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Budget deal reached; rainy-day fund, too

Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 13, 2006 at midnight

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Lawmakers announced breakthroughs on two financial fronts Wednesday: The governor and the legislature reached agreement on the 2006-07 budget and a plan to create a state rainy-day fund has been hammered out.

The agreement with the governor includes money to fix schools, make college tuition more affordable and give more low-income Coloradans access to health care.

House Democrats and Republicans also reached a compromise on a rainy-day fund the state can rely on in lean times.

The bad news is that the details are so mind-numbingly dry and complex that even a Joint Budget Committee member struggled to explain the deal.

"It's complicated," said Rep. Dale Hall, R-Greeley, one of six JBC members.

Four Republicans and one Democrat had floated various rainy-day proposals that ranged from setting aside excess revenues generated by Referendum C to using tobacco settlement funds.

The agreement calls for the state to sell off a portion of its tobacco tax settlement and use $350 million of it to set up a savings account.

In the event the state has to dip into that kitty, the rainy-day fund would be refilled from the general fund and a special account that finances roads and capital construction, Hall said.

Another part of the puzzle lawmakers are considering is a proposal by Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. It would ask voters to OK a constitutional requirement that the rainy- day fund could be tapped only after two-thirds of lawmakers agree.