Gov. Hickenlooper Signs Long Bill for 2016-17
Press Release
Gov. John Hickenlooper today signed HB16-1405 "2016-17 Long Appropriations Bill" into law.
"This bill, and its accompanying legislative items that comprise the FY 2016-17 budget, reflect the commitment and collaboration of many participants over the last year," said Hickenlooper. "The Colorado General Assembly has a long history of setting aside disagreements that in other states would lead to acrimonious gridlock. In keeping with that tradition, the budget agreement reflects the best spirit of bipartisanship in the United States and it will effectively serve the entire state of Colorado."
The next fiscal year's budget include these noteworthy items:
K-12 Education -- With the expected passage of the annual School Finance Act, funding for primary and secondary education will increase with inflation and enrollment over the prior year. In addition, the negative factor is reduced to $830.7 million for FY 2016-17, $24.5 million below the $855.2 million contained in the initial FY 2015-16 appropriation.
Child Welfare -- In the second phase of a continuing effort to boost funding for child welfare at the county level, this budget sets aside $6.1 million in the General Fund for an additional 100 caseworkers in counties throughout Colorado.
Youth Corrections --With an increase of $2.2 million in the General Fund, this budget adds 36.3 FTE to address safety concerns in Colorado's State-owned and State-operated youth corrections facilities.
Transportation -- The budget plan allocates $150 million from the General Fund to the Highway Users Tax Fund to support transportation infrastructure.
"House Bill 16-1405 and its companion legislation culminate a difficult but productive year of work for Colorado's budget planners," said Hickenlooper. "We would like to express our gratitude for the work performed by the Joint Budget Committee members, the Joint Budget Committee staff, and the scores of budget analysts throughout Colorado's government, all of whose tireless efforts on behalf of Colorado are sometimes overlooked."
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