hospital provider fee

Colorado legislature’s special session to start with 2 bills, full action

Oct 2, 2017

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Marianne Goodl

As lawmakers return to the state Capitol for a special session Monday, they’ll be dealing with at least two bills intended to fix a drafting error that has led to quite the dust-up between Republicans and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper. Senate President Pro-Tem Jerry Sonnenberg, a Sterling Republican, dismissed rumors on Sunday that Republican Senate…
Hickenlooper, GOP square off over ‘simple fix’ to pot tax in looming special session

Sep 29, 2017

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Ernest Luning

Gov. John Hickenlooper and Democratic lawmakers say it’s a simple fix, but Republicans say it’s anything but. As next week’s special legislative session approaches – it’s set to convene Monday – Republican leaders in the Capitol and outside pressure groups are ramping up their opposition and predict the endeavor will be an expensive waste of…
Colorado’s economy healthy, but rural areas still struggle, economists say

Sep 20, 2017

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Marianne Goodl

Colorado’s economic outlook continues to be positive – good news enjoyed more by the Front Range than rural communities, according to state economists. On Wednesday those economists presented the quarterly revenue forecast that lawmakers will look at ahead of the 2018-19 budget year. The news is good, said Natalie Mullis, chief economist for the General Assembly’s…
Hickenlooper addresses rhetoric over special session, says it should be simple, not partisan

Sep 19, 2017

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Marianne Goodl

Gov. John Hickenlooper Monday responded to criticism from Republican lawmakers and others about the special session he called last week to address a mistake made in the hospital provider fee law. The measure, signed into law on May 30, is intended to spare hospitals from a greater than half-billion budget cut in 2017-18. The law…
Staff picks: Here are the top 5 stories of the week in Colorado Politics

Sep 17, 2017

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JOEY BUNCH

The news in Colorado this week included a special session of the General Assembly, a legal fight with President Trump, a tough line on sex offenders and soul-searching by a politician often accused of not having one. Here are the stories that grabbed headlines and have the likelihood to keep yielding news to watch, as…
Hickenlooper’s special session could get messy, lawmakers warn

Sep 16, 2017

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Marianne Goodl

A simple fix may turn out to be pretty complicated. Gov. John Hickenlooper’s plan to fix a problem with the landmark legislation that reclassified the state’s hospital provider fee program may have hit a snag: the two Republican lawmakers who helped marshal the bill through the General Assembly have no intention of helping with the…
Special sessions are rare in Colorado and usually about more than fixing goofs

Sep 14, 2017

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JOEY BUNCH

If a special session happens in October, as Gov. John Hickenlooper is contemplating, don’t look for legislators to hunker down for the harvest moon. Colorado Politics was the first to report that the governor’s office is talking to lawmakers about coming back to Denver for a special session next month to fix a mistake in…
Special session in the works to fix error in hospital provider fee bill

Sep 13, 2017

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JOEY BUNCH

State lawmakers could return to the Capitol next month to fix a drafting error in one of the last session’s most important accomplishments, Senate Bill 267, the significant compromise that raised money for rural Colorado hospitals and schools, as well as transportation, by tinkering with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. The governor’s office confirmed it…
Grover Norquist sneezes, AFP says ‘gesundheit!’

Sep 12, 2017

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Marianne Goodl

The nation’s leading anti-tax crusader, Grover Norquist, and his organization, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), are taking aim at a conservative Colorado lawmaker as well as one of the state’s leading conservative voices, the Colorado chapter of Americans for Prosperity. In a press release today, Americans for Tax Reform criticized Republican state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg…
Lamar constituents hear about TABOR and hemp at Crowder, Lewis town hall

Aug 21, 2017

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JOEY BUNCH

Sen. Larry Crowder and Kimmi Lewis were all aboard on hemp last session and had no qualms about selling out the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, because the price was right. The Lamar Ledger this weekend provided a thorough accounting of a town hall meeting with the two southern Colorado Republicans last Thursday night at Lamar…