Our work is critical to Colorado. Your support is critical to our work.

The staff of our Economic Self-Sufficiency program leads the stakeholder group in the legislative Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force. Thanks to that group’s advocacy, state lawmakers approved a range of positive changes this year such as removing some of the barriers for families receiving child-care assistance, enabling parents to continue working.

Our work is critical to Colorado. Your support is critical to our work. We will continue to ensure that policies that harm Coloradans don’t pass unchallenged, we will continue to report on issues that impact economic security for all of us and we will continue to fight for fair and equitable budget policies that move Colorado toward a more secure future.

Your gift today of $50, $100, $500, or whatever you can afford, is essential for us to continue fighting. We have a wonderful opportunity to multiply your contribution: If you increase your giving over last year, the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado will generously match your increase! Invest in CCLP and you will see the results.

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Colorado news roundup: Insurance Commissioner Morrison announces she'll depart the post

At CCLP we've worked with Insurance Commissioner Marcy Morrison on a range of issues to protect and expand access to health care for all Coloradans. We're sorry to see her go. Today's Colorado news roundup has links to two stories about Morrison's departure. The piece from the Colorado Springs Independent is more detailed.

Check it out along with links to all the day's public-policy news.

Recovery Act is a model for enhanced accountability

You might have missed it with the Thanksgiving holiday and all, but news emerged last week that the federal government is enforcing accountability provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 by attempting to take back stimulus grants where the recipients haven't said what they're doing with the money.

It's a good example of a more transparent, accountable and efficient government. It's also got some lessons for Colorado lawmakers as they prepare for the 2011 session, as we pointed out in a paper released a couple of weeks back.

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Colorado news roundup: Rural ambulance services hurting financially

Add another wrinkle to our state's myriad financial challenges. Read about it along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Pueblo and Aurora events show how to benefit from the Recovery Act

Some of our friends at allied nonprofit organizations are putting on events in Aurora and Pueblo next month to tell people how they can find jobs, get unemployment insurance and qualify for tax breaks thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The first event is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at St. Therese Church, 1243 Kingston St. 

The second event is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Pueblo Convention Center, 320 Central Main St.

Anyone may attend. Dinner and child care will be provided. To ask questions or RSVP, call Maggie Gomez at 303-638-0925 or 800-522-0925.

The Recovery Act was passed in 2009 to help people and communities most hurt by the Great Recession. It's specifically designed to help people who've lost their jobs or need other financial assistance.

The community forum is sponsored by 9to5 National Association of Working Women, NAACP, the Colorado Progressive Coalition and FRESC: Good Jobs, Strong Communities.

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Our work is critical to Colorado. Your support is critical to our work.

An important part of our agenda is reforms to ensure Colorado’s tax and budget policies work for everyone. This isn’t just talk. During 2010 the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, a project of CCLP, persuaded state lawmakers to take a balanced approach to the state’s economic crisis, including new sources of revenue to limit reductions in services. The General Assembly closed 11 sales tax exemptions and income tax credits estimated to save more than $450 million during the next three years. That money will be available to educate students, repair roads, protect abused children and more.

Our work is critical to Colorado. Your support is critical to our work. We will continue to ensure that policies that harm Coloradans don’t pass unchallenged, we will continue to report on issues that impact economic security for all of us and we will continue to fight for fair and equitable budget policies that move Colorado toward a more secure future.

Your gift today of $50, $100, $500, or whatever you can afford, is essential for us to continue fighting. We have a wonderful opportunity to multiply your contribution: If you increase your giving over last year, the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado will generously match your increase! Invest in CCLP and you will see the results.

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Colorado news roundup: Medical marijuana sales yield $2.2 million for state and local governments

The extra money from sales of medical marijuana isn't nearly enough to make a difference for Colorado's massive revenue shortfall, but still it's welcome. Read about it along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Administration issues important health consumer-protection rules

Health care consumers won an important victory today as the Obama Administration issued rules requiring insurance companies to spend 80 to 85 percent of premium dollars on medical care and health care quality improvement, while the rest can go to profits, advertising, administrative costs and other expenses.

The share of premium dollars spent on care is known as the medical loss ratio. Regulating that share was a key provision of national health reform, the Affordable Care Act. The rules issued today are part of the ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Requiring insurance companies to spend most of their revenue on patient care is essential to ensuring health consumers get maximum value for their money. Many health consumer advocates, including the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, fought successfully for a tight definition of medical care expenses so it wouldn't include expenses that don't actually help patients. Read background on our website and a good summary of the regulations on the federal government's health care reform website.

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Colorado news roundup: Joint Budget Committee considers governor's proposed cuts

And so it begins. Read about it along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Colorado news roundup: Rural health plan's bankruptcy raises trouble for communities

A health insurance company goes bankrupt, leaving customers in rural Colorado in the lurch.

Read about it along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

How unemployment insurance helps families and the economy

From our pals at the Center for American Progress:

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Why emergency unemployment insurance benefits remain critical for the economy

We released an action alert Tuesday asking people to call Congress and ask representatives to set the right priorities for economic recovery, including maintenance of emergency unemployment insurance benefits.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a paper Nov. 10 laying out much of the policy basis for that position. A quote from the paper, by Chad Stone and Hanna Shaw.

"Congress has provided emergency UI benefits in every major recession since the 1950s and has kept that emergency program in place until the economy was back on track and job prospects were improving. In all previous cases, the unemployment rate was 7.2 percent or lower when the program expired. It is 9.6 percent now and showing no signs of coming down quickly. Continuing the program for another year will provide substantial benefits to both unemployed workers and the economy — and it will do so without endangering efforts to achieve longer-term fiscal balance."

If the emergency benefits expire as scheduled Nov. 30, an estimated 41,000 Colorado workers would be affected just during December, according to the paper.

Check out the action alert, and then follow through by calling Congress to argue for a responsible approach to our continued economic turmoil.

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Colorado news roundup: Food banks statewide seeing huge increase in need

The Great Recession might have officially ended a long time ago, but it certainly doesn't mean folks have recovered, as a report in today's Denver Post demonstrates.

Check it out along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Our work is critical to Colorado. Your support is critical to our work.

During the past year, we’ve been sounding alarms as the state government failed to keep its commitments to the poor. It failed, for example, to provide food stamps to eligible families. Our advocacy didn’t stop with just talk, though. When state officials still wouldn’t give needy families the benefits to which they are entitled, and the state’s computer benefits system remained broken, we decided to go to court. We anticipate confronting the state before a judge no later than January.

Our work is critical to Colorado. Your support is critical to our work. We will continue to ensure that policies that harm Coloradans don’t pass unchallenged, we will continue to report on issues that impact economic security for all of us and we will continue to fight for fair and equitable budget policies that move Colorado toward a more secure future.

Your gift today of $50, $100, $500, or whatever you can afford, is essential for us to continue fighting. We have a wonderful opportunity to multiply your contribution: If you increase your giving over last year, the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado will generously match your increase! Invest in CCLP and you will see the results.

Donate now.

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If you don't like state leaders' budget decisions, perhaps you can do better

It's easy to criticize. Perhaps that's why so many people turn criticism into a hobby, particularly criticism of the government and politicians. Of course coming up with real solutions is tougher, and it's especially hard because everyday people typically don't have access to the information they would need to create meaningful public-policy recommendations.

Well, some clever folks at a group called Engaged Public are trying to chip away at that information gap. They've created the Backseat Budgeter, an online tool they describe as follows:

"Backseat Budgeter is a simulation tool that enables you to experience for yourself what it is like to manage a public budget. Elected officials ultimately are in charge, but with Backseat Budgeter you can see the effects of your decisions, gain a better understanding of the challenges officials face, and appreciate the complexities of the public budgeting process.

"Furthermore, the choices you make about the budget will be shared with public officials. You can let them know if you think they should step on the gas, put the brakes on spending or change direction altogether."

It's a pretty neat experience to try to implement your values in the form of a balanced state budget, taking into account all the competing priorities. At CCLP, our project called the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute advocates for budget policies that provide adequate revenue, are equitable in the sources of revenue and are sustainable through economic cycles. Check CCLP's website for our analysis of state budget issues.

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Colorado hasn't yet jumped on the film subsidy bandwagon

Tax subsidies for film and TV productions are a poor way to stimulate the economy, and they're unnecessarily generous to movie producers, a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows. Among the report's main points:

• State film subsidies are costly to states and generous to movie producers.
• Subsidies reward companies for production that they might have done anyway.
• The best jobs to go nonresidents.
• Subsidies don't pay for themselves.
• No state can "win" the film subsidy war.
• Supporters of subsidies rely on flawed studies.

Colorado hasn't entirely stayed away from the craze, but fortunately our state has appropriated only $300,000 in film incentives for Fiscal Year 2010. Other states appear to have gone bananas with the idea, including $100 million in California, $53.5 million in Florida, $100 million in Massachusetts and $60.5 million in New Mexico.

Yikes. Considering the revenue problems most states are facing -- like Colorado, they're unable to maintain even basic public structures like roads, schools and social services -- it's hard to imagine such a generous and ineffective giveaway. It would be better if Colorado's subsidy were zero, but in general our state falls on the right side of a budget controversy by putting investments in families and economic security ahead of handouts to Hollywood.

And just by the way, a fair number of films have been shot in Colorado despite the state's paltry handouts. To learn more about our state's program, check the Colorado Film Commission.

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Colorado news roundup: Bank on Denver hopes to improve access

If you haven't heard of Bank on Denver, it's worth a moment to read the story in today's Denver Post. It's a program that aims to provide access to basic banking and other financial services for people who aren't using that system.

Check it out along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Colorado news roundup: State parks turn to oil and gas drilling as other revenue sources evaporate

Call it another sign of the times, and expect to see more "creative" ways of paying for public services unless Colorado reforms its tax system.

Check it out along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Colorado news roundup: Enrollment climbs in Colorado's high-risk insurance pool

Looks like more Coloradans are turning to the high-risk insurance pool created in the Affordable Care Act. That's good news, in a way, because it means more people have access to the health care they need. Keep in mind, though, that state-based high-risk pools are just a bridge to 2014, when insurance companies will be prohibited from turning away people with pre-existing conditions.

Read about it along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Read more about Colorado's high-risk pool, GettingUsCovered, at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy's publication library.

How the states invest in enforcing minimum-wage laws

A new study from Policy Matters Ohio shines a light on an important tool for ensuring economic opportunity for everyone, minimum-wage and related laws. The report, titled "Investigating Wage Theft: A Survey of the States," details the resources devoted to enforcing minimum-wage laws in 43 states and the District of Columbia. In Colorado, the survey found eight full-time investigators work for the state's labor standards enforcement agency.

A couple of excerpts from the report:

"The total number of investigators enforcing state minimum-wage and related laws – 659.5, including many who spend time on other issues – is very modest compared to the almost 100 million private-sector employees in the jurisdictions that provided answers to the survey. That works out to more than 146,000 workers for each investigator, though that is a rough gauge since not all workers are covered by state laws and some states leave much or all enforcement of minimum-wage laws to the U. S. Department of Labor. ...

"Adequate enforcement not only increases compliance with labor law, it improves worker well being, and levels the playing field so some employers do not have an illegal, unfair advantage over others. When wage law is not enforced, workers may not be paid for all of their hours, tax revenue is not collected on the unpaid wages, families are deprived of earnings, and communities can suffer."

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Colorado news roundup: Extending tax cuts for the rich would be bad policy

That's the opinion of a columnist for The Denver Post, and one the Colorado Center on Law and Policy figures is well-supported. Check it out along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Our work is critical to Colorado. Your support is critical to our work.

I want to share a letter we're sending today from our executive director, Christine Murphy. To donate to CCLP, visit www.cclponline.org/donate. Also please notice at the end of the letter the generous matching grant from the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado. Your gift could have twice the impact. Thank you.

Perry Swanson
Communications director

-------------------

Dear friend,

I want to tell you a story about something in short supply: Results. Plenty of organizations are producing plenty of talk these days. I think you’ll agree the Colorado Center on Law and Policy is an exception. We get results for our mission: Justice and economic security for all Coloradans.

If that mission reflects your values, and if you agree our work makes a real difference for people who need it, I’d like to ask for your support. The only way we can continue to get results is with generous financial help from people like you.

During the past year, we’ve been sounding alarms as the state government failed to keep its commitments to the poor. It failed, for example, to provide food stamps to eligible families. Our advocacy didn’t stop with just talk, though. When state officials still wouldn’t give needy families the benefits to which they are entitled, and the state’s computer benefits system remained broken,  we decided to go to court. We anticipate confronting the state before a judge no later than January.

Another part of our agenda is reforms to ensure Colorado’s tax and budget policies work for everyone. Again, this isn’t just talk. During 2010 the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, a project of CCLP, persuaded state lawmakers to take a balanced approach to the state’s economic crisis, including new sources of revenue to limit reductions in services. The General Assembly closed 11 sales tax exemptions and income tax credits estimated to save more than $450 million during the next three years. That money will be available to educate students, repair roads, protect abused children and more.

The staff of our Economic Self-Sufficiency program leads the stakeholder group in the legislative Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force. Thanks to that group’s advocacy, state lawmakers approved a range of positive changes this year such as removing some of the barriers for families receiving child-care assistance, enabling parents to continue working.

National health care reform was a big part of our agenda during the past year.  Since passage of the Affordable Care Act, we have been working to educate people about what reform means for them, making presentations across the state and keeping people informed through our weekly Health Law and Policy Update newsletter. Our staff played a major role in helping defeat Amendment 63 in the Nov. 2 election. Colorado is the only state so far where voters have rejected a constitutional amendment purporting to reject health care reform’s individual mandate. CCLP continues its traditional role of defending the rights of people on Medicaid. In April, we realized the state, because it was misinterpreting federal law, was about to terminate Medicaid benefits for more than 2,700 eligible people. We brought the error to the state’s attention and worked with officials to ensure people did not lose benefits.

We need your help now and in the coming year to continue our work to make Colorado the kind of community we want it to be:

• The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute team will be fighting in 2011 to minimize reductions to vital public services, improve accountability and transparency in public spending and increase revenue available for public investments.
• Part of the health team’s focus in 2011 will be guiding the creation of a Colorado Health Insurance Exchange, a major part of national health care reform designed to ensure maximum choices and value for consumers.
• The Economic Self-Sufficiency program will expand its work in 2011 to address the needs of Older Coloradans and refugees in the state.

Our work is critical to Colorado. Your support is critical to our work. We will continue to ensure that policies that harm Coloradans don’t pass unchallenged, we will continue to report on issues that impact economic security for all of us and we will continue to fight for fair and equitable budget policies that move Colorado toward a more secure future.

Your gift today of $50, $100, $500, or whatever you can afford, is essential for us to continue fighting. Invest in CCLP and you will see the results. Thank you for your support of our work.
Happy holidays,



Christine Murphy
Executive director

P.S. We have a wonderful opportunity to multiply your contribution: If you increase your giving over last year, the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado will match your increase!

Colorado news roundup: Group recommends tax to fund state's colleges

With Colorado funding for higher education near the lowest in the nation, we've got to figure out something. Read about one idea, along with links to all the day's public-policy news, at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Colorado news roundup: Partisan dynamics at the Capitol still shaking out

Which party will be in charge at the Colorado Statehouse next year? Apparently that's still up in the air. We at CCLP aren't invested in either side, being nonpartisan and all, but the subject still interests us as we prepare our 2011 legislative agenda.

Read about the back-and-forth over control of the Capitol, plus find links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Congratulations, Colorado: Voters connected the dots, with our help

Dear friends,


Colorado voters proved once again in yesterday's election that we are a discerning lot, a group of well-informed and well-intentioned participants in the civic process, particularly when it comes to ballot issues. Voters, at the state level, overwhelmingly rejected extreme and irrational attempts to undermine community aspirations. Beyond that, voters locally stepped up, across the state, to invest in community services they value.

Colorado is known nationwide for our unique fiscal policy environment. The 2010 ballot results prove once again just how unique we are. Coloradans across the state built strong, community-focused coalitions that helped voters understand the role of public investments in the vitality of local communities and local economies. With so much practice, we are getting really good at this!

The resounding defeats of Amendment 60, Amendment 61 and Proposition 101 were the product of extraordinary effort from communities across the state. And we mean communities in every sense of the word -- geographic, interest, demographic. A margin of victory near 50 points doesn't happen by accident but rather through concerted and coordinated effort by lots of folks.

The leadership shown by the funders and supporters of the Don't Hurt Colorado campaign was extraordinary. Even more impressive were the intense efforts of all the funders and grassroots partners that made more than 1 million voter contacts focused exclusively on ballot measures through efforts like Engage Colorado, the League of Responsible Voters and other community coalitions -- incredible effort and incredible results. Thanks to everyone who invested time, money, energy and brain power to this amazing effort.

2010 proves voters can and will make a commitment to support their communities if they understand what they are being asked to do. Congratulations again to everyone involved in helping voters become informed and responsible decision makers. Together we can build strong communities, because Colorado is worth it.

Sincerely,

Carol Hedges
Director, Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute

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Colorado news roundup: Voters reject anti-government ballot measures

Colorado voters said "no" yesterday to ballot measures designed to slash public services and limit the government's ability to foster opportunity for everyone. Read about it along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

The false lure of tax cuts

"Job growth isn't just a matter of tax levels, although if that were true it would save everybody a lot of time."

So says David Sarasohn of The Oregonian newspaper in Portland. Check out his column for some good insights on how the economy performs under different tax systems.

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Colorado news roundup: Post editorial says Congress should move to contain insurance rates

Another voice in the chorus suggesting national health reform didn't go far enough to ensure reasonable access for consumers. We covered the issue of rising health insurance costs in last week's edition of Health Law and Policy Update. Our health team hasn't yet offered much analysis of the survey that prompted coverage of the issue last week, but we're glad to see the issue getting some attention.

Check out the Denver Post's editorial along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.