CONGRESSIONAL LINES, BUDGET CUTS TO BE DEBATED IN THE NEXT SESSION

SUMMIT COUNTY - Water, renewable energy, wilderness protection and problems
on Interstate 70 won't be the only issues discussed at the state
Legislature in the 2003 session.

The state Senate and House convene for their first session of the year Jan. 8.

Democratic Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, who represents Summit County, said she's
heard rumblings of reapportioning the U.S. Congressional districts - again.

She's heard legislators talk about budget cuts of $580 million.

And she's heard talk of securitizing - selling like bonds - $20 million of
the state's $100 million in tobacco settlement funds to offset budget losses.

"I don't see many blue skies at this point," the Jefferson County resident
said. "It'll be interesting."

Each issue has its own ramifications.

Republicans in Colorado have the upper hand, as the party holds a majority
in the House and Senate and Gov. Bill Owens is a Republican. And the new
Congressional lines, approved by a court judge this summer, make District 7
one of the most competitive in the United States, Fitz-Gerald said. The new
district was created after the 2000 Census.

Currently, the GOP's Bob Beauprez is ahead of Democrat Mike Feeley by 123
votes with a mandated recount underway. Meanwhile, Beauprez is getting set
up in Washington, D.C.

Republicans may try to alter the District 7 makeup.

"The court order by the judge that got us our current lines was a temporary
court order," Fitz-Gerald said. "It could stand for 10 years until the next
Census, or the House and Senate could agree on different lines and let the
governor decide it."

Realigning the state's seven congressional districts could benefit
Republicans by giving them a stronger say in the new 7th district.

Budget cuts are inevitable next year, Fitz-Gerald said, but no one wants to
see the axe fall in their direction. Fitz-Gerald said she believes higher
education and social services will see the most cuts.

"We're talking about cutting services people have come to expect," she
said. "We're looking at all these cuts very carefully and seeing what we
need to do down the road."

Every cut will make next year's budget that much smaller under Taxpayers
Bill of Rights (TABOR) rules. That Constitutional amendment requires that
any time a budget is cut, the following year's budget must start at that
new, lower level.

Fitz-Gerald said she's curious about the governor's prison budget, a budget
that is increasing as everything else gets cut.

The topic of securitizing tobacco settlement funds could be a contentious
issue, as well. The state received $100 million from tobacco companies, and
state officials have allocated $80 million of that to programs. If the
remaining $20 million is "sold," much in the way public bonds are, the
state could reap additional revenue to add to its budget.

As the new Senate minority leader, Fitz-Gerald will lead the charge as "the
loyal opposition," she said. In that position, she also will appoint Senate
members to various committees.

As a senator, she plans to reintroduce legislation that would allow
first-time drug offenders to receive treatment, rather than go to jail.
Owens vetoed a similar bill last session, despite the fact it had support
from legislators on both sides of the aisle and district attorneys
throughout the state.

She also plans to reintroduce a bill she wrote during the special session
that would protect firefighters' jobs if they take time off to help the
Federal Emergency Management Agency fight wildfires in other states.

"The atmosphere in special session was pretty political," she said of this
summer's discussion of the bill. "We'll try it again. We can't keep asking
the same volunteers, and they're not going to keep coming if they don't
know if they'll have a job when they get home."