Skip Miller, president of Colorado WINS, the state employees union, speaks in September 2021 at the Colorado Capitol. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)
After three straight years of pay raises, Colorado state workers are in better financial shape than they were when the pandemic hit.
But they could still make more money working somewhere else.
Those were the main takeaways from the state’s latest pay study, presented to the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee this week. The annual report found that state employees make about 8% less than workers in comparable public and private sector jobs. And that’s even after this year’s 5% across-the-board pay raise.
Under the state’s collective bargaining agreement with Colorado WINS, the union for state employees, workers are owed another 3% bump in the 2024-25 budget year, which starts July 1. For the first time since the late 1990s, the state is also implementing a tiered system that will provide regular raises based on years of service. But the strong labor market has made it harder for the state to catch up to other employers. The average employer is expected to give 4% raises over the coming year, the study found.
The presentation, from the state’s Department of Personnel and Administration, drew concerns from state budget writers, who said the government shouldn’t rely too much on Coloradans’ willingness to make less in the name of public service.
“None of us is here for the money,” said Rep. Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat who serves on the JBC. “That being said, having an entire state government where (public service) is the primary reason for folks working is not sustainable in the long term.”
Rep. Shannon Bird, the JBC’s chair, put it more bluntly.
“We need to pay people,” said Bird, D-Westminster. “It’s always a frustrating comment when people say ‘oh, nobody goes into this for the money.’ Well, we all go into our work to pay our bills. The state should be an employer of choice.”
The elephant in the room is the state pension. The legislature’s attempts to shore up the Public Employees’ Retirement Association’s troubled finances have taken a bite out of employee pay in the form of higher contributions and worse benefits.
Today, employees contribute 11% of each paycheck to PERA, up from 8% before the Great Recession. Meanwhile, the state puts in nearly 22% — most of which goes to pay off the state’s unfunded debt to retirees. That’s a lot of money for a pension that studies suggest may no longer be competitive with the retirement benefits provided by similar employers.
The personnel department’s most recent study from 2021 is outdated. But back then, PERA provided 29% less value to workers than the average pension.
It’s less clear how the pension compares to private sector retirement benefits. On its own, a PERA pension provides significantly more value than the typical 401(k), but PERA members don’t pay into or receive Social Security.
Budget writers and PERA officials suggested this week it may be time for a new study. The last time the state legislature commissioned independent assessments of PERA’s retirement package was in 2014, when the pension provided better benefits.
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CORRECTION: The item in Tuesday’s edition about the three ballot measures that would overhaul the state’s election system contained errors about how the initiatives will move through the review process. The measures were filed with nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff, which will provide comment on the initiatives Dec. 5 — a step that precedes the Title Board’s review process. Additionally, the item about women in the legislature incorrectly reported when Rep. Tracey Bernett resigned. She announced her resignation the night before the 2023 session began.
MORE: PERA had a horrible investment year in 2022, losing 13% on its investments.
But Amy McGarrity, PERA’s interim executive director, told the JBC there’s a silver lining. The stock market did so well the prior three years that last year’s drop won’t trigger further painful changes to pension benefits and contributions.
The other bit of good news: PERA’s investments are on track to exceed the pension’s 7.25% growth target this year, she said.
Nonetheless, that 13% drop isn’t completely in the rearview mirror. McGarrity said it makes it more likely that PERA will require another financial course correction. Under the pension overhaul passed in 2018, economic conditions have already triggered two rounds of benefit cuts and contribution hikes.
“Israel has to hold itself to the highest standards and make sure as few civilians as possible are killed.”
— U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, speaking this week on NBC’s “Meet The Press Now”
Bennet declined, however, to say that U.S. aid to Israel should be predicated on the Jewish state preventing civilian deaths in Gaza. “I think that’s a debate that we’re going to have, and I’m not prepared to answer that today,” he said.
The senator, a member of the Intelligence Committee, is playing a key role in bipartisan negotiations over funding for Israel, Ukraine and more security along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The Ukrainians are running out of bullets,” he said.
Bennet spoke to NBC after joining other senators Tuesday to watch a 43-minute film compiled by Israel showing Hamas’ atrocities Oct. 7. The Times of Israel reports that some in the room left in tears.
“Any parent or child who saw the footage that we saw today and thought about their own families, and thought about their own neighborhoods, would want nothing other than revenge. It’s the worst ISIS tactics that Hamas has taken,” Bennet told NBC.
He added: “Hamas is using civilians as human shields. Let that sit with you.”
MORE: The White House is circulating a map showing how Ukranian aid has benefited individual U.S. states because of arms manufacturing, according to Politico.
The map showed Colorado has benefited to the tune of $52 million. Pennsylvania has received $2.364 billion, the most of any state, according to the map shared by Politico, while Arizona is second at $2.259 billion.
State budget writers aren’t happy that two offices formed by Jared Polis are now costing millions to operate
When Gov. Jared Polis asked the General Assembly to create the Office of New Americans in 2021, it was easy for Democrats in the legislature to say “yes.” The fiscal note for House Bill 1150 said it wouldn’t cost the state a penny.
The same thing happened two years later, when the legislature agreed to create the Office of the Future of Work, formalizing into law a state program that Polis had launched via executive order in 2019. Much like the Office of New Americans, the Future Work legislation (Senate Bill 51) called for no state funding.
So this week, state budget writers were taken aback when they learned that the two offices, housed in the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, were seeking nearly $1 million combined from the state general fund next year to expand their operations — on top of nearly $3 million the two offices had already received in total over the last two years.
“That wasn’t what the deal was,” said Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat and chair of the Joint Budget Committee. “It feels like a bait-and-switch.”
As JBC members understood it, the Office of New Americans, formed to help immigrants integrate into Colorado, was supposed to sustain itself financially through grants and donations. Had the administration been transparent about the need for ongoing state funding, Bird said she might’ve voted “no.”
In contrast, the Office of the Future of Work, which was created to study and respond to changes in the economy, sought state funding immediately. But it did so through separate bills that budget writers said allowed it to effectively jump the line for funding ahead of other spending priorities.
“It just doesn’t feel great to pass a bill in one year and say we’re going to fund this with gifts, grants and donations, and then immediately come back the next year and seek general fund,” Bird said. “That doesn’t rank highly in my list of priorities to fund, especially in a tough funding year.”
Tina Peters asks for preliminary injunction in lawsuit seeking to stop investigations, prosecution
Candidate Tina Peters speaks during a debate for the state Republican Party chair sponsored by the Republican Women of Weld on Feb. 25 in a pizza restaurant in Hudson. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters this week escalated her lawsuit seeking to halt local, state and federal criminal investigations and prosecutions against her by asking a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction, which would be the fastest way to make that happen.
Peters’ motion was filed Monday.
The background: Peters’ lawsuit was filed earlier this month against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Mesa County District Attorney Daniel Rubenstein. It comes as she is scheduled to go to trial Feb. 7 in Mesa County for charges in a security breach of her county’s election system in 2021. The lawsuit appears to be a last-ditch way to prevent that trial, which Peters previously told The Colorado Sun she wanted to happen, from moving forward.
“I’m hoping that this will go to trial,” Peters, a Republican election conspiracy theorist, told The Sun in June 2022.
In the motion for a preliminary injunction, Peters argues that she’s unlikely to receive a fair trial in state court because the judge overseeing the case, Matthew Barrett, ruled that the jury won’t be asked to address questions regarding the functioning of election equipment, nor will it be presented with any report on election equipment made by her or her allies.
Barrett and Peters have clashed repeatedly since she was indicted in March 2022.
The crux of Peters’ argument for a preliminary injunction is that allowing the case against her to continue would “would objectively dissuade a person of ordinary firmness from continuing to engage in the activity that provoked the retaliatory prosecution.”
ADDENDUM: A different federal judge this week denied a preliminary injunction sought by a woman who was blocked on social media by Denver Public Schools board member Auon’tai Anderson.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane denied the motion because he never received a briefing schedule and wasn’t contacted about how to proceed with the request. The motion was denied without prejudice, meaning it can be refiled.
The case is one of the first First Amendment challenges to a new Colorado law passed by the legislature earlier this year that lets elected officials block users on accounts that aren’t run using state resources. Before the new law, public officials were told not to block users on any account they use to disseminate information about their official duties.
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>> CONGRESS: Two Republicans in Colorado’s U.S. House delegation — U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert, of Garfield County, and Doug Lamborn, of Colorado Springs — voted Friday morning against expelling U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-New York, from the chamber. But Santos was still expelled in a 311-114 vote after the House Ethics Committee issued a report outlining numerous campaign finance violations. All five Democrats in Colorado’s U.S. House delegation and U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Windsor, voted to expel Santos.
>> 3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Former Aspen City Councilman Adam Frisch, who is running as a Democrat to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, told Colorado Public Radio’s Caitlyn Kim he wasn’t invited to join President Joe BIden in Pueblo on Wednesday.
>> BALLOT MEASURES: Two ballot measures aimed at guaranteeing so-called parental rights in Colorado were filed with nonpartisan legislative staff this week. One would amend the state constitution while the other would be a statutory change outlining parents’ rights and responsibilities, including requiring parental consent for children to receive mental or other health care.
>> CONGRESS: U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Massachusetts, defeated U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Centennial, in the race to be one of three co-chairs of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Lafayette, is the chairman of the group.
>> CLIMATE: U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, is attending the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP28, in Dubai. “I look forward to substantive policy conversations about how our country and participating nations can meet key climate goals, and I hope new commitments can be made to reduce methane emissions and minimize the impact of climate change on future generations,” she said in a written statement.
>> COURTS: Tim Lane, who has been serving as a staff attorney, legislative liaison and policy analyst at the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council since 2016, was appointed by Gov. Jared Polis this week to be a Gilpin County judge. Lane was a fixture in the Colorado Capitol who worked on some — if not all — of the biggest criminal justice bills debated by the legislature in recent years.
>> ELECTION 2024: U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat who is running for U.S. Senate next year, will be in Denver on Dec. 9 for a fundraiser hosted by University of Colorado Regent Wanda James and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, among others.
>> MEDIA: The Colorado Times Recorder, a nonprofit news outlet that describes itself as progressive and doesn’t disclose its donors, reported on its 2022 Form 990 that it raised $320,000 last fiscal year and spent $114,000. None of its employees made more than $100,000. In previous years, the nonprofit, operating under a different name, reported raising less than $50,000 annually. Democratic strategist and communications consultant Katie Reinisch was listed as the group’s vice president.
>> CAUCUS ROOM: Matt Knoedler, co-founder and CEO of the conservative social media site Caucus Room, is stepping down from his role after four years at the helm of the business. In an email to members, Caucus Room manager John Coors said a “factory reset” for the platform is scheduled for Jan. 1. Knoedler, a Republican former Colorado lawmaker and adviser to then-Gov. Bill Owens, told The Unaffiliated earlier this year that the site was struggling with whether to go national or be more locally focused.
>> SUPER PAC: Pass the Torch USA, a super PAC that lists a Brighton post office box as its address, reported spending $233,000 on New Hampshire advertising to support the presidential campaign of U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minnesota. The registered agent for the PAC is Justin Phillips, a compliance executive at Aristotle, a Washington, D.C.-based political consulting company. A spokeswoman for Aristotle said the candidate is not related to anyone at the company.
STORY: President Joe Biden, speaking on Lauren Boebert’s home turf, touts his clean energy work
STORY: Kent Thiry’s proposal to overhaul Colorado’s election system has Democrats and Republicans skeptical
E&E NEWS: Boebert leans into environment policy in bid to win over critics
KRDO-TV: Congresswoman Lauren Boebert responds to President Biden’s visit to Pueblo
COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO: Who’s running to replace Ken Buck in Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District?
THE DAILY SENTINEL: Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland announces reelection bid, gets GOP challenger
THE DENVER POST: Proposed ban on religious instruction in Colorado’s state-funded preschools may spark legal fight
9NEWS: Coloradans won’t know how much their property taxes will increase until at least Jan. 17
COLORADO POLITICS: State Rep. Don Wilson to seek El Paso County commissioner seat
Before she was elected district attorney, Linda Stanley admitted to campaign finance violations
Linda Stanley, the Republican district attorney in the 11th Judicial District, is at risk for losing her law license for a list of alleged instances of misconduct, including, as 9News reports, launching a secret investigation into the judge presiding over the high-profile Suzanne Morphew murder case that was eventually dropped.
But before she got into legal trouble as the top prosecutor in south-central Colorado, Stanley’s 2020 campaign for district attorney was found to have violated state campaign finance laws.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office found that the campaign:
Didn’t report an in-kind contribution, in the form of advertisements on the Ark Valley Voice’s website, on time Accepted an in-kind contribution in the form of signs and billboards that exceeded contribution limits by more than $300 Didn’t report three separate purchases totaling about $150 on timeStanley’s campaign agreed to pay a $360 fine and reimburse the donor for the amount of the in-kind contribution that exceeded the limit. It also agreed to amend its campaign finance filing and comply with state law.
As part of a settlement agreement with the Secretary of State’s Office reached in January 2021, Stanley admitted she “accepted a contribution in excess of the applicable limit and … failed to timely report certain contributions and expenditures.”
While the violations, first alleged in September 2020, may seem like small beans, keep in mind that state elections officials rarely find campaigns in violation of state campaign finance laws and that Stanley is an attorney.
The Sun’s efforts to reach Stanley on Thursday were unsuccessful.
So you know: Before she was elected DA, Stanley was censured in May 2019 by Colorado’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel for violating several rules of procedure, including ones requiring a lawyer to act with reasonable diligence and promptness, keep their client reasonably informed about the state of a case, and not reveal certain information without getting a client’s informed consent. Read more here.
THE CAÑON CITY DAILY RECORD: District Attorney Linda Stanley says she will not seek re-election in 2024
>> MoveOn carries out layoffs as liberal groups struggle to raise money (The New York Times)
>> Trump tries to embrace Black Lives Matter, a group he previously said “hates our country” (The Washington Post)
>> Climate change, costly disasters sent Texas homeowner insurance rates skyrocketing this year (The Texas Tribune)
>> Pennsylvania legislature paid $280K to settle harassment, other claims while requiring secrecy in many cases (Spotlight PA)
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