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Colorado governor John Hickenlooper presents his final budget request

The $33.4 billion dollar proposal touts opportunity, families and the middle class.
Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper

Gov. John Hickenlooper formally presented his FY2019-20 budget proposal to members of the state legislature Friday.

The proposal asks the general assembly to approve $33.4 billion in state spending, an increase of 4.8 percent over this year’s budget.

The request reflects the governor’s priorities to increase opportunity for Coloradans, protect families and grow the middle class.

It also seeks to increase the state’s rainy day fund, harnessing tax revenues from the state’s booming economy. State reserves would increase from 7.25 percent to 8 percent.

Hickenlooper presented his budget proposal to the Joint Budget Committee on Capitol Hill. It is his last budget request. He will leave office in January, after serving two terms as governor, the maximum allowed by state term limits.

The request asks the General Fund to increase to $13.2 billion, an increase of 4.7 percent over the current budget. The General Fund equates with discretionary spending.

The budget request will be considered by the General Assembly in the upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 4. Both chambers of the legislature will be controlled by Democrats, who expanded control of the state House and flipped the state Senate.

JBC chair, Sen. Dominick Moreno (D-Adams County), described the budget request as “cautious and fiscally responsible.”

“It is in keeping with early signs that the Colorado economy may be slowing down,” Moreno said. “The budget request reflects that.”

Moreno noted that the state budget is only now getting close to pre-2009 spending levels, when the Great Recession caused the state economy to founder and tax revenues were severely reduced.

Even though the legislature and the governor’s mansion will be controlled by Democrats, it is unlikely Hickenlooper’s budget request will be rubber stamped.

Long before the final budget, known as the Long Bill, reaches the desk of Gov.-elect Jared Polis, it will have undergone months of hearings, revisions, analysis and checks for compliance with state law.

Polis will be allowed to submit changes he wants to see in the budget request when he takes office. Moreno said he expects Polis to submit fairly significant decisions.

Add in tough decisions about how to fund public education, health care and transportation, and Hickenlooper’s budget request may look different by the time it becomes law.

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