Bill would give businesses input in proposals

By Charles Ashby
Wednesday, February 15, 2012

DENVER — One day after a similar bill died in the Senate, a House committee Tuesday approved a measure that would give businesses a greater voice in the fiscal impact of business-related bills that go before the Colorado Legislature.

The measure, based on an idea pushed by Gov. John Hickenlooper soon after he became governor last year, was watered down to ensure it, too, had no fiscal impact to the state.

Currently, nonpartisan legislative workers produce financial impact statements, also called fiscal notes, on every bill introduced into the Legislature. Those statements analyze what it would cost the state to implement a particular bill.

The Democratic governor’s idea, which immediately was embraced by Republicans, was to include in those statements what businesses might have to spend in complying with new laws.

A similar bill last year failed because it would have required Legislative Council to hire six new workers at a cost of about $400,000 a year, something the state can’t afford because of revenue shortfalls.

That’s why Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs, watered down this year’s bill to require fiscal-note writers to give businesses as many as five days to comment on any business-related bill and include those comments in their fiscal notes.

“The decisions we make here (in the Legislature) have real ramifications on the state, on our fellow citizens, on businesses, and especially to the bottom line for all of them,” Liston told the House Economic & Business Development Committee. “This piece of legislation allows a business to partner with us, the Legislature, to keep Colorado a favorable place to do business.”

Critics of the measure questioned why only businesses would be allowed to have an extra voice, saying others, such as nonprofit and consumer-advocate groups, deserve a chance to make their concerns known.

“What this would do is create a separate group of taxpayers who would have additional access (to legislators),” said Terry Scanlon, lead budget analyst for the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute.

“It would create a greater sense of emphasis, a greater sense of importance on the voice of one group of taxpayers over the voices of other groups,” Scanlon said.

Liston, however, said the measure is restricted only to business-related measures. If other taxpayer groups want similar access, they should run their own bill, he said.

Liston’s bill passed 8–4, with only one Democrat joining Republicans in supporting it. A similar measure died in a Democrat-controlled Senate committee Monday on a 3–2 party-line vote.