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Colorado news roundup
The weekday Colorado news roundup is a collection of links to news reports and other resources of interest to the Colorado Center on Law and Policy. Listing does not imply endorsement of the content.

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Other news summaries

Grasscatcher, from the National Conference of State Legislatures

Today's Health News, from The Colorado Trust

Colorado daily news roundup, from Stateline

Daily Health Policy Report, from Kaiser Health News

Budget committee staff calls for more details on fixing benefits system

Family economic security
An analysis of Gov. John Hickenlooper's request for more money to fix a beleaguered state computer system that manages programs ranging from food stamps to Medicaid says the legislature's Joint Budget Committee should get more guarantees the repairs will work.

An analysis of what constitutes self-sufficiency - how much an individual must earn to cover the basic costs of life - puts Pitkin County at the top of the list, followed by Eagle and Boulder counties, according to the 2011 Colorado Self Sufficiency Standard. Editor's note: The piece concerns a presentation by Colorado Center on Law and Policy Family Economic Security Program Manager Tracey Stewart.


Fiscal policy
The University of Colorado Board of Regents, anticipating yet another cut in state-funding, is now contemplating two options for increasing tuition on the Boulder campus.

Though an effort to extend the credit beyond 2012 failed Tuesday in the Senate, lawmakers still have time to make another run at it.

Colorado business owners looking to relocate or expand could get a reprieve from paying taxes on business personal property - if local governments allow it - the result of a bill passed Wednesday by legislators and headed for the governor's desk.
Also: Associated Press via Colorado Springs Business Journal: Business tax break heads to CO governor

Durango Herald editorial: Misfires in the Legislature
Each year, lawmakers in Colorado have the unenviable but unavoidable task of producing the next year's budget, and in recent cycles the effort has been growing pronouncedly less fun.


Health care
Health Policy Solutions commentary: Obamacare's Medicaid mandates are unconstitutional
What few people know is that the Medicaid mandates are, if anything, even more constitutionally dubious than the individual mandate. That's why Colorado's Independence Institute has taken the unusual step of filing a brief urging the court to overturn them.

The prospect of the U.S. Supreme Court throwing out the new health care law after it hears the case this month has Colorado Republicans planning alternatives - and Democrats keeping silent.


Jobs and economic security
Colorado filings in February were down 13.12 percent from February 2011. RealtyTrac ranked Colorado 11th among the states for its foreclosure filing rate in February, down from 9th in January.