Common Sense Digest

SPECIAL EPISODE: Eggs & the Economy - March 7, 2023

In this special edition of Common Sense Digest, we feature discussion from one of our recent events. On Tuesday, March 7, Common Sense Institute hosted Eggs & the Economy which featured an in-depth conversation on the upcoming local election and the facts you need to know on issues that matter most - crime, housing, workforce and homelessness. The panel was moderated by Ed Sealover and features the following panelists:

Kelly Caufield - CSI Executive Director

Mitch Morrissey - CSI 2023 Early-Owens Criminal Justice Fellow

Tamra Ryan - Economic Mobility Fellow

Chris Brown - Vice President of Policy & Research

Peter Lifari - CSI Housing Fellow

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Is K-12 Education Moving Forwards or Backwards in Arizona? featuring Lisa Graham Keegan and Glenn Farley

For decades, the number one policy issue that’s been top-of-mind for most Americans is education. This comes as no surprise as our nation’s north star for leadership is sustainability: mentoring and empowering the next generation of leaders. And lately, Common Sense Institute Arizona has been delving into crucial issues revolving around education policy in the 2020 decade – especially after the ripple-effects of a global pandemic and subsequent political shifts in state legislatures across the nation. Please see our report School Facilities & The Accumulation of District Space Since 2007 for further reading. 

Joining Host and Chairman Earl Wright on this episode to discuss whether our Southwest states, particularly Arizona, may be moving backwards as it relates to educational excellence is Lisa Graham Keegan, Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors at the Common Sense Institute Arizona and Glenn Farley, CSI Arizona's Director of Policy & Research. The conversation provides abundant data, insight, recommendations, and a deeper understanding of the realities of Arizona's educational system.

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Lisa is an unmatched expert in K-12 education policy and dedicated public servant. For over 17 years, she’s been Principal Partner at the Keegan Company, where she leads numerous projects on emerging innovations in American education and has developed a national reputation as a strong advocate for student-based education policies. Previously, in 2000 and 2008, she was education advisor to the John McCain Campaigns for President, and was interviewed in 2000 by President-Elect Bush for the job of US Secretary of Education.

And Lisa spent a decade from 1991 – 2001 serving Arizona communities as an elected official, first in the Arizona House of Representatives and then as state school superintendent. During her tenure, she championed clear and challenging academic standards and publicly transparent assessments, and fought successfully for the implementation of school choice, including Arizona’s landmark free open enrollment, charter school and tuition tax credit laws.

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 – the 2018 tax overhaul that established the State’s first remote sellers sales tax and dedicated the proceeds to a major simplification and overhaul of the individual income tax, followed by the 2021 income tax omnibus which phased in a 2.50% flat tax (the lowest in the country).

Evolving How We Transport Our Kids To School featuring Kelly Caufield and Jason Gaulden

The state of Colorado reimbursed $62 million to K–12 school districts for transportation costs last school year. This was just 21% of the $290 million it cost districts to get students to and from school. Some districts are working hard to modernize and streamline their services, but school transportation today does not look significantly different than it did 50 years ago. It’s hard to innovate when funding is so severely limited, and because the state plays no role in equalizing transportation funding based on need. 

Our recent report Roadblocks in Getting Kids to School: Trends, Insights, and Recommendations for Improving Colorado’s School Transportation System foregrounds this episode of Common Sense Digest. Chairman and Host Earl Wright welcomes one of the report's authors, Jason Gaulden, and Executive Director of CSI Colorado, Kelly Caufield, to discuss this interesting dilemma. Listen in to hear more about the past, present and future of how we transport our students to school.

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Kelly Caufield is the Executive Director of the 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.  

Jason Gaulden is the 2022 CSI Education Fellow and has spent his professional career working at the intersection of the business and nonprofit sectors. He is a partner at Oak Rose Group, a strategy consulting firm specializing in education, workforce development, and economic mobility. He draws upon 25 years of professional experience in varying roles: executive leadership, philanthropy, communications, grassroots advocacy, research and writing, fund development, and nonprofit board development.

The 2023 Free Enterprise Report featuring Kelly Caufield, Chris Brown and Evelyn Lim

Colorado faces a crossroads as it emerges from a long economic winter and works to reopen businesses, support job creation, and regain a sense of normalcy for its residents. As restrictions loosen and people return to their everyday lives, Coloradans must grapple with how best to steer the state forward and continue to grow. The answer is the same as it has always been: embrace the principles of the free enterprise system. In times of immediate crisis, people naturally look to lawmakers for decisive action and leadership, but as the country moves onward, one constant throughout history has been that individuals working to provide for their families as well as businesses striving to meet the needs of their community—together, and free from intrusive oversight—lead to fuller bellies, bigger paychecks, and greater economic prosperity. A return to those principles can help lead the state through the challenges ahead and back to its full potential. 

Joining Chairman and Host Earl Wright on this episode to discuss both free enterprise broadly, and the 2023 Free Enterprise Report in specific, are CSI Executive Director Kelly Caufield, Vice President of Policy & Research Chris Brown, and 2022 Mike A. Leprino Fellow & 2021 Terry J. Stevinson Fellow Evelyn Lim. They discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Colorado heading into 2023 in earnest.

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The Bright Future of Common Sense Institute featuring Kelly Caufield and Katie Ratlief

Since its inception in 2010, Common Sense Institute's mission has been to examine the fiscal impacts of policies, initiatives, and proposed laws so that Coloradans are educated and informed on issues impacting their lives. CSI employs rigorous research techniques and dynamic modeling to evaluate the potential impact of these measures on the Colorado economy and individual opportunity. 

We have grown and evolved since then, and our future is brighter than ever. Joining Host and Chairman Earl Wright are President & CEO Kristin Strohm, and two new incoming Executive Directors, Colorado’s Kelly Caufield and Arizona’s Katie Ratlief. Earl asks each of them how they see the past, present and future of CSI, what their plans are once implemented, and key issues they see affecting their respective states. 

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Kelly Caufield was the Vice President of Government Affairs at Colorado Succeeds, where she oversees the policy agenda, government affairs, and advocacy strategy. In this role she helps to lead statewide coalition building efforts that bring diverse business, education, and community partners together in collaborative ways around a shared policy agenda. She is passionate about strengthening the business commitment to improving public education, which guides her approach in leading the Policy Committee that approves the policy agenda, examines ballot measures, and advises on other key advocacy strategies for business engagement.

Katie Ratlief has over a decade of experience in economic development and public policy, including six years at the Office of the Arizona Governor where she leads strategic development, state policy/budget initiatives and legislative relations. In her current role as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Office of the Arizona Governor, Katie is responsible for leading the Governor's Office advocacy efforts on impactful policies positively affecting Arizonans.

The Future of Water in Colorado and the West featuring Jennifer Gimbel and Eric Kuhn

As Colorado continues to grow, one of the key issues the state faces is the reliable availability of water. When investing in our state, developers, businesses, and even the general population all face apprehension with what the future may hold with this key life-giving resource. Water is the lifeblood of any community and how the resource is managed is a subject about which interested entities fight, negotiate, and discuss.

On this episode of Common Sense Digest, Host and Chairman Earl Wright welcomes Terry J. Stevinson fellows Jennifer Gimbel and Eric Kuhn to discuss the history, evolution and future of Colorado water. An old saying, incorrectly attributed to Mark Twain, says, "Whiskey's for drinking, water's for fighting." True enough, but the history, reality and path forward for water in Colorado and the West is much more nuanced and fraught than that. Tune in for more detail.

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Jennifer Gimbel is a Senior Water Policy Scholar and former Interim Director and at the Colorado Water Center.  Jennifer has experience in law and policy on national, interstate and state water issues. She was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water & Science at the Department of the Interior, overseeing the U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Reclamation. She also was Deputy Commissioner for the Bureau of Reclamation and Counselor to the Assistant Secretary. Jennifer was the Director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the water policy agency for Colorado. As a water lawyer, she worked for the Attorney General’s Offices in Wyoming and Colorado. She has over 35 years of experience on water issues

Eric Kuhn is the retired General Manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District and co-author with John Fleck of Science Be Dammed: How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River, University of Arizona Press, 2019.

The Colorado River District is the largest and oldest of Colorado’s four conservation districts. It covers most of the Colorado River Basin within Colorado. Almost two thirds of the flow at Lee Ferry originates in or flows through the district. Eric started employment with the Colorado River District in 1981 as Assistant Secretary-Engineer. In 1996 he was appointed General Manager, a position he held until his retirement in 2018.

 

Fentanyl’s Impact on Arizona featuring Glenn Farley and Jobe Dickinson

With the decriminalization of the possession and use of illegal drugs in some jurisdictions, the surge in migrant encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the recent increase in fentanyl overdoses in Arizona, Common Sense Digest explores what impacts these events may have to law enforcement and the Arizona economy. With more than 2,000 fatal opioid overdoses occurring in Arizona in 2021, it is evident that there is a drug crisis in Arizona.

Joining Host and Chairman in this conversation are report author and Director of Policy and Research of CSI, Glenn Farley, and President of the Border Security Alliance, Jobe Dickinson. To view the report, Fentanyl, Crime, and Arizona's Southern Border, please click here.

Thank you for listening to Common Sense Digest. Please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcatcher. All of our podcasts can be found here. 

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 – the 2018 tax overhaul that established the State’s first remote sellers sales tax and dedicated the proceeds to a major simplification and overhaul of the individual income tax, followed by the 2021 income tax omnibus which phased in a 2.50% flat tax (the lowest in the country).

Jobe Dickinson is a retired law enforcement officer of the Tucson Police Department. During his tenure with Tucson Police, he served as a patrol officer, undercover surveillance officer, auto theft investigator, field training officer, patrol sergeant, and Special Events Sergeant. As an auto theft investigator, Jobe worked on several cases with border crimes nexus, including human and drug smuggling.

The 2022 CSI Colorado Ballot Guide featuring Evelyn Lim and Chris Brown

From affordable housing to an income tax reduction, this November Colorado voters will face 11 different questions on their 2022 statewide election ballot. City & County of Denver residents will face 3 unique questions on their 2022 election ballot. Unfortunately wading through the ballot language of these measures does not always provide clear choices. Political ads and campaign rhetoric make casting a vote even more daunting. The 2022 Common Sense Institute Ballot Guide outlines the facts and provides an objective analysis of the economic impacts – without the spin. Based on economic models and comprehensive fiscal analysis, each issue is presented in a clear and concise manner that gives voters the information they need to make educated and informed decisions on each question.

On this episode of Common Sense Digest, Host and Chairman Earl Wright welcomes CSI's Vice President of Policy and Research Chris Brown and CSI 2022 Mike A. Leprino Fellow Evelyn Lim to discuss four measures, of which CSI has done analysis. Those measures are:

• Proposition 123: Dedicate Revenue for Affordable Housing Programs
• Proposition 121: State Income Tax Rate Reduction
• Proposition FF: Healthy School Meals for All
• Denver Ordinance 305: No Eviction Without Representation

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SPECIAL EPISODE: On the Road to $1 Billion in Vehicles Stolen

Common Sense Digest proudly presents this special episode titled "On the Road to $1 Billion in Vehicles Stolen: The Data Trends Behind Colorado’s Motor Vehicle Theft Crisis." This follows our recently released report of the same name found at the link. Despite the complexity of the issues surrounding motor vehicle theft, there is a crystal-clear trend in the Centennial state. Theft rates continue to rise, and Colorado maintains its unenviable distinction as the number one state in America for car theft. Common Sense Institute (CSI) Criminal Justice Fellows Mitch Morrissey and George Brauchler explore the data and trends through the first six months of 2022.

You will also hear from CSI Senior Economist Steven Byers and President of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, David Hayes. 

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Will Proposition 123 Help the Affordable Housing Issue in Colorado? featuring Peter LiFari and Chris Brown

Housing affordability is one of the hottest topics in Colorado, and is likely to remain so. On this November's ballot Colorado voters will decide on the fate of Proposition 123, titled, “Dedicate Revenue for Affordable Housing.” To discuss this measure Host and Chairman Earl Wright welcomes CSI's Vice President of Policy and Research Chris Brown, and CSI 2022 Housing Fellow to discuss what issue the measure hopes to solve, how it would be implemented, its potential limitations and much more. 

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Peter LiFari is the 2022 Housing Fellow & 2021 Terry J. Stevinson 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.