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Sens. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, and Chris Hansen, D-Denver, participate in the second-reading amendment process for Senate Bill 205, on April 8, 2021. ((Faith Miller/Colorado Newsline))
May 3, 2021
Though the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging in Colorado — despite increasing vaccination — and thousands remain unemployed, the immediate future looks bright for the state's budget.
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The Colorado General Assembly finalized the $34.1 billion 2021-2022 budget on April 30, with last-minute additions for gray wolf reintroduction, short-term cash assistance and bullying prevention efforts. If the budget package is signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis it would constitute an 11% increase in spending over the current year.
That's a far cry from the belt-tightening forced by the pandemic last spring, when lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee were expecting a prolonged economic downturn. But this year, between higher-than-expected sales and income tax revenue, and a forthcoming influx of federal coronavirus relief money, legislators almost had more money than they knew what to do with, to quote JBC chair Sen. Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat.