House creates enterprise for communication services for people with disabilities amid TABOR debate

The Colorado House on March 10 passed House Bill 11-54, which creates a new enterprise to provide communication services for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind and print-disabled. Supporters said the measure secures ongoing funding; opponents said it creates fees and circumvents the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).

Representative Brown, a sponsor, told colleagues the bill moves the Colorado Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deaf-Blind and related programs into a new enterprise within the Colorado Department of Human Services and creates a governor-appointed board to oversee it. “It’s so important that we not only protect the funding for these vital services,” Brown said, citing relay services that help people communicate by phone.

Debate focused on financing and TABOR. Representative Bradley said the enterprise would create new fees and estimated it could generate “hundred million over its first 5 years of operation,” and warned that designating the program an enterprise would avoid voter approval under TABOR.…