Ever the optimist over the past seven years, Gov. John Hickenlooper didn’t disappoint in his final State of the State address Thursday. Brushing aside the toxic politics that fester in our nation, the governor sought to tackle pervasive Colorado problems with pragmatic policy suggestions.
It was one of the governor’s more specific and detailed stands at the dais over the years, but now the question is whether Hickenlooper can deliver on his unique vision for our uncertain future as a lame duck.
“We have 364 days left in this administration. That’s an eternity for compromise,” Hickenlooper assured lawmakers gathered in the state House of Representatives.
But it will take real leadership for the governor to accomplish even a portion of what he outlined: capping orphaned oil and gas wells, addressing the opioid epidemic, building out broadband in rural ares and addressing the impact of the Gallagher amendment. Those aren’t even the most critical or partisan issues on his list.
Long before his speech, Hickenlooper detailed a conservative compromise to get Colorado’s Public Employees’ Retirement Association back on sound financial footing. The governor’s plan somewhat shielded taxpayers from the cost of paying off PERA’s unfunded liability over 30 years, asking current retirees and employees to take on more of the cost.
We liked Hickenlooper’s plan, but fear Democrats who control the House don’t have much desire to tackle this issue that could anger a powerful base of voters in an election year. Simultaneously, we fear the Republicans who control the Senate have little interest in passing a bill that addresses the unfunded liability without also shifting away from guaranteed benefits and adopting a 401(k)-like model for employees.
Hickenlooper must push this issue on both fronts if he is to succeed with a middle ground that will serve Colorado taxpayers and public retirees well. We hope it’s his top priority in 2018.
A close second priority should be transportation funding. Few Republicans applauded Hickenlooper’s infrastructure plan Thursday, despite his assertion that there is broad agreement across party lines.
Last legislative session we agreed with the governor on a plan to raise taxes for roads, but Senate Republicans shot down a proposed ballot measure to do so, saying that transportation should be funded instead with existing resources. Hickenlooper adopted a compromise position Thursday, calling for $100 million a year in dedicated revenue from the general fund for transportation needs over and above the $100 million in dedicated annual funding lawmakers cobbled together last year with Senate Bill 267. On top of that he urged a vote on a tax increase, citing an incredible need of $25 billion by 2040.
But 2018 will not be a great year to ask for a tax increase. Voters will be uncertain about how the new federal tax bill will affect their bottom line and the state is projected to see substantial growth in revenue without a tax increase. Hickenlooper also hinted that voters should consider new revenue for schools, but focused most of his attention on education reform.
“To create the kind of workforce that will keep our state at the forefront of the new economy, we need to go beyond the funding issue — we need to rethink and retool our approach. We need to transition from a degree-based education system to one that also includes skills-based training,” Hickenlooper said. Certainly our schools need more funding, too, which is why we backed the governor’s budgeting decision to prioritize K-12 education with an additional $100 million over the mandated school funding formula.
Hickenlooper ended with his trademark “Giddy up!” He’d better start cracking the whip, too.
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