Bell Policy Center press release

Aug. 29, 2007
Contact: Heather McGregor, mcgregor@thebell.org
(303) 297-0456 in metro Denver
(866) 283-8051 toll-free in Colorado

Independence Institute report
“uses simplistic analysis” in Ref C critique

Bell Policy Center President Wade Buchanan issued the following statement in response to a new report published today by the Independence Institute, “State Budget Scrutiny Reveals Ref C Shuffle,” written by Mark Hillman and Amy Oliver.

Whether one cares about early childhood and K-12 education, the state’s colleges, health care for families, transportation or other important services, Ref C was by far the most significant policy achievement in Colorado in more than a decade. Without its passage, the legislature would have to slash essential state services by more than $1 billion this year alone. 

But Ref C is only a temporary solution. The current state budget (which runs from July 2007 through June 2008) is the third of five the legislature will write under Ref C’s so-called “time-out.” It is time to focus on what happens next.

That’s why the report co-authored by former state treasurer Mark Hillman and released today by the Independence Institute is so disappointing. The report uses simplistic analysis to rehash the 2005 Referendum C campaign. It tries to fault the state legislature for spending too much and not spending enough at the same time. It offers no meaningful solutions for the real challenges facing Colorado as we move forward.

By contrast, research under way by the Bell Policy Center – in partnership with the Colorado Children’s Campaign and the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute – shows that Referendum C was a critical first step in helping our schools, colleges and universities, highways, health programs and other essential services to begin to recover from huge cuts made during the 2001-03 recession.

(Find a preliminary summary of the research on the Bell’s web site.)

The alternative to Referendum C was to stay stuck at the bottom of the recession. That would have devastated the public systems that underpin our economy and ensure opportunity and quality of life for all Coloradans.

Looking forward, the real challenge is to have a serious and well-informed statewide discussion about the kind of state we want Colorado to be in the future. Our research is focused on where Colorado is headed over the next six years. The question we need to answer is whether that is where we want to go. Sadly, the Independence Institute’s report does nothing to advance that critical discussion.