Governor signs historic bill

    Once the legislative session ends, the governor has 30 days to sign or veto any bills that have come his way.
    But none bigger than the bill he signed last week, which saves up to a dozen rural hospitals from closing and puts $30 million into rural schools and another $450 million toward road projects in rural communities.
    On Tuesday, in a signing ceremony at Fowler High School in southeastern Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper inked into law the hospital provider fee bill.
    The measure removes the hospital provider fee program from the state’s revenue limits, a move that restores an expected cut of $264 million. Add to that federal dollars that would have been lost with that cut, and the total reduction was estimated at $528 million.
    That half-billion-dollar cut means the doors at up to a dozen rural hospitals stay open, according to the Colorado Hospital Association. Senate President Pro Tem Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling said that two are in his district, although he never identified which two.
    The measure also bumps up the state’s recreational marijuana tax to its maximum 15 percent (that’s already been approved by voters), and the extra dollars will send a $30 million one-time boost in funding to school districts with 6,500 students or less. That’s 147 of the state’s 178 school districts.

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