July 13, 2008
State’s economy is on right track
If Gov. Bill Ritter is deliberately trying to wreck the Colorado economy — as his critics in the oil and gas industry and their Republican allies insist — then he’s doing a lousy job of it.
CNBC has just ranked Colorado as the fifth-best state for doing business — the first time our state has finished in the coveted top five.
July 11, 2008
Teacher pay plan turns into battlefield
Denver’s pick as host of the Democratic National Convention was seen by city education leaders as a chance to show off an urban school district in the midst of groundbreaking reform.
July 8, 2008
In fiscal squeeze, RTD studies fare hike, service cuts
RTD is weighing a fare increase, cuts in bus and light-rail service or a combination of both as it faces the three-sided economic squeeze of skyrocketing fuel costs, declining sales taxes and increasing ridership.
July 7, 2008
Ritter: Colorado can be a model for U.S. energy policy
Governors from West drafting plan to submit to next president
DENVER — As Western states weigh in on energy heading into the November election, Colorado’s unique combination of resources makes it a good showcase for what a national policy can look like “going forward,” Gov. Bill Ritter said.
July 6, 2008
Highway funding grabbing attention
DENVER - Funding for Colorado roads, the subject that no one wanted to discuss during this year’s legislative session, has suddenly become the topic on everyone’s lips.
Gov. Bill Ritter in June ordered his Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel to work for the rest of the year to educate the public about highway problems. A longrunning Interstate 70 task force recently called for widening some portions of that highway. And three Republican legislators are canvassing the state to try to get a measure on the November ballot to divert new revenue to transportation projects.
July 3, 2008
Business, Labor Aim To Alter State Laws
The Gazette
By MICHAEL DAVIDSON
April 14, 2008
DENVER - Business and labor leaders spent last week sparring over proposed changes to the state constitution, and despite the intervention of Gov. Bill Ritter, the battle may get nastier.
Wednesday, a group called A Better Colorado filed 133,000 petitions with the secretary of state. Its goal is to add an amendment to the state constitution that would prohibit collective bargaining agreements, which require that workers be union members or pay union dues. They call their proposal the Colorado Right to Work Amendment.
The Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry has endorsed the measure; the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce has not yet taken a position.
July 3, 2008
Labor Raises $1.58 Million
Money will fund ballot initiatives; right-to-work group raised $200,250
The Denver Post
By Andy Vuong
May 2, 2008
Labor unions have raised $1.58 million to push a pair of ballot initiatives that would hold executives criminally liable for company wrongdoings and require businesses to provide reasons for firing workers.
The Service Employees International Union, the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters union and other labor groups provided nearly all of the money collected by Protect Colorado’s Future, records filed Thursday with the secretary of state’s office show.
Meanwhile, the group conducting the business-backed right-to-work campaign has raised $200,250, with $200,000 coming from Golden-based CoorsTek.
July 3, 2008
Bid To Raise Severance Could Spark Nasty Battle
The Daily Sentinel
By MIKE SACCONE
May 04, 2008
Should backers of a severance tax increase succeed in placing their measure on the November ballot, Colorado could be in for a caustic and costly fight akin to one fought in California two years ago, according to political observers in both states.
Larry Gerston, a political science professor at San Jose State University, said no matter how popular a severance tax increase might be, the energy industry will throw everything it has into winning the fight.
“I think you can expect the industry to fight it tooth and nail,” Gerston said.
In a bid to raise more money for renewable energy initiatives, conservationists pushed a $4 billion severance tax hike onto California’s 2006 ballot.
From there, the state’s oil producers and environmental groups battled a multimillion-dollar media campaign, culminating in the electoral defeat of the ballot measure, Proposition 87.
July 3, 2008
Severance Tax Idea
Backers of anti-tax movement propose rebates for heat bills
Rocky Mountain News
By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News
February 8, 2006
Colorado is rolling in oil and gas severance tax money, and a chunk of it should be used to help pay state residents’ heating bills, say two leaders of the anti-tax movement.
“If oil prices continue to shoot up, instead of the state getting a massive windfall, Colorado families get to offset their heating costs,” Jon Caldara said Tuesday.
Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, and Beth Skinner, state director of Colorado Freedom Works, have proposed a constitutional amendment they dub HEAT, or Home Energy Adjustment Tax-Rebate.
The measure drew a rebuke from leaders on the Western Slope, where much of the tax money goes.
Severance taxes are levied by the state on the energy industry to offset extraction impacts on local communities. The money helps pay for wear and tear on roads, burgeoning school populations and more stress on health care facilities.
“This is a heist of monumental proportions and would be totally unfair to those counties that are affected,” said Reeves Brown, head of Club 20, an influential Western Slope organization.
“It’s almost as if Jon Caldara lived in an area that doesn’t have this development,” he facetiously said.
July 3, 2008
Labor Coalition Circulating Ballot Petitions
The Rocky Mountain News
By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
May 13, 2008
A labor-backed coalition called Protect Colorado’s Future will begin collecting signatures downtown just after noon today in an attempt to get two initiatives on the ballot this fall.
The group, which has received more than $1.5 million in campaign funding from large unions and individuals, is pushing a measure aimed at curbing corporate fraud and another that would require employers to prove they have reasonable “cause” for firing workers. The coalition said its own polls have shown overwhelming support among voters for both measures.
“Coming on the heels of the recent court decision to reverse a high-profile corporate fraud case against five former Qwest executives, the corporate fraud ballot initiative would make Colorado the toughest state in the country for corporate criminals,” Protect Colorado’s Future said in a statement.
The coalition also has been working to craft a strategy for fighting a competing ballot measure that already has enough signatures to qualify for November’s ballot. Known as the “right-to-work” initiative, it would outlaw all-union agreements between companies and workers. Current state law allows workers to vote on whether they want all employees to pay for union representation.
Protect Colorado’s Future said it planned to start its signature drive across the street from 1600 Broadway. The building houses the offices of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, a key supporter of making Colorado the 23rd “right-to-work” state. But stormy weather might force the signature launch event to be held inside at the State Capitol in House Committee Room 112.
