is that this year’s budget is sure to be the largest in state history, pushing us close to the $30 billion mark for the first time ever. That’s a combined total, consisting of federal and state funds, and not all of it can be spent at the discretion of lawmakers. But we start off with the biggest pot of overall funding we’ve ever seen, so we aren’t starving for money, no matter what you hear or read.

More good news can be found in the fact that the economy, though not exactly booming, is relatively good in Colorado, which has major budget implications, since an improving economy generally generates higher revenues. Nothing is guaranteed when it comes to Colorado’s continued recovery, which still lags far behind where it should be across rural parts of the state, so we must err on the side of caution in terms of projecting future revenue growth and not do anything, legislatively, to put a damper on the improving picture.

A third bit of good news is that, unlike the way budgeting is typically done in Washington, where deficits and debt can be funded by borrowing or printing money, balancing a budget isn’t optional for Colorado lawmakers. Our state constitution requires that we balance our budget annually. That means we have to make the hard choices Washington routinely dodges.

Thankfully, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights also places some guardrails on how fast taxing and spending can grow, imposing an additional layer of discipline that frustrates the spending interests but continues to protect taxpayers from the kind of runaway government seen in other states and at the federal level.

But that’s just about where the good news ends, since, no matter how much new revenue a growing economy generates, and how big the overall budget becomes, the demand for new spending almost always outstrips available dollars, forcing us to make hard choices on priorities. And it’s probably no secret to readers that Republicans and Democrats differ widely on our philosophies of government and, thus, budgeting.

Also, remember that power is shared in our politically-divided General Assembly. The other side holds a stronger hand because the governor, too, is a Democrat. Therefore, Republicans can’t simply wave a magic wand and reorder state budgeting priorities as we might want to. We do everything within our power, given the political realities, to use the budget process to identify and eliminate wasteful spending, curb the spending excesses of the other party, and fight for our priorities with the limited means at our disposal.

This year, for instance, in order to show solidarity with taxpayers and see that the funding fundamentals are addressed, we:

? Managed to increase spending on K-12 education, both in total revenue and per-pupil revenue, more than what law requires and the governor had budgeted, demonstrating the high priority Republicans place on adequately funding public schools.

? Tried to improve the predictability and stability to road funding by scrapping a convoluted formula, approved years ago, that had been contributing to a huge decline in those dollars, by firmly committing roughly $480 million to transportation through fiscal 2019/20.

? Fought off the latest attempt to expand a program that provides Colorado driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.

? Eliminated $745,000 slated to be spent on an intrusive state data-collection effort aimed at public school students.

? Eliminated $5 million state “contribution” to the financially-troubled Obamacare exchange.

We won many other quiet, but meaningful victories for taxpayers by targeting wasteful expenditures, reforming poorly-run state programs and just saying “no” to folks in the other party whose appetites for overspending are well known.

While most Democrats find it easy to cater to the spending interests, and seem to believe every government program requires the maximum funding possible, Republicans keep only one person in mind as we armor-up for this week’s budget battles – you, the taxpayer. We understand that all this revenue belongs to you, not the state. We know you want every dollar spent wisely. And although a politically split General Assembly for now limits our ability to overhaul and totally reprioritize the budget, we’re doing our best to keep taxpayers foremost in mind as we work to button-up a balanced budget this week.