In the latest edition of “why care about Colorado’s budget shortfall if our legislators won’t,” statehouse representatives recently voted to cut almost $750,000 from the Colorado Office of Film, Television, and Media, only to reverse their decision later in the day.
It’s that time of the year when the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) presents supplemental bills to adjust current-year spending.
This can usher in either fiscal discipline, or yet more spending, as recommended by the JBC and voted on by the rest of the legislature.
Handouts for Hollywood
While debating HB26-1154, the budget supplemental for the governor’s office, Representative Bob Marshall, a Highlands Ranch Democrat, brought forward an amendment to cut $742,750 from the Colorado Office of Film, Television, and Media, which is housed in the office.
The amendment surprisingly passed with bipartisan support.
Upon success of the amendment, Marshall suggested that that money be spent on children with intellectual and development disabilities, an area of the budget that is facing cuts and that could receive federal matching dollars.
However, later in the day, Representative Brianna Titone, a Democrat from Arvada and candidate for state treasurer, presented an amendment to the committee of the whole, asking colleagues to reverse the amendment, arguing the money was necessary for the office to fulfill its duties.
The amendment passed, but along more partisan lines, after what one may speculate was a “talking to” from JBC members.
Corporate welfare wins the day
To Colorado’s progressives, corporate welfare is bad, unless it is for the film industry, in which case it takes precedence over other budget needs and must not be questioned.
We saw this last year, when Governor Polis signed the Titone-sponsored bill to give Sundance Film Festival $35 million in refundable tax credits despite a $1.2 billion “budget shortfall.”
The corporate welfare package came even after other states have shown that film tax credits produced minimal, if not negative returns on the money.
It is a surreal moment when, on the one hand, Coloradans are inundated with false claims about how the state needs to destroy TABOR and raise taxes because of the budget situation, while on the other hand, legislators bend over backwards to defend special interests in industries that government should not be involved in at all.
They really do think Coloradans are stupid.
