2009 News
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(Denver Post, September 9, 2009)
State Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry and other Republicans have repeatedly said that Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter isn't making the "tough choices" to cut spending in order to balance the budget.
But when Ritter last month announced one particular cut, the closure of a 32-bed nursing unit for developmentally disabled patients in Penry's hometown of Grand Junction, Penry and other Western Slope Republicans pounced.
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(Denver Business Journal, July 8, 2009)
Colorado would have to raise its state sales tax 45 percent if that source were to be used to close the budget shortfall that is predicted for the 2010-11 fiscal year, a former director of the non-partisan Legislative Council said Wednesday.
With that statement, Charlie Brown, now director of the Center for Colorado’s Economic Future at the University of Denver, put into perspective the enormous task facing the Fiscal Stability Commission during its first meeting.\
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Denver Business Journal, May 18, 2009
Both sides in ongoing talks between Colorado grocery-store chains and their employees weighed in Wednesday on Gov. Bill Ritter's veto of a bill that would have extended unemployment benefits to locked-out workers.
A spokeswoman for King Soopers, one of the supermarket chains in the contract talks, applauded Ritter's action, as did the head of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry. Read More...
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Denver Post, May 21, 2009
Gov. Bill Ritter this week quietly signed into law a bill that will allow gay and lesbian state employees to share benefits with their partners in the way married couples already can.
Ritter signed Senate Bill 88 on Monday, and, as he did with another gay- rights measure this year and one last year, he did so with scant public notice. Reached Wednesday, Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, one of the bill's sponsors, said he hadn't been told that Ritter signed the measure. Read More...
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KBDI April 23, 2009
If you missed the state budget analysis from Rep. Mark Ferrandino (D-Denver) and Rep. Don Marostica (R-Loveland) moments after the legislature passed its proposed budget, you can catch their Studio 12 interview online via free video-on-demand at www.KBDI.org.
LINK to program: http://www.kbdi.org/on_demand/video_player.cfm?series=17056994
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Colorado Springs Gazette (April 26, 2009)
DENVER • The state House of Representatives gave final approval Tuesday to a bill extending health insurance and other benefits to the same-sex partners of state employees.
A 34-30 vote on SB88 sent the measure to the desk of Gov. Bill Ritter. If he signs it, a state employee can get benefits for a same-sex partner if the employee declares that he or she has been in a committed relationship for at least a year.
The nonpartisan Legislative Council estimated that the bill would cost roughly $150,000 in additional benefits payments when it goes into effect in July 2010.
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Denver Post (April 30, 2009)
Stung by criticism over how the Joint Budget Committee attempted to balance the budget this year, two lawmakers on the panel have fired back at their colleagues with a challenge:
Show up, or shut up.
Sen. Moe Keller, D-Wheat Ridge, and Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, are co-sponsoring a measure that would require all lawmakers who don't sit on the JBC to attend a minimum of five of its meetings in November and December. "Legislators complain that they're not a part of the system and that they are not informed," said Keller, chairwoman of the JBC. "I'm calling them on it."
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Denver Post, (May 6, 2009)
Colorado lawmakers wrapped up the 2009 session Wednesday with fights over death and taxes.
Most lawmakers agreed the biggest accomplishment of the session was balancing the state's $17.9 billion budget, a feat that required draining as much as possible from cash funds and reserves, trimming spending and raising revenue where possible.
"It was a lot of tough choices and no good choices," said Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, a member of the Joint Budget Committee. "It was trying to weigh what was the least-worst choice."
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(Colorado Springs Gazettee, March 8, 2009)
A bitterly divided state House of Representatives gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a bill that would raise fees on hospitals across the state to expand health care programs. "This is a house of cards," said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. "This will increase the cost of care, it will drive up the cost of doing business, and it will add to the federal debt and deficit. The bill, proposed by Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, would charge hospitals 2.4 percent of revenues each year and would raise roughly $600 million. That would be doubled by federal funds, and then shoveled back to the hospitals to help pay for expanded care and coverage.
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(Denver Post, March 14, 2009)
Hospital officials and advocates for the uninsured argued Friday in favor of a bill that would impose a fee on Colorado hospitals to generate a total of $1.2 billion for expanded health care programs.
But Republicans on the House Health and Human Services Committee questioned whether the new programs were sustainable and asked whether insured patients would ultimately bear higher costs.
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(Denver Daily News, February 10, 2009)
State leaders yesterday announced a plan to provide a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures for qualified homeowners.
Gov. Bill Ritter also announced that Countrywide Financial Corporation will pay the state $6 million for direct foreclosure assistance to homeowners. Once the nation’s largest independent mortgage lender, Countrywide settled after allegations by the Attorney General’s Office that it used deceptive marketing to peddle subprime loans.
Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, is proposing a three-month time-out on foreclosures for homeowners that are “good candidates” based on their debt and overall financial situation.
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