Report: Colorado AG gives OK to controversial hospital provider fee move
Breaking from Republican allies, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman is giving a green light to Gov. John Hickenlooper’s plan to exempt the billion-dollar hospital provider fee program from TABOR.
The formal opinion issued Monday said the program that collects fees from hospitals to draw matching federal dollars would meet all three tests needed to qualify as a “government-owned business” outside the state’s spending limits in the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
“Today’s formal opinion concerning Colorado’s Hospital Provider Fee is a thoroughly researched legal analysis based on the language of the constitution and informed by Colorado court interpretations of TABOR,” Coffman said in a statement. “It answers a narrow legal question and outlines the minimum requirements under current law to create a ‘government-owned business’ under TABOR.”
DURANGO, CO – AUGUST 12: Cynthia Coffman, Attorney General of Colorado, talks about what she hopes the EPA will do to assist residents after the spill August 12, 2015 at Rotary Park. The Attorney Generals of Colorado, New Mexico and Utah held a joint press conference to talk about the Gold King Mine spill that has affected the waterways in their states and what they are hoping with come from the EPA in months to come to provide their residents assistance. (Photo By Brent Lewis/The Denver Post)
