Owens signs $16.5 billion state budget

Governor also OKs measures on dogs, immigration, meth

Staff And Wire Reports

Published May 2, 2006 at midnight

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Gov. Bill Owens signed off on a $16.5 billion state budget Monday, after using his line-item veto to eliminate a provision that would have barred the use of state funds for elective surgery in prisons, including sex-change operations.

Owens said that the provision might have kept him from complying with court orders.

The budget measure was one of several bills the governor signed. Others included:

• Senate Bill 25, which requires owners of dangerous dogs to put up a sign warning others. If a dog causes serious injury or death or if it attacks a second time, a judge must put the dog in a shelter where, depending on appeals, it could be killed.

• Senate Bill 90, which could deny state funds to cities that discourage or prevent police officers from working with federal immigration authorities.

• Senate Bill 2, which requires home-sale contracts to disclose whether the property was ever used as a methamphetamine lab.

In other action Monday:

• The House approved House Bill 1406, which would increase the penalty for using electronic devices that make traffic lights change. It heads to the Senate.

• The House approved House Bill 1400, which would set up the state's first charter for interbasin water compacts. Supporters say the charter, approved last month by the Inter Basin Compact Committee, will provide the road map to ending Colorado's water wars by considering the needs of users across the state. The bill now heads to the Senate.

• A prescription drug bill that independent pharmacists say would hurt them financially received initial approval in the House on Monday. House Bill 1100 would create Colorado Cares Rx, which would allow uninsured seniors and lower-income Coloradans to buy prescription drugs at the same discount rate that state employees receive. The pharmacists worry they would receive less money in rebates from drug manufacturers and a lower dispensing fee that the state pays for Medicaid patients. An initial vote may come in the House today.

• The state would sell off part of the tobacco tax settlement, pay off debts and put the rest into a savings account under a measure approved in House Appropriations. House Bill 1402 now goes to the full House.

• Sexual orientation would be added to the list of characteristics barring discrimination in hiring, firing or promoting employees, according to Senate Bill 81, passed by the House Appropriations Committee. The bill goes to the full House.

• The Senate backed changes to Senate Bill 37, which would limit the amount of water set aside for municipal white-water parks. A similar effort failed last year. It now heads to the governor.

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