Headlines May 7, 2020

Headlines May 7, 2020

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The state’s Joint Budget Committee is meeting this week ahead of lawmakers scheduled return to the legislature on May 18th. Creating a budget for Colorado will be the main order of business for legislators.

The coronavirus pandemic means massive budget cuts are on the table for all sectors. Senator Steve Fenberg, Senate Majority leader and a Democrat from Boulder, said on a townhall meeting this week that people should expect to see cuts made across all areas.

“The budget that we’re going to have to pass is not going to be fun for anybody,” said Fenberg. He said every Coloradoan will ultimately be impacted by the cuts “whether it’s unfortunate cuts that are going to happen to K-12 or higher ed, or the things related to the social safety net or transportation, these are going to be pretty significant cuts and we’re doing the work right now to navigate how to make it as painless as possible, but in the end we still know it’s going to be painful and impact a lot of folks.”

The Colorado Sun reports that lawmakers plan to eliminate a 3% pay hike for most state employees that they had approved before the pandemic. That would save the state approximately $72 million. The state is looking at a budget shortfall of approximately $3 billion as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday approved a request from Colorado and a dozen other states to allow online purchases using federal food assistance.

Colorado Politics reports that Before March of this year, only New York and Washington allowed recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to order food online as a pilot program. Between March and April, the USDA added four more states. In the majority of participating states, Walmart and Amazon are the only authorized retailers to accept online payments.

A 7th worker at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley has died of COVID-19. According to data released by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Wednesday, 280 workers at the plant have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Weld County public health approved the plant to reopen over a week ago, despite objections from workers at the plant, and their union, who said that not enough measures were in place to protect workers.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 921 coronavirus-related deaths in Colorado. 531 of those deaths came from nursing homes.

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Nearly 160 CU Boulder employees, including faculty and graduate students, have signed a letter to the Board of Regents calling on them to rescind $200,000 in bonuses President Mark Kennedy will receive for completing tasks during his first year on the job.

The Daily Camera reports that Kennedy’s contract lists the $200,000 as “incentive salary” for “attaining performance objectives,” and is in a separate section from his $650,000 base salary. He will be paid a $850,000 base salary after his first year, according to the contract.

The performance objectives include initiating a strategic planning process, engaging in outreach efforts to rural communities, engaging in outreach with government leaders, donors and alumni, and initiating a diversity and inclusion campaign.

The letter comes as the university is grappling with a massive budget shortfall due to the coronavirus pandemic.

CU is preparing for up to 20% budget cuts due to the possibility of declining revenue and enrollment.

That could result in programs being eliminated, staff being laid off and pay being reduced.

Kennedy has pledged to use $50,000 of his bonus to create a scholarship fund for rural and first generation students and to cut his $850,000 salary by 10% next year in response to the budget issues.

The letter from faculty, staff and graduate students, asked Kennedy and other CU officials making hundreds of thousands of dollars to take progressive salary cuts of 25% or more.

State health officials say that hospitalizations and deaths from the new coronavirus hit their highest level in the first two weeks of April. However, they caution that there could be another surge and encourage ongoing social distancing.

April 9 was the day that the state recorded its highest number of coronavirus deaths, that was 35. The total number of people who have died from the virus is 921.

Speaking Wednesday afternoon, Governor Jared Polis said that it is extremely likely that the coronavirus had been circulating in Colorado long before the first official case was actually confirmed.

Governor Polis reiterated the need for people to only go out in public when needed, to wear a mask in public and to maintain social distancing.

As the state transitions into the safer at home phase Governor Polis said people should significantly reduce their personal contacts with other people. He said people should have just a third of the social interactions that they would have had in January of this year.

People are continuing to file for unemployment assistance in Colorado at record levels. The Department of Labor reported more than 28,000 people filed initial claims last week. That’s a reduction from the last full week in April which saw more than 38,000 initial claims filed. All of the top seven weeks for claims in state history have come since March 8.

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