Colorado lawmakers are headed back to the state capitol much sooner than expected. Gov. John Hickenlooper has called for the first special legislative session in five years. It’s to fix an error on a bill that prevented cuts to rural hospitals and set aside money for roads.
The expansive measure was aimed at helping rural Colorado and preventing an effective half billion-dollar cut to hospitals. It also removed a hospital fee from counting against the state’s revenue growth limit to free up more money in the state budget. The hitch is it inadvertently prevented special districts from collecting a sales tax on retail marijuana. Republican Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling was the main sponsor of the bill.
“I’m not sure we needed to spend taxpayer dollars on a special session,” he said. “To me, it’s not an emergency.”
RTD is losing a half a million dollars each month and other entities, like the Denver Zoo, the Botanic Gardens and the Museum of Nature and Science are also losing money. The special session begins Oct. 2 and is expected to last three days.
