Colorado news roundupThe weekday Colorado news roundup is a collection of links to news reports and other resources of interest to the Colorado Center on Law and Policy. Listing does not imply endorsement of the content.
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Blacks trail whites financially in Colorado and elsewhere
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Family economic security
Denver Business Journal: Blacks trail whites financially in every major city
A financial chasm separates blacks and whites in every major market across America. Blacks come closest to parity in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., though a wide gap exists even there. The typical black resident of Poughkeepsie earns $703 for every $1,000 earned by a typical white resident -- a difference of 29.7 percent. The runners-up among major markets are Colorado Springs, where blacks are 31.6 percent behind whites, and Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., where the income disparity is 34.9 percent.
KUSA-TV via The Denver Post: Colorado welfare debit cards used at casinos, strip clubs
"If you place some of the limits you talk about, you place recipients at a further disadvantage," said state Sen. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood. "Why is it that the 'haves' are always suspect of and stereotyping the 'have-nots'?" ... A new federal law signed by President Barack Obama on Wednesday will force states to ban all such transactions within the next two years or face losing federal funding. Editor's note: CCLP provides a link to the story for readers' information while noting the story cites only a few outlier examples, none of which amount to fraud or any other violation, and it fails to investigate the circumstances of those cases. It's an unwarranted vilification of public-benefits recipients and a weak basis for public policy.
Pueblo Chieftain: Utility seeks to delay help for poor
Black Hills Energy and other utilities in the state were supposed to present the Colorado Public Utilities Commission next month with individual plans on how they could provide assistance to their poorest customers. Last week, the utilities filed a request with the PUC to delay that action until May 21, a two-month extension that probably would push back any implementation of a plan until October, according to a Black Hills spokesman on Monday.
Fiscal policy
Boulder Daily Camera: CU regent: Outcry over administrators' raises killed 15.7% tuition hike
Public outcry over tuition-funded raises for top University of Colorado officials derailed plans for a 15.7 percent tuition increase, a regent testified Monday before state lawmakers considering a bill designed to make state colleges more fiscally transparent.
KCFR-radio: State Energy Program Seeks Life After Stimulus
A state-run energy program that was originally funded with federal stimulus money is becoming a private-sector nonprofit today. "Recharge Colorado" is hoping to prove there's life after the stimulus.
Aspen Daily News: Chamber, Aspen school board to hear new sales tax increase proposal
Officials from a nonprofit that supports local schools are expected to lobby the chamber of commerce today to back a sales tax increase to fund public education.
The national scene
The New York Times: Many States Take a Wait-and-See Approach on New Insurance Exchanges
States are lagging in the creation of health insurance exchanges, the supermarkets where millions of consumers are supposed to buy subsidized private coverage under President Obama's health care overhaul. Editor's note: Colorado is not among the lagging states. Find coverage of the Colorado Health Benefit Exchange from CCLP's Health Law and Policy Update newsletter.
USA Today: Tax-free Internet sales, exemptions erode state revenue
Sales taxes last year took the smallest percentage of consumers' dollars since 1967 as tax-free Internet sales and untaxed services continued to erode state and local governments' top source of revenue, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Think tanks
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: States Continue to Feel Recession's Impact
State budget estimates for the upcoming fiscal year show that states still face a long and uncertain recovery. For fiscal year 2013, the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2012, 29 states have projected or have addressed shortfalls totaling $47 billion.
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