Public Policy and Advocacy

Colorado Concern is committed to ensuring Colorado's business climate is strong and constantly improving. This requires considerable work in the public policy and advocacy arenas. Colorado Concern relies on its knowledgeable membership to recommend policy positions and priorities for the organizations, develop relationships with elected officials and policy makers, and offer expertise on political issues related to their industry.

Colorado Concern's efforts in public policy and advocacy include:

Encouraging a trusted and working relationship between Colorado Concern members and the broader business community, in conjunction with elected officials and opinion leaders.
Maintaining an active and current strategy of issues management to expressly advocate in support of a pro-business agenda with the legislature and administration.
Identifying and supporting emerging community and political leaders that promote a pro-business agenda.
Supporting a unified economic development strategy for the state of Colorado to enhance the success of business recruitment activities.
Supporting market research conducted in collaboration with other business and economic development organizations to determine concerns and perceptions of Colorado's business climate.
Coordinating one-on-one and small group meetings with key officials who directly influence Colorado's business environment.
Hosting legislative forums to enhance opinion leader's awareness of Colorado Concern and its top priorities.

Below you will find a list of our concerns, offered by Colorado Concern members through its annual member survey and Colorado Concern's top priorities for 2010.

Our Concerns

The Colorado Concern membership participates in an annual online survey, which asks in-depth questions related to current events and statewide public policy issues. The results of this survey provide direction for the development of Colorado Concern's overall public policy agenda, which is distributed to legislators and the administration in an effort to assist with the advancement and implementation of a pro-business legislative agenda.

The survey includes questions related to the memberships' general perception about the state as a whole, assesses top priority issues for the membership, challenges facing the state's fiscal policy, including budgetary and constitutional restrictions, and more detailed questions about education, transportation, health care, growth and development and the environment.

Membership Survey Results - Summary

Top five issues the legislature and administration should address:

P-20 education
Transportation funding
Ballot initiative reform
Budget/spending
Economy/cost of living

Top causes of the state's budget problem:

76% - Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR)
63% - Amendment 23
45% - Gallagher Amendment

Re-authorizing Referendum C for another five years:

88% - Support
12% - Oppose

Repeal Amendment 23, which requires annual increases in funding for P-12 education:

81% - Support
19% - Oppose

Reform the ballot initiative process in Colorado and make it harder for constitutional amendments to make it on the ballot:

100% - Support
0% - Oppose

Assess a fee on services (transportation, health care, education) to increase the amount the state receives from matching federal funds:

78% - Support
22% - Oppose

Reduce health care cost shifting (i.e. the cost of uncompensated care being shifted to those who pay for insurance) by providing insurance to more low income Coloradans without spending the state General Fund:

76% - Support
24% - Oppose

Top three problems with the current transportation system:

Road and bridge safety
Traffic congestion
Lack of transportation alternatives (rail, bus, bike, etc.)

Our Top Public Policy Priorities in 2010:

Promoting early childhood investments
Supporting reforms to Colorado's K-12 education system
Supporting a well-funded and viable higher education system
Promoting job creation and a strong economy
Addressing Colorado's fiscal and constitutional challenges
Reforming Colorado's ballot initiative process
Conducting an independent audit of Colorado's current state taxes and fees to identify how our state's funds are collected, who pays and how the funds are allocated

Support for early childhood investment programs:

Preserving the early childhood tax credit
Funding quality pre-kindergarten childcare
Providing dental and health programs for children in need
Licensing child care providers
Offering lower-income families in-home visits and parental coaching

Support for K-12 reform measures:

Providing school administrators more flexibility to address teacher tenure and contract negotiations
Establishing tools to measure teacher performance based on benchmarks for student achievement
Establishing merit-based teacher compensation to reward high performance and outcomes

Support for higher education reform measures:

Allowing each institution to set its own tuition rates
Allowing operational and administrative flexibility
Defining access and accountability to ensure positive student outcomes

Support for transportation funding options:

Bonding for maintenance and transportation projects
Increasing vehicle registration fees
Increasing rental car fees
Creating Regional Transportation Authorities to fund local projects
Increasing the motor fuel tax

Support for health care reform options:

Implementing comprehensive tort reform at the federal and state level
Allowing competition between insurance companies/plans across state lines
Providing insurance policies that offer basic coverage for low-income households in states not mandating certain coverage
Offering government subsidized premium assistance for low-income households
Developing a statewide data base where all payers submit claims to analyze health care spending, accessibility, electronic medical records and utilization

Support for funding options for statewide water storage projects:

Allowing local governments bonding authority
Increasing project user fees
Permitting consumption fees
Developing additional loan and grant programs