Common Sense Digest

The Economic Impacts of Colorado’s Sports and Tourism Industry featuring Kyle Dyer and Richard Scharf

Colorado boasts a wide array of natural beauty and tourist attractions which attracts millions of visitors to the state every year. Pristine nature, world-class skiing, and captivating sports teams all contribute to the robust inflow of tourists that Colorado welcomes. The revenue generated by the state’s diverse attractions supports a substantial share of Colorado’s economy and plays an indispensable role in sustaining its economic prosperity and highlighting its invaluable ecological and societal assets. Because each depends upon the others to contribute to Colorado’s high quality of life, the sports, recreation, and tourism sectors are interconnected—to account for the impact of tourism, the impacts of recreation and sports must also be included. 

On this episode of Common Sense Digest, Guest Host and CSI Executive Director Kelly Caufield welcomes Kyle Dyer, former news anchor and Head Honcho at Kyle Dyer Storytelling Richard Scharf, President & CEO of Metro Denver Convention & Visitors Bureau to discuss everything from skiing to Taylor Swift to Denver being the smallest metro area to have all 5 major sports teams. They discuss the importance of recruiting teams, conventions, visitors, and showing off what makes Denver the special place that it is. Oh, and the economic impact that comes with it! Our full study can be found here.

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Protecting Arizona’s Economic Competitiveness featuring Danny Seiden and Courtney Coolidge

Every year in Arizona, legislators introduce hundreds of bills, most of which are never enacted. This year, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry (“Arizona Chamber”) identified 67 “Job Killer” bills which would have imposed substantial new taxes, costs, or administrative burdens on Arizona businesses. Ultimately, none of these bills were enacted, and the story has been similar for years. But this raises the question: what would happen to the state’s economy and business environment were some or even all these bills ultimately passed into law?

CSI Arizona has utilized the experience and research of our partners in Colorado to estimate the potential impacts on Arizona’s economic prospects of enacting some of the many policy ideas on this list. Bills like those studied here are being shopped at state legislature across the country, and many of them have been introduced annually at the Arizona Legislature. Though they have not moved in the past, the lesson of Colorado’s anti-business policy transformation over the past half decade shows that climates can change quickly. Our full report can be found here.

Our Executive Director and Guest Host Katie Ratlief welcomes Danny Seiden, President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and Courtney Coolidge, Vice President of Government Affairs, to the show to discuss the report, the job killers, and the past present and future of Arizona's economy. 

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Danny Seiden is President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Danny brings more than 16 years of experience in global public affairs and government relations, as well as handling complex legal matters in private practice and public sector service. Prior to joining the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Danny was general counsel to the Valor Global leadership team. He focused on helping achieve growth objectives as well as providing continued public affairs guidance in AZ, WA and other States.

Courtney Coolidge serves as the Vice President for Government Affairs at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Prior to joining the Chamber, Courtney served as the Senior Director for State Relations at Arizona State University and the Deputy Chief of Staff for the Arizona Department of Public Safety where she oversaw legislative affairs, government relations, policy development and implementation. During her time at AZDPS she worked on several significant projects including the Arizona Border Strike Force, self-driving vehicle operations, and management of the Arizona Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit Task Force.

SPECIAL EPISODE: Eggs & the Economy - June 13, 2023

In this special edition of Common Sense Digest, we feature discussion from one of our recent events. On Tuesday, June 13, Common Sense Institute hosted Eggs & the Economy which featured an in-depth conversation from the State House to the walls of local government. The panel featured the following participants:

Kelly Caufield - CSI Executive Director (Host and Moderator)

Stephanie Piko - Mayor of Centennial

Chief Paul Pazen - CSI Criminal Justice Fellow

Adam Paul - Mayor of Lakewood

And a special presentation called "The Scramble" featuring our Senior Economist Steven Byers, Ph.D.

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A Comprehensive Look at Public Safety and Fighting Crime in Colorado featuring Paul Pazen

It’s no secret that Colorado has been hit with a crime wave. Skyrocketing crime rates, fentanyl deaths, and the number one rank in the country when it comes to auto thefts, are all factors that have put Colorado’s economic future at risk and made Coloradans less safe.

Public safety plays a critical role in the economic vitality of a community. Increasing population, attracting new businesses, generating a workforce, and bolstering the ability to attract tourism are all directly related to real and perceived safety challenges. If people are not safe, they cannot learn, work, or enjoy their communities. Ultimately, high crime rates result in a failure to thrive. Our recent report "The Fight Against Crime in Colorado: Policing, Legislation, and Incarceration," poses the question: Why has Colorado become less safe? A comparison of policing and crime rates in the two largest cities in Colorado, Denver and Colorado Springs, uncovers distinctly different trends in policing and police resources that have produced differing outcomes.

2023 Public Safety Fellow Chief Paul Pazen is the former Chief of Police in Denver, Colorado where he rose through the ranks of the department up to his appointment in 2018 as the Chief. He joins Chairman and Host Earl Wright to discuss his report, what contributing factors have led to the increase in crime, what can be done about it, and how the community can play an active role in supporting those who protect us. 

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During his tenure as Police Chief, Paul Pazen (retired) led the creation and expansion of innovative solutions to address complex public safety issues. These programs include spearheading the creation of the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, Outreach Case Coordinators (case managers) and the Domestic Violence Prevention Program. He directed a significant expansion of the mental health clinician Co-Responder Program, Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), the implementation of a forward-thinking use-of-force policy and training curriculum. 

Chief Pazen graduated magna cum laude from Colorado State University – Global with a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership, holds a Master of Arts in Homeland Security and Defense from the Naval Postgraduate School, and is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Executive Institute (NEI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy (FBINA) and the Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP) through the Police Executive Research Forum. Chief Pazen served in the United States Marine Corps and is a Veteran of the Gulf War.

CSI Mid-Year Wrap-Up featuring Lang Sias, George Brauchler and Kelly Caufield

As we near the year's midpoint, we take time to reflect on what we've accomplished and discuss where we go from here. It has been a busy year for Common Sense Institute, which means there is plenty of fertile ground to cover as we discuss the legislative session, touch on our studies and reports, and look ahead to election season and beyond.

Host and Chairman Earl Wright welcomes 2023 Mike A. Leprino Fellow Lang Sias, 2023 CSI Owens-Early Criminal Justice Fellow, and Kelly Caufield, Executive Director of Common Sense Institute for a spirited and wide-ranging conversation about an abundance of topics. Some of the issues touched on include crime (with a particular focus on auto theft and sentencing), housing, economic development, competitiveness and workforce, education, TABOR, the "fair work week," PERA, and many others. This episode is loaded and our panel of experts dive deep into the issues most directly affecting Coloradans.

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Lang Sias is the 2023 CSI Mike A. Leprino Fellow is a former Colorado State legislator, attorney and Navy and Air National Guard fighter pilot. As a Colorado State Representative from 2015-2019, Lang represented House District 27 in Jefferson County. The ranking member on the business committee, Lang also served on the education, public health and health exchange oversight committees, and was a member of the legislative tax simplification task force and the JeffCo school safety task force. Over 85% of the bills Lang sponsored were bipartisan. He focused on solving problems in the areas of education, health care and small business, and on government transparency and accountability. He played major roles in passing legislation expanding public school choice, increasing healthcare transparency and reforming the public pension system to benefit retirees and taxpayers. Lang currently serves on the legislative subcommittee that oversees Colorado’s state pension fund. He was the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2018 and State Treasurer in 2022.

George Brauchler is the 2023 CSI Owens-Early Criminal Justice Fellow, and served as the elected District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District (JD), Colorado’s most populous district, which includes Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln counties, from 2013-2021. As a state prosecutor, he handled the felony cases from the Columbine High School mass shooting case, the Aurora Theater (Batman) mass shooting case, and recently, the STEM Academy school mass shooting case.

Kelly Caufield is the Executive Director of Common Sense Institute. In this role, Kelly is the key management leader of CSI and oversees the administration, strategic plan, and programming for the organization. Kelly brings nearly 20 years of policy, research, and advocacy experience to CSI.  

Manufacturing Matters in Arizona featuring Steve Macias and Glenn Farley

Our recent report, The Economic Impact of Arizona’s Manufacturing Sector, demonstrates how the manufacturing sector has been one of the fastest growing parts of the Arizona economy over the past decade. In March, manufacturers added 2,000 jobs in Arizona (1^st in the country), even as the overall labor market shrank. The manufacturing sector has for decades been a focus of public policy and public investment, but despite these efforts, the story of American manufacturing since the late 1970’s has been one of slow decline – at least in terms of employment and at least relative to the rest of the world. However, since 2017, the state and to some extent the country have been undergoing something of a ‘manufacturing renaissance’.

On this edition of Common Sense Digest, Chairman and Host Earl Wright welcomes CSI Board Member and Co-Owner of Pivot Manufacturing Steve Macias and CSI Director of Policy & Research Chris Brown to the show to discuss how policies enacted at both the state and federal level have contributed to manufacturing growth, what obstacles remain, the complex puzzle of workforce development, and much more. What has contributed to Arizona's manufacturing renaissance? What challenges remain? Where do we go from here? All that and a lot more await you in this episode.

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Steve Macias is a co-owner of Pivot Manufacturing and has been the President and CEO since the company’s inception in 2000. Pivot is a vibrant part of the manufacturing community that does machining and assembly work for a variety of companies, primarily in the defense industry. Pivot has grown significantly during the last several years by leveraging the excellent relationships the company has built with existing customers into new manufacturing opportunities. Those opportunities are currently translating to another growth period as Pivot is expanding their building footprint to accommodate future production.

Glenn Farley is CSI Arizona’s Director of Policy & Research. For the past eight years he has worked in the Office of the Arizona Governor, most recently as Gov. Doug Ducey’s Chief Economist and a policy advisor. In that role he advised on issues of tax, fiscal, and regulatory policy, and was one of the Governor’s lead architects of his two major tax reforms. Mr. Farley has also led the budget team that produced the Executive revenue forecasts and caseload spending numbers that have helped ensure the longest run of conservative, structurally balanced budgets in State history. Mr. Farley has a Masters in Economics from Arizona State University’s WP Carey College of Business, as well as a B.S. from Arizona State University.

 

SPECIAL EPISODE: Coffee and Common Sense Arizona 5.2.23

In this special edition of Common Sense Digest Arizona, we feature discussion from one of our recent events. On Tuesday, May 2, Common Sense Institute hosted Coffee & Common Sense: A Conversation About Arizona's Changing Economy. 

We welcomed an expert panel to discuss how Arizona's economy has transformed over the last decade, what's driving this, and what obstacles will policymakers need to overcome to ensure it continues to thrive. 

Hosted by CSI Director of Policy & Research Glenn Farley.

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The 2023 Colorado Legilsative Session featuring Jordan Sanchez and Jake Zambrano

The Colorado legislative session wraps up imminently. The budget for 2023-2024 has passed, which outlines state spending totaling $41.1 billion. It’s a number larger than the GDP of Libya, Bolivia, Uganda, Iceland and dozens of other countries. $41.1 billion also represents a 4.2% increase over last year and the largest budget in Colorado history. As the legislature works fast and furiously to finish out the session, much debate remains on top issues pressing to Coloradans, including housing, crime, workforce, to just name a few.

Host and Chairman Earl Wright welcomes Owner and Principal Lobbyist at Sanchez Policy Works, Jordan Sanchez, and CSI's Director of Legislative Services, Jake Zambrano to recap this year's legislative session, discuss emergent themes, unpack fiscal policy, and delve into the key issues faced. What should Coloradans focus most pressingly on? What issues remain? And fiscal cliffs has the body faced as they seek to move Colorado forward? All of these questions and more will be answered in the latest edition of Common Sense Digest. 

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Jordan Sanchez is the Owner and Principal Lobbyist at Sanchez Policy Works which specializes in fiscal policy lobbying. Services include tracking, monitoring, and active advocacy throughout the annual budget process as it unfolds within the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Colorado. Additionally, Sanchez Policy Works monitors and advocates on policy implementation.

Jake Zambrano is Director of Legislative Services for Common Sense Institute. Jake has specialized in state government relations, public affairs, grassroots advocacy, and political campaign management for over 20 years. He has represented a number of clients at the Colorado General Assembly including Colorado Mesa University, Medtronic, Boehringer – Ingelheim, Extraction Oil and Gas, and Teladoc to name a few.

Is Colorado as Economically Competitive As It Used To Be? featuring Loren Furman and Lang Sias

For much of the last two decades, Colorado has been very highly ranked among U.S. states for being business friendly. This has been
reflected in state-by-state rankings extolling Colorado's relatively low tax rates, highly educated workforce, and high quality of life. These positive factors reinforced patterns that increased the size and scope of Colorado's business community and workforce.

In 2023, however, the outlook has changed. On the one hand, there are certainly reasons to be optimistic about Colorado's business
environment as recent job and business formation data suggest that our economy has rebounded quickly from the pandemic and as is weathering the storm amidst the battle to lower inflation. CNBC recently ranked Colorado #4 on its list of Top States for Business for 2022. On the other hand, beneath these positive indications, there are signs that the direct and indirect costs of doing business in Colorado are beginning to threaten our state's competitive edge.

Chairman and Host Earl Wright welcomes Loren Furman, President & CEO of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, and Lang Sias, CSI's 2023 Mike A. Leprino Fellow. Together they discuss Colorado's competitiveness, net migration, recent policy initiatives, trends and much more. If you care about the future of Colorado from a business perspective, this is a conversation you will not want to miss. You can read our full report on the issue here.

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Loren Furman was named President & CEO of the Colorado Chamber on January 1, 2022. Prior to becoming President, she served as the Chamber’s Senior Vice President of State & Federal Relations since 2008 and led the Chamber’s engagement on all State and Federal governmental issues that affect businesses statewide. In that role she was the primary spokesperson for the organization, and as a member of the leadership team, was actively involved in operational issues including hiring and communications strategies, membership, and strategic approaches for the organization.

Lang Sias is the 2023 is a former Colorado State legislator, attorney and Navy and Air National Guard fighter pilot. As a Colorado State Representative from 2015-2019, Lang represented House District 27 in Jefferson County. The ranking member on the business committee, Lang also served on the education, public health and health exchange oversight committees, and was a member of the legislative tax simplification task force and the JeffCo school safety task force. Over 85% of the bills Lang sponsored were bipartisan. He focused on solving problems in the areas of education, health care and small business, and on government transparency and accountability. He played major roles in passing legislation expanding public school choice, increasing healthcare transparency and reforming the public pension system to benefit retirees and taxpayers. Lang currently serves on the legislative subcommittee that oversees Colorado’s state pension fund. He was the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2018 and State Treasurer in 2022.

What’s New in Housing? featuring Peter LiFari and Adam Burg

According to CSI Housing fellow Peter LiFari’s latest housing report, as of 2021, 80% of Coloradans live in a county with an aggregate housing supply shortage. As a result, home affordability has decreased by 85% since 2015. Now, as of 2022, Colorado is the 8^th most unaffordable state for renters in the country. Governor Polis and leaders in the legislature on both sides of the aisle have named housing a top tier policy priority issue this year and long-awaited legislation addressing state land use was just introduced last week (SB23-213).

On this episode of Common Sense Digest, Chairman and Host Earl Wright welcomes Peter LiFari, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce Adam Burg, and CSI's Vice President of Policy & Research Chris Brown to discuss the recent developments in housing, what bills are before the state legislature, and ideas to make housing more affordable for Coloradans. There is no single silver bullet to solve the issue, but rather a coterie of solutions that could make a substantive impact. 

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Peter LiFari is CSI's 2023 Housing Fellow and is the Executive Director of Maiker Housing Partners, a socially conscious public housing authority based in Adams County, Colorado. In his role as Executive Director, LiFari leads a passionate team committed to ending the cycle of generational poverty by providing individuals and families with access to affordable housing, support programs and by engaging in community development. LiFari is a compassionate visionary whose leadership style is grounded in treating individuals with empathy, warmth and grace. 

Adam Burg is Vice President of Government Affairs for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. Burg most recently served as legislative and government affairs senior advisor for Adams County. Before joining Adams County in 2017, Burg spent two years working for Joint Budget Committee Chair Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, when Sen. Moreno was the assistant majority leader in the House. Burg also co-founded a political consulting firm, L&B Strategies, LLC, in 2015 with a focus on political consulting, government relations and business strategy.