The Colorado Senate on Thursday passed a “wildly out of balance”, as the chamber’s majority and minority leaders both called it, but lawmakers pledged it would return to constitutionally required equilibrium in the next legislative phase.
The biggest amendment, offered by Republican Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and adopted by members of both parties, would send that extra $503 million to education. The sum essentially would eliminate a longstanding debt, known as the budget stabilization factor, thatThe change passed on a voice vote during a slate of proposed amendments Wednesday, meaning there’s no exact tally of who voted for what.
“When the legislative body says this is our priority, the Joint Budget Committee should be finding a way to fund it,” Kirkmeyer said. “If that means they need to cut programs or not expand, that’s what they should be doing.” Zenzinger said the vote reflected lawmakers wanting to give teachers more money, regardless of the amendment’s feasibility. She said it would end up making the budget committee’s members the “bad guys,” giving cover to the rest of the Senate.