The General Assembly returned to the State Capitol last week facing a very different set of circumstances from where it started in January. We’ve been thrust into a public health and economic crisis with no clear end, and it has disrupted our way of life as we know it in a matter of weeks.
Such a dramatic change of events requires a thoughtful reassessment of priorities. Lawmakers are faced with serious decisions about how to move forward with cutting $3.3 billion from the state budget while still remaining responsive to the needs of Coloradans. Legislative leadership has rightly abandoned some of their most controversial and expensive agenda items this year — like a public health insurance program and state-mandated family and medical leave program — so as not to create new costs for the state, businesses, and workers in these challenging financial times.
Read the complete op-ed by Loren Furman at Colorado Politics.