Two Former Gubernatorial Legal Counsels Issue Bipartisan Opinion about Hosptial Provider Fee
Last week, two attorneys, Jonathan Anderson and Trey Rogers, both of whom served as Colorado gubernatorial legal counsels, issued a legal memo that said that the legislature could convert the hospital provider fee (HPF) into a state enterprise, which would free up hundreds of millions of dollars for transportation, education and State capital construction.
Some additional, critical factors in this important debate will be the opinion of the State’s top legal official and the state’s economic-and-tax-revenue performance.
Governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, has asked Republican Attorney General Cynthia Coffman for an opinion on this matter.
“Another factor in this debate will be the March economic-and-revenue forecasts by the Office of State Planning and Budgeting and the legislature’s economists,” said Loren Furman, CACI Senior Vice President, State and Federal Relations, “because the forecasts could affect the amount of projected TABOR surplus, which will be politically important in the discussions.”
Under TABOR, a state enterprise is defined as “a government-owned business authorized to issue its own revenue bonds and receiving under 10% of annual revenue in grants from all Colorado state and local governments combined.”
John Anderson, a Partner with Holland and Hart LLP, served as chief legal counsel to then-Republican Governor Bill Owens.
Trey Rogers, a partner with Lewis Roca Rothberger Christine LLP, served as chief legal counsel to then-Democrat Governor Bill Ritter.
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Information courtesy of Colorado Association of Commerce & Industry