Rachel Nance, CAR’s Vice-President for Public Policy, told the Legislative Policy Committee (LPC) that the recent legislative recalls have changed the dynamics of the General Assembly. Now the majority party rules the Senate by only one vote, which means that it will be more difficult for the party to exert control. In addition, 2014 is an election year that will make everything more politically charged and that could make even pragmatic items more difficult to pass.
The legislature’s poverty task force has met over the summer and has discussed affordable housing as part of its agenda. The idea of a transfer fee or a document fee increase to fund affordable housing is a possible recommendation although Nance said she believes increasing either of these fees is prohibited by TABOR. However, CAR will be on the watch for bills related to this issue next year.
The LPC voted to approve the 2014 legislative policy statement which has remained relatively unchanged for the last few years, although there are several new statements referring to property tax increases related to risk for natural disaster and the proliferation of mandated transaction disclosure language. The statement will be reviewed and approved by CAR’s Board of Directors later this month.
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