Six things to know about Colorado’s $38.5B budget

BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN

No new federal COVID-19 dollars. Record in ation. State services stretched thin by a growing population.

ose are the circumstances under which the Colorado legislature’s Joint Budget Committee this year drafted the $38.5 billion state budget that takes e ect July 1.

“It’s not a sexy budget,” said state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat who chairs the JBC. “It’s pretty conservative.”

Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican who sits on the JBC, called next year’s spending plan a “get ’er done budget.”

But it’s still packed with plenty of notable items. Here’s what you need to know about the budget — being debated by the legislature right now — and how it may a ect you: e general fund portion of the scal year 2023-24 budget, which is the money state lawmakers have discretion over, is up 8.9% over the current year to $14.7 billion. But Zenzinger said about two-thirds of that new spending is going toward Medicaid, the state and federal program that provides health insurance to lowincome people.

Of the Medicaid dollars, $442 million will be allocated to replacing federal matching funds that are going away as the Biden administration ends the COVID-19 public health emergency and eliminates the enhanced federal Medicaid match rate. Another $396 million was set aside to handle projected increases in Medicaid enrollment because of a slowing economy, as well as for a 3% increase in health care provider rates.

Zenzinger said the rest of the increase is going toward ensuring the state has a 15% reserve in preparation for an economic downturn and to account for in ation’s e ect on the state’s ability to o er government services. e Department of