Polis gives State of the State address; seeks to jump-start economy

Governor Jared Polis gave his third annual State of the State address on Feb. 18, touching on many of the same topics from previous years: health care, climate change and renewable energy and access to broadband.

But the heart of his address to a joint session of the General Assembly was on finding ways to jump-start Colorado’s economy as the State begins to emerge from the pandemic that started in Colorado just about a year ago.

In his remarks, Polis spoke of the $1 billion stimulus he proposed last November, to be paid for with higher-than-expected tax revenues revealed in several revenue forecasts late last year.

The stimulus includes funding for a variety of needs for rural Colorado.

The pandemic is something the Governor — who has now spent almost half of his time in office dealing with it — never envisioned.

“We’ve faced the unimaginable this year,” he told lawmakers. “And the state of our State, above all, is a reflection of our strength and our resilience.”

Polis saluted those who have been on the frontlines: healthcare workers; food supply, grocery and agriculture workers; restaurant and retail employees and truck drivers “who continue to do their jobs under the most trying of circumstances.”

The Governor also led a moment of silence for the 5,655 lives lost due the virus. The speech, given on Ash Wednesday, prompted Polis to point to the sacrifices Coloradans have made in the past year. “The greatest way to honor the immeasurable sacrifices of the last year is to do right by one another and prevent further devastation,” Polis said.

“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel but we’re still some months away from reaching it,” he added.

When the crisis ends, and it will end soon, he said, “we are not forced to go back exactly to how things were before … we have the boldness to imagine a better future and we have the ability to bring it to life.”

That future, he said, begins with investments that will create good jobs and boost the economy, such as in tax relief, loans for small businesses, investments in tourism and renewable energy and in “main streets, the hearts of our communities.”

Those investments, as contained in his Nov. 2 stimulus proposal, include $130 million for shovel-ready roads projects, which includes projects for “rural roads that our farmers and ranchers rely on” and which meet the needs of the state’s growing population.

He called for investment in rural communities, including ensuring that broadband is available in every corner of the state for students and small businesses.

On health care, one of the Governor’s signature issues, Polis applauded proposed legislation to reduce prescription drug costs and adding the “Colorado Option,” a public option bill that would apply to the individual health insurance market and set prices for healthcare services. Polis said the plan would offer rural Coloradans more choice and savings. The proposal has faced stiff opposition from hospitals, health insurers and pharmaceutical companies.

Polis’ vision for transportation goes beyond road projects. He also asked for a reduction in vehicle registration fees and a modernization of the transportation system, focused on electric vehicles, multimodal transit and reductions in vehicle emissions.

The biggest applause from Republicans during the speech — even a standing ovation — came when Polis called for eliminating the business personal property tax for tens of thousands of small businesses, as well as reducing paperwork tied to the tax.

It has been on Republican lawmakers’ wish lists for more than 25 years.

The tax is levied on property purchased for business use, from a pack of pencils to heavy duty equipment. Companies with $7,400 or less in property are exempt from the tax. Those with $15,000 or less in property receive State tax credits to cancel out the payments. A separate statewide tax credit refunds personal property taxes paid to local governments for the first $18,000 in in business property, a provision contained in a 2017 law sponsored by Senator Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling and then-Representative Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan.  

Legislative leaders said after the speech that they believe the tax would not be eliminated entirely, but that the caps on personal property exempted from the tax would likely be substantially increased.

Polis proposed doubling the Earned Income Tax Credit, along with $600 in tax credits for nearly 200,000 families through the Colorado Child Tax Credit. He also won kudos from Republicans when he proposed an end to taxing Social Security benefits, a proposal also up for review in the 2021 session. However, Republican lawmakers, such as Rep. Tim Geitner, R-Falcon, said he would also like to see the senior homestead tax exemption made permanent, rather than subject to the ups and downs of the economy. It was on the chopping block, briefly, in the budget cutting of the 2020 session but was spared.

Seniors who are at least 65 years old and have lived in their homes for at least 10 years can claim an exemption on property taxes, reimbursed to counties by the State, of the first $100,000 in home property value. 

Also on the Governor’s wish list: revisions on how schools are financed, now a four-year project from an interim committee on school finance. He also pledged to reduce the debt to K-12 education, which soared in 2020 to $1.17 billion, the highest in history. With the additional revenue, he has asked the Joint Budget Committee to restore the $570 million cut from K-12 in 2020, although where that money will come from in future years is still a big question, given that state revenue forecasts have predicted tight budgets for the next three years.

Immigration, a Restoration of Honor Act that allows LGBTQ veterans who were less than honorably discharged because of their sexual orientation to receive state services, and efforts to reduce “the school-to-prison pipeline” also are on the governor’s agenda for 2021.

“It’s often been said during this pandemic that we are all in the same storm. But we are not in the same boat. It’s time to ensure that everybody has a sturdy boat to weather any storm that comes our way,” Polis said as he ended his 40-minute address.