Senator Hisey Newsletter
A Win and A Loss for Coloradans
April 6th, 2022
| My Fire Suppression Ponds bill passed out of the Senate this past week with overwhelming bipartisan support. It’s been a long road trying to address the concerns of the many water districts, users and owners as well as delivering something to the State Water Engineer’s office that is workable and still accomplishes what we set out to do. It is critical that we have water available to put out small fires before they become raging wildfires. Thank you to everyone that participated and was willing to see both sides of the issue. Like most simple bills that become complicated, no one got everything they wanted. Now it’s off to the House for their approval – you have to be an optimist to do this job. |
This past week we debated HB22-1286 – The Payment Of Expenses Of The Legislative Department.
Let me start by saying the Legislators are supported by very talented hardworking people who during the session put in very long days, including weekends, to keep the process flowing. This is the bill that funds everyone that provides support to the Legislature. People like the attorneys and bill writers who ensure what we do is legal and constitutional. Or at least they try to since the final wording in the bill is up to the legislator. This also includes partisan staff in the Majority and Minority offices, our aides, supplies, tech support and everything else it takes to keep any office functioning.
The primary issue I had with this particular proposal was the significant expansion in the number of employees. This is with no additional days in the session and no more bills than normal. For each employee, there is an associated cost of office space, furniture, computers, etc. etc. But by far the largest expense with every additional employee is their salary, benefits, retirement contributions and all of those overhead costs that every employer deals with.
The justification was of course given by the department which is working to lower the amount of comp time accrued by employees during our 120-day session. Amendments were offered to reduce the cost, none of which passed, and the final outcome was the bill passed on a party-line vote.
Offices are not required to spend their entire budget and underspending goes back to the general fund. The Republican caucus routinely turns back money at the end of each fiscal year. Perhaps the Democratic caucus does as well. However, both of those combined are a pittance compared with the cost of hiring, training and outfitting everyone the department has requested and received funding for. Just one more expansion of the state budget and spending of revenue that won’t go to Public Safety, Education or Roads and Bridges.