Picked clean
May 11th, 2010 — Bills, Budget
Ever wonder what happens when a cow falls into piranha-infested waters? It's probably something like what happened when HB 10-1338 moved through the legislature.
If you haven't noticed, we're broke. That makes it pretty hard for legislators to pass bills that cost money — "bills with a fiscal note" in legislative jargon. As a result, a lot of legislators are positioned to pounce on any money that becomes available.
HB10- 1338 increased eligibility for parole, and that saves prison costs: $2.3 million according to the bill's fiscal note. Think fat cow carcass.
Rep. Judd saw it coming; in House Approps he took $300,000 to to pay for a bill he passed last year (HB 09-1137) that had been languishing for lack of funding. The money will pay the IT costs of intercepting casino payouts to people who owe restitution from old crimes.
That started the feeding frenzy. JBC analyst Carolyn Kampman started worrying that we might overfeed and spend more than the bill is saving. She started keeping track. The negative (red) numbers are savings.
| Bill Expenditures "Tied" to Savings in H.B. 10-1338 | ||
| GF Impact | ||
| Bill No | Short Title | FY 2010-11 |
| H.B. 10-1338 | Probation Eligible Two Prior Felony | (2,233,182) |
| H.B. 09-1137 | Approp to implement HB 09-1137 | 336,057 |
| Approp for child welfare services | 1,020,806 | |
| H.B. 10-1081 | Money Laundering Criminal Fraud | 91,370 |
| H.B. 10-1176 | Require Government Recovery Audits | 161,643 |
| H.B. 10-1277 | Sexual Conduct in Correctional Facility | 83,861 |
| H.B. 10-1347 | DUI Penalties | 438,518 |
| H.B. 10-1364 | Sex Offender Management Board | 100,926 |
| TOTALS: | (1) | |
Extravagant? No way, we stopped appropriating with a dollar to spare.
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