2009 Legislative Session Summary

2009 Endorsed Legislation / Policy Work

The Women’s Foundation of Colorado has endorsed the following 2009 Legislation and Advocacy Activities:

A SUCCESS: HB 1064: Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force
This bill creates a Legislative Task Force to advance economic opportunity while reducing poverty. Five senators and five Representatives will serve on this task force. They will develop a strategic plan to expand economic opportunity and reduce the number of Coloradans living in poverty by 50 percent by 2019. The Foundation endorses this legislation because it will give women and girls, living in poverty, a State-endorsed blueprint for progress. Update -- Bill: HB 1064 Economic Opportunity Poverty Task Force Sponsors: Rep. Kefalas and Sen. Sandoval Status: Sent to Governor

A SUCCESS: SB 228: Arveschoug-Bird Directive Works—Concerning an increase in the flexibility of the General Assembly to determine the appropriate use of state revenues.
The 6 percent General Fund Appropriations provision, also known as Arveschoug-Bird, is a formula that dictates how Colorado can appropriate General Fund dollars. General Fund revenues collected above the 6 percent are still spent by the state-just not for operating expenses, such as educating students or paying for medical care. Currently, revenues that top the 6 percent limit are used almost exclusively to fund transportation and capital construction needs, but in down revenue years that funding is not there. If the 6% provision stays in place, federal recovery dollars will not help the state avoid cuts-just postpone them-extending the effects of the recession in Colorado. If unchanged, the 6% will mean that when the economy recovers, and other states are climbing out of the recession and restoring funding for schools, health care, job training, local economic development, higher education, or other key needs, Colorado will be stuck in a recession rut. The 6% will force the state to permanently ratchet down investment in vital services.
Update: Bill: SB 228 Flexibility to Use State Revenues.
Sponsors: Sen. Morse, Rep. Marostica, and Rep. Court Status: Sent to Governor.

A SUCCESS: The Pay Equity Commission and Equal Pay Day in Colorado
The Foundation supports the recommendations of the 2007 Colorado Pay Equity Commission. Update: The Foundation joined hundreds of people at the Equal Pay Day rally on the west Capitol steps on Tuesday, April 28th 2009. At the Capitol, Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster, and Rep. Sara Gagliardi, D-Arvada, carried a joint resolution, SJR09-046, concerning the designation of April 28, 2009, as “Equal Pay Day” in the state. The Women’s Foundation of Colorado is an official sponsor of this resolution. The rally was also a celebration of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which, on Jan. 29, became the first bill signed into law by President Barack Obama. Gov. Ritter addressed the issue in 2007 by establishing the Pay Equity Commission, which studies pay gaps in Colorado and makes recommendations to address inequities in both the private and public sectors. Please visit www.wfco.org for a full version of the Colorado Pay Equity Commission’s report.

Not Introduced in 2009: Pay Day Lending Restrictions
Payday loans are small loans ($500 or less) that are secured with a post-dated check from the borrower. There are over 600 Payday Lending shops located in low-income areas throughout our State. In Colorado, borrowers pay a maximum finance fee of $60 on a $300 loan and $75 on a $500 loan. These are high cost loans with the average annual interest rate on payday loans totaling 348% in 2007. The average borrower paid $573 in fees on an average loan of $343 in 2007.Payday loans, as currently structured, trap borrowers in a cycle of debt that is difficult to escape. From 2001 through 2007 about six out of every ten payday loan borrowers were women. The average monthly income of women payday borrowers is $2,219, below the self-sufficiency income for a single mom and child in Denver County of $2,910. The Foundation supports legislating limits on Pay Day Lenders as they prey on vulnerable women in need of funds for family necessities and traps them in a cycle of debt. For more information, go to http://www.thebell.org/.
Update: Our partners were disappointed with the lack of legislation to impose reasonable regulation on payday lenders. While we garnered enough support to introduce a bill to limit the number of loans payday lenders could issue, we were unable to work out the details to implement a database to track the loans and other regulatory requirements. Our partners will continue to work on legislation to regulate Colorado’s Pay Day Lending companies for the rest of this year and in 2010.

Not introduced in 2009: Earned Income Tax Credit
The Foundation supports the funding of the state earned income tax credit. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a federal tax credit that helps low-income working families help themselves. The Foundation supports this tax credit because it rewards low- and moderate-income families for their hard work and helps them close the gap between what they earn and what they need to get by and get ahead. Columbia University's National Center for Children in Poverty found the EITC reduces poverty among young children by nearly 25 percent.
Update: Due to the economic downturn in the economy, The EITC Coalition decided not to run a bill in 2009. The good news is that the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Economic Stimulus Bill) does include a Federal EITC increase for tax years 2009 and 2010 which increases the Earned Income Tax Credit for families with three or more children. This will help an estimated 97,000 Colorado families.

How Do these Policies Affect
The Cliff Effect In Colorado

Two Steps Forward and Three Steps Back: "The Cliff Effect in Colorado." In Colorado, a full-time job at low wages is not enough to make ends meet. Work supports assist workers with benefits such as earned-income tax credits, child-care, health care and food stamps. However, as earnings increase, families begin to lose eligibility for these means-tested benefits but are not yet self-sufficient. While no one piece of legislation will mitigate the Cliff Effect in Colorado, several of the policies above will or could help to ease the cliff for Colorado’s women and girls.

SB 1064: The Foundation endorses this legislation because it will give women and girls, living in poverty, a State-endorsed blueprint for progress. The issues that will be studied have a direct relationship to the Cliff Effect. Embedded in the bill is to study and evaluate best policies and practices that:
• Build family assets and financial stability,
• Increase preschool through postsecondary education opportunities,
• Expand the workforce with quality jobs that meet private sector needs,
• Make work pay through the use of fair and sustainable targeted tax policies,
• Address work support issues that serve persons living in poverty,
• Study the economic impact of poverty and current policies and services that affect persons living below the self sufficiency standard.

SB 228: By giving the legislators flexibility to allocate funds to priorities of that season, more women and girls living in poverty could be impacted positively by funding critical program needs at they relate to the public support systems and the cliffs that are experienced.

Pay Equity: While an increase in pay can create a cliff in a public support, pay equity for women and minorities will boost earnings toward the break-even and self-sufficiency line where there are no cliffs.

Earned Income Tax Credit: The Earned Income Tax Credit is one of our strongest strategies for helping to mitigate the Cliff Effect. See visual below. The light green line shows how the funding of the 10% state EITC could lift a woman toward the break-even and self sufficiency line.

To learn more of the progress of The WFCO’s work on the Cliff Effect, please click here.