< Weekly News from COBRT - January 22, 2019
LEADERSHIP. REACH. RESULTS.
January 22, 2019
Ball Corporation was named the top company among America's Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes magazine for 2019. Ball was recognized for its leadership-driven commitment to diversity and inclusion, including the diversity and inclusion team's direct reporting relationship to John Hayes, chairman, president and chief executive officer, as well as active participation by its board of directors, the continuous work of its nine Ball Resource Groups, partnerships with engineering-focused student organizations, and ongoing unconscious bias and inclusivity training. 


Please join Colorado Business Roundtable for the State of Higher Education Forum on April 11th, 2019 from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM at History Colorado.

Join us as we hear from leaders in the higher education industry discuss their successful business partnerships, changes that need to happen in order to be more nimble and agile, how higher education is meeting the needs of the industry, and what is the value proposition for students. 

Bruce Benson will share his reflections and lessons learned from his distinguished tenure as President of University of Colorado. The panel will include Chancellor Rebecca Chopp of University of Denver, President Janine Davidson of Metropolitan State University Denver, and President Joe Garcia of Colorado Community College System. We have invited Colorado's Department of Higher Education to speak as well.

 
Gov. Jared Polis is hoping to add money for a health-reinsurance system and for nearly a dozen new Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission employees to next year's budget - but the state's top elected official has no immediate plan for increasing transportation funding. The newly inaugurated Democratic governor formally will make his budget-amendment requests at a hearing before the Joint Budget Committee on Wednesday. JBC members are expected to roll out a final proposal for the $31.7 billion state budget sometime in March, after which it must be approved by the House and the Senate and signed into law by the governor. 

Colorado legislative Democrats are hoping to offer voters a chance as soon as November to de-Bruce the Colorado state budget, at least temporarily, and to put the money the state remains to areas of need such as transportation, K-12 schools and higher education. House Speaker K.C. Becker, D-Boulder, confirmed the effort Thursday at the Colorado Chamber of Commerce's Colorado Business Day luncheon. Becker said she is still working with elected officials and private-sector leaders to determine exactly what the initiative would say and exactly when statewide voters would be asked to weigh in on it, but she said it's taken a leading position now in the ongoing discussions about how to fund transportation and education after tax-hike initiatives for both areas got killed in the 2018 election. 

Washington, DC - Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John Barrasso (R-WY), Doug Jones (D-AL), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) introduced S. 172, the Health Insurance Tax Relief Act Wednesday to provide a two-year delay of the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) that was created by the Affordable Care Act. The tax is a fee to health insurers on their health policy premiums that increases costs on nearly everyone in the marketplace from seniors to small businesses. 

When the Senate Finance Committee meets on Jan. 22 to pass a bipartisan bill that would allow the state to develop a program to simplify its byzantine sales-tax system for business owners, it will represent the culmination of five years of discussions on the topic - and yet, it's likely only the start of much more complicated discussions about what truly must be done to aid companies looking to comply with current law. 

The Colorado Supreme Court has revealed an appeal court decision and said state oil and gas regulators were correct not to require that projects prove they wouldn't harm public health or the environment before winning permits. The case pitted the state oil and gas regulator, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, against a group of youth who demanded the agency make health and environmental protection prerequisites for oil and gas development and then sued when the COGCC declined to do so. The state Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled in favor of the COGCC in a decision made public. 

Listen at KDMT 1690 AM Denver's Money Talk from 
4-5 p.m. Monday through Friday or  live stream online. Podcasts are available at  http://www.cobrt.com/radio-podcast and on your favorite podcast app the day after live airing.

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State of Higher Education Forum - Colorado Business Roundtable 

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