Find common ground on difficult public-policy issues
I have just completed my eight years in the Colorado Senate, and it has been a true privilege to serve the citizens of Senate District 18 and all of Colorado.
When I joined the Senate in 2009, we were in the depths of the Great Recession. My earliest bills were designed to get people back to work, and with a Democratic majority in the Legislature, we passed many of these bills. The unemployment rate has dropped from approximately 9 percent at its worst to its current rate of less than 3 percent. I believe our early aggressive approach to economic development helped contribute to make this happen.
During my entire career, I concentrated on growing our economy along with education — an education that would prepare our young people for their future in an ever-changing world. I had many roles during these eight years, chairing several committees as well as serving as Senate majority leader in 2014. For the last two years, I was the assistant minority leader, as Republicans had the majority in the Senate and the House was Democratic. Clearly, with split chambers, it is much more difficult to pass more significant legislation — not impossible — but it’s only possible if you agree on what the problem is.
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This last session was a case in point. We dealt with such issues as the hospital provider fee, construction defects, a presidential primary with unaffiliated voters participating, and transportation bonds, just to name a few. None of these issues was resolved in this legislative session, and I have been asked the question, “Why?”
I have served during my life in all three legs of the three-legged stool — the for-profit, not-for-profit and governmental sectors. Even though each is quite distinct, each has something in common. In order to get something done, you must agree on what needs to be done before you reach the point of discussing how to do it. Today on the political/governmental side, we are struggling with one fundamental question: What is the role of government? If you cannot agree on that, it is difficult to ever get to the question of how you are going to make it work.
Right now, it is safe to say that the Republican Party is a strong believer in less government and lower taxes. The Democrats, on the other hand, view government as more of a partnership with the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. This creates an ideological divide that is difficult to breach. It permeates the political debate at all levels of government in this state and was particularly prevalent in this most recent session of the Colorado Legislature. This is not a trivial divide, but comes from deeply held beliefs and values from each party.
This divide was particularly evident in the debate, or lack thereof, on the hospital provider fee – which by creating an enterprise would have freed up significant money to fix our roads and provide support for our children’s education. If you believe in less government, then you likely don’t support changing the hospital provider fee into an enterprise, because it has the potential of growing government. It is the reason why these bigger issues were not resolved this session.
This conversation about what is the role of government is going to be a consistent theme until we as a community, state and nation can come to grips with it and agree on a more moderate approach. If we don’t, we will continue to see the gridlock in Washington, and to a somewhat lesser degree, what we saw in Colorado this past legislative session.
Just some of the key questions that come up as we look at the role of government are:
• Does government have a role in maintaining access to health care for its citizens?
• Is public education a core function of government? How about preschool or kindergarten? How about higher education?
• Does government have a role in providing a safety net for the more vulnerable people in our society?
• How can we nurture our entrepreneurial spirit while maintaining a level playing field for all Coloradans?
These are just a few of the many very real questions facing our society. The answers have a dramatic impact on how we view government, what we expect from our elected officials, and what our tax structure needs to be. I hope we can come together to answer some of these basic questions, Otherwise, we will continue to see gridlock in our elected bodies.
Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, was assistant minority leader in the Colorado Senate.
