Senate Beats Back GOP Effort to Disregard Increased Revenues Generated by Levy Freeze

Yesterday the Senate defeated a Republican amendment to a budget resolution that would have forced the legislature to disregard the revenues generated by the mill levy freeze approved by the General Assembly last year.

SJR 004 was a routine matter, one of the first steps taken by the legislature to begin writing a budget for 2008-2009.

However, Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, introduced an amendment that would direct the legislature to disregard increased tax revenues generated by the mill levy freeze enacted by SB07-199. Brophy's rationale was that the constitutional validity of the mill levy freeze bill is being litigated.

His amendment went down, 21-13. All Democrats opposed it, as did Republican Steve Johnson of Fort Collins. The "no" votes were from the other Republicans in the chamber, with the exception of Steve Ward of Littleton. Ward, a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, is on active duty in Iraq.