House Finance Committee advances bill to define TABOR exceptions for damage awards and property sales

The Colorado House Finance Committee voted 8-5 to send Senate Bill 173 to the Appropriations Committee after a hearing in which sponsors and witnesses said the bill would clarify two exceptions to the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) for budgeting purposes.

Representative Zokay, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure adds statutory definitions of “damage awards” and “property sales” listed as exclusions in Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution so state revenues and expenditures are classified consistently for TABOR calculations. “All we are doing here is trying to add a little more definition to what those two terms in particular mean,” Zokay said, asking members for an I vote.

Caroline Nutter, legislative coordinator at the Colorado Fiscal Institute, supported the bill and told the committee the measure aligns the exclusions in TABOR with contemporary state practice. “This bill defines damage awards to include certain civil penalties, such as when a nursing facility violates federal regulations for participation in the Medicaid program,” Nutter said, and she added the bill would clarify which fines and penalties are exempt from the TABOR fiscal-year spending limit. Nutter urged the committee to vote yes on SB 173.

Megan Raines, director of government affairs for the Colorado Education Association, also testified in favor and framed…