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Colorado legislature and politics roundup
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State Rep. Claire Levy (D-Boulder) is currently seeking to close what is known as the "Wal-Mart Loophole" in the Colorado tax code. The loophole, officially called the Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT, basically allows shell companies offshore to receive transfers of profits and thus avoid paying taxes. Not a bad idea in the middle of a budget disaster, which will see a disastrous drop in school funding and a suspension of the Senior Citizen Property Tax Exemption.
State Sen. Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora) has introduced the Renewable Energy Finance Act, which would open up financing opportunities for consumers and small business owners for renewable energy programs. This is a relatively uncontroversial bill, notable only for fierce opposition to it in the energy industry. Former Joan Fitz-Gerald chief of staff Mary Alice Mandarich, now a scum-sucking lobbyist, is working hard to kill the bill on behalf of Xcel Energy.
And finally, U.S. Congressman Mike Coffman (R-6th District) is quickly rising to Tom Tancredo-levels of unintentional humor. The congressman, who like all Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against President Obama's stimulus plan, stumbled this week in his explanations for said opposition. "According to the Congressional Budget Office, only $26 Billion, or 7%, of the House bill's $355 billion in new spending would actually be spent in the current fiscal year. Around one-third of the new appropriations would be spent by the end of 2010." This is demonstrably false. The actual CBO report states that the actual figure for net investment into the economy during the current fiscal year will be $169 billion. So to be fair, Coffman was only off by $143 billion. What a hack this man is, and to make things worse, Coffman doesn't even have the same amount of offensive nose hair that Tancredo did, which at least made the latter entertaining in public. Coffman's faulty analysis of the stimulus bill was likely based on a purported CBO report that House Republicans had been quoting all week, and as it turns out, the report never even existed. So Coffman's just making things up. People like this amaze me.
