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Despite Amendment 59's defeat, Ritter aims for budget fix

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 6, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Erika Jensen, left, and Travis Gasper hold signs supporting Amendment 59 on Tuesday at Speer Boulevard and First Avenue. Voters rejected the attempt to reconcile two constitutional provisions: TABOR's caps on state revenue and Amendment 23's school spending requirements.

Photo by Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Erika Jensen, left, and Travis Gasper hold signs supporting Amendment 59 on Tuesday at Speer Boulevard and First Avenue. Voters rejected the attempt to reconcile two constitutional provisions: TABOR's caps on state revenue and Amendment 23's school spending requirements.

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Gov. Bill Ritter vowed Wednesday to continue the fight to untangle contradictory constitutional provisions that complicate the state's budget process.

Ritter's remarks came a day after voters decisively defeated Amendment 59, which sought to reconcile two constitutional provisions - one that caps state revenue, the other that requires higher spending on schools.

"I don't think it's dead," Ritter said of the proposal, though he stopped short of laying out the next step.

But, he said, "As we go forward, we have to ask this question: What do we do about these constitutional restraints that can make it very difficult for us to tackle some of the bigger issues - higher education, transportation, among them."

The Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, passed by voters in 1992, limits the amount of revenue the state and local governments may collect.

A 2000 measure, Amendment 23, sought to protect schools from the effects of TABOR by setting minimum levels of education funding. But that measure reduced the amount of money available for all other programs, driving cuts in health care and higher education.

Amendment 59 would have created a savings account for education unconstrained by the TABOR revenue caps. Funding would have come from money that otherwise would be returned to taxpayers when state revenue exceeds the TABOR cap.

Rep. Douglas Bruce, R-Colorado Springs, said he was "delighted" the proposal failed. Bruce drafted TABOR.

Bruce campaigned against Amendment 59 by distributing fliers and sending e-mails. He charged that retaining money that would otherwise go back to taxpayers is a tax increase.

Bruce said he will campaign against any future measure similar to the one defeated Tuesday.

"I'm always ready to oppose a proposal that enslaves us," Bruce said.

Jane Urschel, the deputy director of the Colorado Association of School boards, said it's not clear how the state can approach the constitutional issue in the near future.

Educators may have to appeal directly to voters to raise school funding through a "begathon," Urschel said. That won't happen in the current economic climate, she said.

Bruce Caughey, who follows legislative issues for the Colorado Association of School Executives, which represents superintendents, said Amendment 59 lost partly because the issue is so complicated and voters were facing a lengthy ballot.

"I don't see it as the end," he said of the vote Tuesday. "I think there needs to be a long-term constitutional fix."