hospital provider fee

Showdown over state budget raises possibility of a special session

Apr 17, 2017

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Peter Marcus

The House and Senate are on a collision course over the proposed annual state budget that has raised increasing concerns over the chance of a special session. “This puts different possibilities on the end of the session,” said Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City. Senate Republican leadership on Monday placed the blame on House Democrats…
Good Question: Which of the state’s rural hospitals are most threatened by proposed $500M budget cuts?

Apr 14, 2017

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John Tomasic

This year’s Colorado budget so far includes what amounts to a $500 million cut to state hospital funding. It’s a frightening sum that threatens to deeply slash rural health services and to shut down some rural hospitals altogether. The proposed cuts will be a centerpiece of debate at the Capitol in the remaining three-and-a-half weeks…
Colorado Hospital Provider Fee bill crosses important first hurdle

Apr 11, 2017

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Peter Marcus

A Senate committee on Tuesday advanced bipartisan legislation that would finally pump money into ailing roads, schools and hospitals by restructuring the thorny Hospital Provider Fee. A conversation years in the making, Senate Bill 267 passed the Republican-controlled Senate Finance Committee 4-1. The bill now heads to appropriations for consideration, where it continues to face…
Without companion legislation, Colorado budget is out of balance

Apr 11, 2017

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Peter Marcus

The $26.8 billion state budget has passed both chambers, but it is out of balance without further action by the legislature. When the House on Monday passed the annual spending plan on a vote of 38-27, with the majority of Republicans opposing the so-called “Long Bill,” it delayed passage of a handful of “orbital” bills that…
Noonan: TABOR is 25 and too alive and too well

Apr 7, 2017

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Paula Noonan

Colorado’s population in 1992 was 3.5 million. Census projections put the state’s population in 2017 at 5.5 million. In 1992, 812,308 citizens – 53.68 percent of voters – said yes to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), and 700,906 citizens – 46.32 percent of voters – said no. Not to make too fine a point,…
Colorado House budget talks begin Thursday. Until then, what?

Apr 5, 2017

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John Tomasic

The Colorado House on Thursday is planning to take up this year’s $26.8 billion budget long bill for debate. Before they get to that, on Wednesday, members plan to meet in party caucus groups to set priorities, devise strategy, craft talking points and do math. Related: On Friday the Colorado Rockies play this season’s home…
The $26.8 billion question: How to sell the 2017 budget

Apr 4, 2017

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John Tomasic

Now that the Colorado state budget proposal has appeared and lawmakers are wrangling over the numbers, the political narratives that will be used to sell the budget to voters and to defend against constituent anger in elections to come are taking shape. This year it seems unquestionable that it will be a tougher budget for…
What a difference a year makes: Threat of rural hospital closings shape budget talks

Mar 30, 2017

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John Tomasic

The state senate passed a budget this week that will slash $500 million from hospitals across Colorado, a proposal that has set the halls of the Capitol buzzing and lawmakers considering a new version of a proposal that just a year ago was dismissed as an exhausted nonstarter. The budget passed on a 30-5 vote…
Dominick Moreno discusses hard budget choices, winning election as a youngster and accidentally finding the panic button

Mar 29, 2017

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Ernest Luning

State Sen. Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat, has been in office longer than many of his fellow lawmakers but is still the youngest member of the state Senate, a distinction he explores in this week’s episode of “Behind the Politics,” a podcast produced by the Senate Democrats. The 32-year-old member of the Joint Budget Committee also talks about…
Compromise in the works on Hospital Provider Fee to fund rural Colorado

Mar 21, 2017

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Peter Marcus

Senate Democratic Leader Lucia Guzman on Tuesday asked a committee to kill legislation that would have restructured the Hospital Provider Fee, saying she is working on a bipartisan fix. Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, the president pro tem, is working with Guzman, though he declined to offer details on the proposal, which is still being crafted.…