Colorado's budget gap and the Ref C legacy

State legislator Josh Penry at a committee meeting in 2005. (Denver Post file photo)

Higher education funding may take a major hit as Colorado lawmakers face a state budget gap that could be $600 million, reports Tim Hoover.

The economic downturn and updated tax revenue forecasts prompted Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter to revise his own estimate of the shortfall - and to ask state agencies for further budget cuts.

Could any of this have been avoided?

“The one thing the General Assembly could have done to vindicate itself in the aftermath of Referendum C was to build up its reserves,” said Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, in an editorial board meeting this month with The Denver Post.

Ref C, passed by voters in 2005, allows the state to spend an estimated $3.7 billion or more through 2010 that it otherwise would not under the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR).

Calls to create a robust rainy-day fund with some of the money have been repeatedly proposed - and repeatedly beaten down.

Penry said Republicans and Democrats can share the blame.

“The Dems had some proposals and we had some proposals," said Penry on Dec. 19. "Last year in the budget we tried to do it. And the legislature failed. That debate has played out in a public way. The public, when they start hearing the gnashing of teeth about cuts, are going to say, ‘Why didn’t you have the good sense to sock some of that money away?'"