Colorado news roundup: Northern Colorado's 2010 economic performance was 'lackluster'

Yeah, kinda like the rest of the state and nation. Read the details about northern Colorado, along with links to all the day's public-policy news, at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Nearly one in five Colorado families recently had trouble paying for food

Just putting food on the table has been a challenge recently for nearly one in five Colorado families, according to survey results released today. The survey found 17 percent of respondents in Colorado answered "yes" to the question "Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?"

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), which released the survey results, considers a positive answer that question an indicator of "food hardship." FRAC released a report that breaks down the numbers for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The results cover January to June 2010, so it's possible the situation is even worse today given that Colorado's unemployment rate recently hit a 27-year high.

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Colorado news roundup: Ag tax rate often benefits energy companies

You'd think a special tax rate for agriculture would benefit people like farmers and ranchers, not energy companies. Kudos to The Denver Post for exploring the issue. Check it out along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Bonus funding vital for children's health insurance

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that Colorado will receive $13.7 million in bonus funding due to gains in children's Medicaid enrollment. In Fiscal Year 2010 (which ended June 30), the state saw a 14 percent increase in children's enrollment. Reports show roughly 287,000 Colorado children were enrolled in Medicaid as of July.

The additional funding is a good thing, as the latest public reports show steady growth in children's Medicaid enrollment. A quarterly report by Colorado Covering Kids and Families states Medicaid enrollment for children continues to gain while enrollment in the Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) is on unstable footing. The report indicates the continuing effects of the recession in Colorado are pushing more families into lower income brackets, making them ineligible for CHP+, and in turn leaving Medicaid as the only viable option for children's health coverage.

Colorado appears to be making important strides to accommodate the enrollment increase. The federal government recognized several changes Colorado has made to streamline its enrollment process. Families may now apply without going through an in-person interview and don't have to wait for their eligibility to be approved before coverage begins. The state has also streamlined its applications, allowing the same form to be used by new applicants and those seeking extensions.

Colorado is one of 15 states to receive additional funding for progress made in the past fiscal year.

Expanded Medicaid eligibility is a big part of the legacy for Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, who's leaving office soon. But as our Health Care Director Elisabeth Arenales pointed out in a Denver Post story this week, continued trouble with the Colorado Benefits Management System remains a barrier for many people seeking access to care.

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

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. 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: Feds award Colorado $13.7 million for enrolling children in Medicaid

It's not nearly enough to resolve Colorado's huge revenue crisis, but every little bit helps. Check it out along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Colorado among the states receiving bonus payments for insuring more children

Colorado's efforts to enroll more eligible children in the Medicaid program will be rewarded with a bonus payment from the federal government, The New York Times reports.

The paper doesn't say how much Colorado's bonus will be. Colorado will be among 15 states to receive the bonus payments for signing up children who were eligible for public health insurance but had previously failed to enroll.

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Colorado news roundup: Expanded access to health care a big part of Ritter's legacy

It's true, but as CCLP's Health Care Director Elisabeth Arenales points out in the article, the accomplishment is marred by the continued failure of the state's computer system that manages public benefits. Read about it, 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.

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.

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 rates rise, but not because of health reform

If anything, health reform is restraining the growth of insurance rates, and many of the cost containment measures haven't kicked in yet. Check out the latest update, along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Gauging the tax deal's effect on you and the nation

The compromise between President Obama and Republicans is in the books.  Now there are just the holidays to think about.  However, shortly after the merriment ends, it will soon be time for those 1099s to start arriving in mailboxes for the onset of tax season.

The fruits of the tax compromise are somewhat sour, with the wealthiest Americans still receiving generous discounts from the government (you can find more about our take on the compromise here).  However, the deal could prove to be vital to many Americans still left financially adrift by the lingering effects of recession.

With that in mind here are a few tax calculators we found that can give you a general sense of what the tax compromise will mean for you and other Americans.  The Tax Policy Center, a collaboration of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, has put together specialized calculator, showing what could have been, and what will be in store for Americans come tax time.  The calculator allows you to explore what the compromise means for you, and a variety of other Americans, in 2010 and 2011.  You can then compare those tax liabilities to two other scenarios: one in which all the Bush tax cuts and 2009 Stimulus provisions get extended, and one in which the 2001-2003 tax cuts expire.

If you want to go in-depth on what you can expect from the tax deal, the Citizens for Tax Justice, offers another calculator that provides an overview of what different tax options mean come tax time.

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Colorado news roundup: Seven-county alliance aims to provide shelter to the homeless

Sounds like another example of innovation and responding to the needs of residents. Read about it along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Colorado news roundup: Editorial: It's time to consider whether state's tax structure makes sense

Given that it's our idea, we definitely agree with this piece from the Durango Herald. Check it out along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Register today for Budget Works on Jan. 14 -- Out With the Old, In With the Revenue

It's the annual conference of the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, where you'll get the information and strategy you need to work for a better Colorado. Check out details of the agenda and a link to the registration website.

Federal money to help struggling families declines despite rising need

Poverty is rising across Colorado. In fact, the number of high-poverty neighborhoods statewide doubled during the past decade. So you might think now would be the time for the federal government to enhance its aid to our state's most struggling families.

Unfortunately, just the opposite is true, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Along with every other state, Colorado's federal funding as part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is expected to decline in fiscal year 2011. Colorado's funding is projected to decline 17.3 percent from the average TANF funding of fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

"Consequently, with the need for emergency and temporary assistance (including help finding work) at their highest levels in decades, more low-income parents will go without jobs, more homeless families will go without shelter, fewer low-wage workers will receive help with child care expenses, and fewer families involved with the child welfare system will receive preventive services," the report says.

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Colorado news roundup: Test measure to modernize state's tax system delayed

It was an unexpected bump in the road, but nothing we can't handle. Read the details, along with links to all the day's public-policy news, at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Colorado news roundup: Number of high-poverty neighborhoods doubles in past decade

That's according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Check out the details along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Colorado news roundup: Ending childhood hunger in Colorado within five years

It's an ambitious and worthy goal. Check out the details 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.

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.

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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Tax-cut deal is bad news for the federal deficit, experts say

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

Colorado gets only a 'D-plus' for disclosure of tax subsidies

Colorado grants tens of millions of dollars in tax subsidies annually but provides only minimal information to taxpayers about who receives the support.

That's among the findings of a report and online research tools issued today by Good Jobs First. Researchers gave Colorado a "D-plus" grade for the state's disclosure of tax subsidies, finding the vast majority of subsidies have no online disclosure of recipients.

Colorado's Enterprise Zone Program, for example, which designates areas where companies may qualify for up to nine different tax credits and other abatements/exemptions, cost state taxpayers $46.7 million in 2008, but it provided no disclosure of who received the subsidies. Other programs, such as the Job Creation Performance Incentive Fund, which cost $6.1 million in Fiscal Year 2009, had higher degrees of disclosure.

"We can do better. There are a number of solutions the state could pursue to move that grade to passing," said Kathy White, deputy director of the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute. "In fact, in times like this, when tough choices are being made by legislators and sacrifices made by families, we must ensure every dollar spent or cut is carefully considered. We can't do that without knowing where the dollars go and why."

The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, a watchdog for government accountability, reviewed data and helped provide information to Good Jobs First in advance of today's report. The Fiscal Policy Institute is a project of the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and advocacy organization seeking justice and economic security for all Coloradans.

The report issued today, called Show Us The Subsidies, includes looks at all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Colorado was one of seven states to receive a "D-plus" grade. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia currently have no disclosure at all and received "F" grades.

More analysis of government transparency and accountability is available on the Colorado Center on Law and Policy's website.

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Tax plan contains essential help for struggling families, along with extremely bitter pills

The compromise tax package announced by President Obama and Republican leaders this week contains some awfuly bitter pills, particularly the stunningly generous handouts to the rich. Our country's most wealthy residents should be contributing to charity, not receiving charity from taxpayers who are struggling just to keep their heads above water.

Unfortunately, swallowing those bitter pills at least temporarily might be necessary to achieve badly needed help for low- and middle-income working families and the economy. The package included a 13-month extension of federal unemployment benefits, a move that will save jobs and provide a bridge for jobless workers as the economy works through a slow recovery. It included two-year extensions of improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit and the refundable component of the Child Tax Credit. Finally, the package included a one-year reduction of the employee share of the Social Security payroll tax, replacing the Making Work Pay tax cut. Those elements are just too important to the economy and the wellbeing of working families to allow them to die.

Chief among the bitter pills is a two-year shrinking of the estate tax that will benefit only richest one-quarter of 1 percent of estates. In an economy where the official unemployment rate has reached 9.8 percent, and a more realistic measure puts it at 17 percent, concocting a huge giveaway for the richest of the rich is just plain shameless. The tax break would provide an estimated $20 billion in benefits to the super-rich during the next two years.

But the estate tax shenanigan was only the most egregious of the so-called compromises contained in the plan. Other concessions were also tilted heavily in favor of the rich. The package extends for two years President Bush's tax cuts for households with incomes of more than $250,000. Those tax cuts have for years cost our country dearly by unnecessarily driving the federal deficit to astronomical levels. Allowing the cuts to persist now ranked dead last among the tax and spending options the Congressional Budget Office studied for spuring the economy, as Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted in a statement on the deal.

Congressman Mark Udall has called the tax-cut deal "objectionable" and "unbalanced," which we figure is putting it mildly. The New York Times editorial board called the deal "odious," which seems closer to the mark. Responsible representatives in Washington might be forced to vote for the plan, though, because the alternative is even worse -- waiting for the next Congress, when the political environment is likely to be even more hostile to the interests to working families.

If Congress finds it impossible to reach a more reasonable and balanced deal, we can hardly blame the more responsible members for voting in favor of the package while holding their noses.

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Colorado news roundup: State falls behind in public health rankings

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.

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.

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: Tax cuts for the rich likely to be extended, columnist says

That's the wrong move for economic recovery. Read about it, along with links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.

Congress must not slam the breaks on the nation’s tentative economic recovery

The program providing emergency unemployment benefits to expired Tuesday, even while the labor market remains remarkably tight with the national unemployment rate at 9.6 percent and Colorado's unemployment rate at a 23-year high of 8.4 percent. Congress failed to extend the emergency benefits on Friday, but our representatives can still do the right thing for the economy and unemployed workers. Here's an opinion piece the Colorado Center on Law and Policy submitted to local newspapers last week setting out the issues.

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Christine Murphy

By Christine Murphy

Economic recovery? Few among us can see it, even though the official timekeepers tell us the Great Recession ended in June 2009. Nearly everybody knows somebody at church, school or down the block who was laid off months ago and has been unable to find work, despite continued heroic efforts.

That’s precisely why Congress must not slam on the breaks to our economic recovery by terminating the federal emergency unemployment insurance (UI) program for jobless workers. It will expire Nov. 30 if Congress fails to act.

Terminating the federal UI system would leave 41,000 unemployed Colorado workers during December alone without the money they need to pay mortgages, buy food and cover other basic expenses that support their families. Tens of thousands more Colorado workers would exhaust benefits each month after that. Eliminating emergency benefits would be a severe blow to the economy, removing badly needed consumer spending that sustains jobs, small businesses and local communities.

Our state is still reeling from the Great Recession, the deepest and longest economic downturn since the 1930s. Unemployment remains high in Colorado at 8.4 percent, the highest rate in nearly a quarter-century.

To put that figure in perspective, consider that Colorado has lost some 142,800 jobs since the onset of the downturn. That’s a population of workers larger than the entire city of Fort Collins – people producing goods and services, spending paychecks and contributing to their communities – suddenly removed from Colorado’s economy but for the modest unemployment insurance benefit they receive.

Today, more than 223,000 Coloradans are struggling to find work. The economy is recovering, but with only one job for every five unemployed workers, it’s going to take time for workers to get back to work and back on their feet.

Situations like this are exactly what the emergency unemployment insurance program was designed for. Emergency unemployment benefits help workers stay afloat until they can find new jobs, and help kick-start the economy by allowing unemployed workers to continue to buy basic goods and services, creating a positive cycle of job creation. As more jobs are created, the economy enters a self-sustaining period of recovery. The availability of more jobs means unemployed workers need less time to find work, and the emergency extension of unemployment benefits can be phased out.

But we are a long way from that positive cycle. The national unemployment rate is 9.6 percent and expected to be above 9 percent throughout 2011, which is why Congress should extend emergency unemployment through the end of next year. Terminating emergency benefits now or extending them for only three additional months, as some are proposing, would pull the rug out from under our fragile recovery. In every recession since World War II, Congress has extended the time workers can receive benefits at least until the market recovers. It should do so again today.

Some observers have raised concerns over how maintaining the emergency benefits would add to the federal debt. This extension would not affect the debt in any significant way, and as emergency spending, the UI extension should not have to be paid for with other spending cuts. Moreover, if Congress fails to maintain emergency benefits, millions of people will lose all or most of their income and be forced to seek assistance through other government programs that cost money and contribute to the debt.

More importantly, failing to extend the federal emergency UI program would also risk prolonging and even worsening the effects of the downturn, which is a much bigger factor for the federal debt than a temporary extension of an emergency program that has proven to stimulate the economy.

When Congress gets back to work, it must help get America back to work. Congress should maintain the federal unemployment insurance program for one year and pave the way for a full economic recovery.

Christine Murphy is executive director of the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, a Denver-based organization that advocates for responsible economic policies through its project, the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute.

Colorado news roundup: Medicare Advantage disruption will affect nearly 14,000 Coloradans

Nearly 2,000 of those affected won't be able to pick a replacement plan similar to the original, The Denver Post reports.

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

Colorado news roundup: Local governments should manage more services, governor-elect says

It's one way John Hickenlooper suggests to trim state spending. We wish him luck, but the days of trimming around the edges of government in Colorado are long over. Our state's revenue crisis has already caused deep cuts to services, and those cuts are hurting families and the economy. If Hickenlooper can find small savings here and there, that's fine, but what Colorado really needs is more revenue.

Read about Hickenlooper's meeting in Colorado Springs, plus find links to all the day's public-policy news at the weekday Colorado news roundup.