Common Sense Digest

Is Help on the Way for PERA’s Unfunded Liability? featuring Earl Wright, Amy Slothower and Zachary Christensen

Colorado’s Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) contains more than $30 billion of unfunded liability, which represents a potential disaster for Colorado taxpayers. The federal American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) is estimated to deliver an additional $3.9 billion to the state government, which, along with government revenue that is forecasted to grow to $936 Million above pre-pandemic levels in the next fiscal year budget, there is a unique opportunity for Colorado to make bold investments in its future and pay down some debt, likely including the large unfunded liabilities of PERA.

Common Sense Institute President & CEO Kristin Strohm takes over hosting duties on this edition of Common Sense Digest and has the unique privilege of turning the tables on our usual host, CSI Chairman Earl Wright, who brings unique insight into the PERA discussion. Also joining us is Amy Slothower, Project Director for Secure Futures Colorado, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to public pension reform. Amy recently wrote a great opinion piece published in Colorado Politics a few weeks ago that helped to inspire this conversation.

Additionally, Zachary Christensen, Managing Director at the Pension Integrity Project and Senior Policy Analyst for REASON Foundation joins the program. The Pension Integrity Project at Reason Foundation offers pro-bono consulting to public officials and other stakeholders to help them design and implement pension reforms that improve plan solvency and promote retirement security. All three unpack the contributing factors that led us here, assess the current situation, and examine the potential fixes in a lively and stimulating discussion.

Our report on the issue can be found here.

The Crisis of the Colorado Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund featuring J.J. Ament and Chris Brown

The Colorado Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund was not built to handle the crushing demand of a global health emergency that impacted virtually every aspect of our daily lives. The program finds itself running a deep deficit, and fraudulent claims have overwhelmed the system. What to do about it?

Join Host and Chairman of Common Sense Institute Earl Wright as he welcomes J.J. Ament, Chief Executive Officer of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and Chris Brown, Director of Policy and Research with Common Sense Institute, as they discuss the status of the trust fund, what’s led to its current situation, and diagnose what needs to happen to ensure its viability. Are potential tax increases on the way for businesses? What will the state do with money from the federal government? And what can you do about it to stay involved? All of this and more are covered in the latest episode of Common Sense Digest. Please be sure read our report on the issue here.

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Trying to Fix a Broken Education Finance System featuring Dr. Brenda Bautsch Dickhoner and Leslie Colwell

Colorado’s education funding system is broken in several ways: inequitable revenue collection, an inefficient and outdated allocation formula, and a retirement system that costs the state nearly a billion dollars annually just to pay down the $30 billion in unfunded liability.

On this edition of Common Sense Digest, Brenda Bautsch-Dickhoner, Ph.D., the Mike A. Leprino Free Enterprise Fellow at Common Sense Institute and current Boardmember of the Charter School Institute and on the Governor’s Education Leadership Council and Leslie Colwell Vice President of Education Initiatives at the Colorado Children’s Campaign which leads the Campaign’s work to improve education in the state of Colorado discuss this broken system and how to fix it. 

 

One such solution is HB21-1164 which helps the system start on a path of correction by addressing the patchwork system of property taxes on the revenue side. The extra revenue raised by this bill could help alleviate some of the budgetary pressures on K-12 education. The bill does not, however, address the flawed funding formula on the distribution side of the equation, and there are legitimate concerns that the bill violates the constitution by increasing taxes without a vote. Our guests join Host and Chairman Earl Wright as they unpack this vital, but complex issue in service of trying to secure more equitable outcomes for all of Colorado’s students. Please be sure read our report on the issue here. 

 

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Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions for Colorado Buildings featuring Kathie Barstnar and Dave Davia

As cities, states, the United States, and the international community consider ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the latest episode of the Common Sense Digest focuses on initiatives instituted or under consideration in our own backyard. 

Recently, the state launched its “Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap.” The roadmap outlines potential state actions which would help to comply emission reduction targets set in 2019 legislation, HB19-1261. The overall targets are a 26% reduction by 2025, a 50% reduction by the year 2030 and 90% reduction by 2050, all relative to emission levels in 2005. Currently, state GhG emissions are somewhere between 10% and 15% below 2005 levels, and the latest projections, inclusive of recent policy changes indicate more policy changes will be required to achieve the state’s targets.

Our built environment, including commercial, residential and industrial buildings is now squarely in the sights of regulators and policy makers.To unpack the multitude of initiatives pertaining to the built environment, their costs, the high hurdles that exist to achieve the goals, and more, we have invited Kathie Barstnar, the Executive Director of Colorado Chapter of NAIOP, and Dave Davia, EVP and CEO of the Rocky Mountain MCA. The issue is complex and multifaceted, but as always, thanks to the input of our experts, we hope this episode gives the issue clarity, and provides a dose of common sense. 

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Revisiting the Public Option for Healthcare featuring Sally Pipes and Chris Brown

As Colorado once again considers a public option for healthcare coverage, the Common Sense Digest considers and discusses in depth the likely impacts a public option for healthcare coverage would have on our system, our state budget, and our quality and access to healthcare services.

Joining our Host and Chairman Earl Wright are Chris Brown, Director of Policy and Research with the Common Sense Institute, and Sally Pipes, President and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, whose mission is to champion freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility for all individuals by advancing free-market policy solutions. Ms. Pipes addresses national and international audiences on health care. In April 2018, she received an honorary Ph.D from Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy for her work on health care reform. She has written a multitude of books, written for a vast number of publications, and is an internationally recognized expert on healthcare policy.

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Understanding and Attempting to Solve Homelessness with Mayor Mike Coffman and Kate Barton

Homelessness is a complex, contentious, and multifaceted issue with multiple causes, and advocates on all sides of the issue advocating for different solutions and approaches. On this edition of the Common Sense Digest, we discuss the homelessness issue in-depth with two people working on it from two very different angles.

Kate Barton is the Senior Vice President, Executive Office and Special Projects for the Downtown Denver Partnership, a fast-moving, forward thinking, non-profit business organization with the foundational belief that every day is our chance to make the city a little better. They also founded The Business Coalition on Homelessness, which was founded in 2019 by the Downtown Denver Partnership and business leaders to bring the resources, leadership, and voice of business together to collectively work with public and private sector partners, stakeholders, and the City to find and deliver solutions to homelessness.

 

Mike Coffman is the Mayor of Aurora, and last month completed a week of living on the street in shelters and in encampments to better understand the issue of homelessness. He shared his experience with CBS Denver and discusses what he learned, the criticism he received, and how he plans to integrate his learnings into addressing homelessness in Aurora on this week’s program. 

 

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Women in the Workforce and the She-cession featuring Heidi Ganahl and Nicole Riehl

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an outsize impact on women in the workforce, resulting in what has been dubbed a “She-cession.” On this week’s episode, we’re joined by Heidi Ganahl, Founder of Camp Bow Wow and SheFactor.She is also a fellow board member of CSI, and a CU regent, as well as Nicole Riehl, President and CEO of Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC). EPIC is the business community’s nonpartisan voice for early childhood care and education, and has recently launched a new initiative that aims to help solve the child care issue.

 

The two join Earl Wright, our Host and Chairman to discuss entrepreneurship, the rate of women leaving the workforce, early childhood education, motherhood and much more. A robust economy and a full workforce does not happen without vigorous participation from women, and this episode provides insights into what has led us here, and offers recommendations on how we rectify the situation.

 

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The Colorado Road to Recovery Initiative featuring Debbie Brown, Liz Peetz & Dave Davia

A global pandemic and corresponding economic crisis have brought about a time of severe disruption. Business and our way of life have been transformed. While we are faced with unprecedented challenges, we have also been presented with unique opportunities to shape our future with purpose.

 

The Colorado Business Roundtable and Common Sense Institute have provided a forum to formulate and influence public policy through collaboration and research in response to the pandemic’s economic realities called The Colorado Road to Recovery Initiative.

 

On this edition of Common Sense Digest, Chairman and Host Earl Wright welcomes Debbie Brown, President and CEO of the Colorado Business Roundtable, Dave Davia the Executive Vice President & CEO at Rocky Mountain MCA, and Liz Peetz, the Vice President of Government Affairs at Colorado Association of REALTORS®. They discuss some of the recommendations of the Road to Recovery Initiative and provide their thoughts on the health of Colorado’s economy heading into 2021. 

 

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Speaker of the House KC Becker and Colorado Concern CEO Mike Kopp Discuss the 2020 Special Session and Preview 2021

Common Sense Institute wants to ensure you are equipped with as much knowledge as possible as 2020 gratefully comes to a close and we look ahead to 2021. On this week’s episode of the Common Sense Digest, Speaker of the House KC Becker and President & CEO of Colorado Concern join Chairman of CSI Earl Wright to discuss the 2020 Special Session providing analysis on what went well and where opportunities still exist. They then discuss the uniqueness of finding compromise in Colorado in an increasingly polarized world and discuss what the 2021 Legislative Session could look like. 

 

KC Becker is the 39th and current Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives. She is a Democrat representing Colorado’s 13th House District, which includes parts of Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Grand, and Jackson counties. She has represented the district since 2013. Mike Kopp is the President and CEO of Colorado Concern, an alliance of top business executives with a mission of enhancing the Centennial State’s business climate. Mike won a highly competitive race for a Colorado state senate seat and was re-elected to a second term. During his tenure he was chosen by his peers to serve as Caucus Chairman and Senate Minority Leader. 

 

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The Next Chapter in Oil and Gas Setbacks featuring Lynn Granger

In the aftermath of Colorado Senate Bill 181, passed in 2019, the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission has undertaken a bounty of rulemakings. Among them is a reconsideration of setbacks from both buildings and wildlife areas.

On this episode of Common Sense Digest, Chairman Earl Wright is joined by Chris Brown, our Director of Policy and Research, who has led many reports on a range of policy and economic issues facing the state of Colorado including measuring the economic and fiscal impacts of Proposition 112, the 2,500-ft setback for new oil and gas drilling that appeared on the ballot in 2018. Also joining is Lynn Granger, Executive Director of API-Colorado, a statewide organization focusing on energy priorities in the state, including hydraulic fracturing and energy infrastructure. They discuss the process of the new rulemakings as well as their potential impacts.

 

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