Common Sense Digest & Colorado Clarity

Proposition HH Explained by Gov. Bill Owens and Chris Brown

On November 7, 2023 Colorado voters will approve or reject Proposition HH, Property Tax Changes and Revenue Change Measures. Proposition HH was referred to the ballot by the State Legislature following the passage of SB23-303.
As the title suggests, Proposition HH is a complex proposal. It modifies or reduces taxation rates and exemptions for multiple types of property while at the same time increases taxes by allowing the state to retain more tax revenue. It would distribute excess revenue to school districts and other government entities without new stipulations.
Proposition HH gives Coloradans a choice; trade some property tax relief, for a long-term increase in state taxes. Though any revenue forecast is uncertain, under normal economic conditions taxpayers would bear the full tax increases under Proposition HH even if the economy faced a sizeable downturn. While all Coloradoans benefit from TABOR refunds, only property owners would see direct benefits of the property tax decrease. Our full report can be found here.
Host and Chairman Earl Wright welcomes former Governor of Colorado Bill Owens, and CSI Vice President of Policy Research Chris Brown to the podcast to discuss Proposition HH, its origins, its espoused goals, what the implications are for the future of property taxes, TABOR, and school funding, and much more. Every Coloradan will be impacted by the passage or defeat of Proposition HH, which makes this episode a must-listen. 
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Bill Owens served as the 40th Governor of Colorado from 1999-2007 and is a member of GreenbergTraurig's Government Law & Policy Practice Group. Prior to his service as Governor, Bill was Colorado State Treasurer where he managed a $5 billion investment portfolio. He also served in the State Senate and State House. He focuses his practice in the areas of public policy, energy, infrastructure and water.
Chris Brown is the Vice President of Policy and Research for the Common Sense Institute.

The Implications of and Solutions for Learning Loss featuring Lisa Graham Keegan

In this episode of the Common Sense Digest, we dive deep into the pressing issue of learning loss and its far-reaching impact on education — and the economy. Joining us is a renowned expert in the field, Lisa Graham Keegan, a results-driven school choice advocate and former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Lisa is welcomed by Host and Chairman of CSI Earl Wright. The latest NAEP report has sounded the alarm on the staggering learning loss resulting from disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. So how do we recover academically and economically? Learn why Lisa proposes that removing barriers for education innovation can address these challenges head-on, benefiting parents, educators, and especially students.
Tune in to hear more about the economic ramifications of learning loss and to explore innovative solutions that might hold the key for the future of education in Arizona. Explore the intersection of education, economics, and innovation in this thought-provoking episode.
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NOTES:
Earl Wright (host) and Lisa Graham Keegan (guest)
LGK is a results-based, school choice advocate and former lawmaker
NAEP — alarming learning loss from latest report
“Students were not being educated, effectively, for a year.” (COVID policy failure)
Losses were larger in low-income areas, already low-achieving areas
Value comes from educators
Remove constrains on education innovation for market to flourish
The economics of education innovation
Responding to AI
Essential skills, things that are always true
The business behavior of schools
Expand, replicate, franchise
Rethink drawing school districts
 

Quantifying the Cost of Crime in Colorado featuring George Brauchler and Mitch Morrissey

Few people in Colorado have not directly experienced crime. From property offenses to violent crimes, every crime leaves a traumatized victim. Whether the wounds are physical, psychological, or financial, it is important to acknowledge the profound effects that a crime can have on its victims. At Common Sense Institute, our goal is to address the economic impact of crime while remaining conscious of the suffering that it causes. Our recent study, titled "The Cost of Crime and its Economic Impact on Colorado: Crime’s Impact on the Economy and Residents" can be found here.
On this episode of Common Sense Digest, Executive Director of CSI Colorado Kelly Caufield welcomes 2023 CSI Owens-Early Criminal Justice Fellows George Brauchler and Mitch Morrissey to the show to discuss the report and provide additional insights on the cost of crime in Colorado. They break down the resources necessary to reduce crime, explore in great detail how the cost of crime was calculated, figure the economic benefit of reducing crime to zero, and much more. Crime affects us all in terms of economic cost, the price of insurance, and quality of life, so this episode is one you'll want to listen to and share.
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George Brauchler is a 2023 CSI Owens-Early Criminal Justice Fellow and served as the elected District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District (JD), Colorado’s most populous district, which includes Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln counties, from 2013-2021. As a state prosecutor, he handled the felony cases from the Columbine High School mass shooting case, the Aurora Theater (Batman) mass shooting case, and recently, the STEM Academy school mass shooting case.
Mitch Morrissey is also a 2023 CSI Owens-Early Criminal Justice Fellow and was the elected District Attorney of Denver, Colorado from November 2004 until January 2017. Prior to 2004, Mitch was a trial lawyer in the Denver District Attorney’s office. Mitch is internationally recognized for his expertise in DNA technology, applying that technology in criminal prosecutions, and working to ensure that DNA science is admissible in court. He has trained law enforcement officers and prosecutors throughout the United States, in the Middle East, in Central America, and Canada.

The Economic Impacts of Colorado’s Sports and Tourism Industry featuring Kyle Dyer and Richard Scharf

Colorado boasts a wide array of natural beauty and tourist attractions which attracts millions of visitors to the state every year. Pristine nature, world-class skiing, and captivating sports teams all contribute to the robust inflow of tourists that Colorado welcomes. The revenue generated by the state’s diverse attractions supports a substantial share of Colorado’s economy and plays an indispensable role in sustaining its economic prosperity and highlighting its invaluable ecological and societal assets. Because each depends upon the others to contribute to Colorado’s high quality of life, the sports, recreation, and tourism sectors are interconnected—to account for the impact of tourism, the impacts of recreation and sports must also be included. 
On this episode of Common Sense Digest, Guest Host and CSI Executive Director Kelly Caufield welcomes Kyle Dyer, former news anchor and Head Honcho at Kyle Dyer Storytelling Richard Scharf, President & CEO of Metro Denver Convention & Visitors Bureau to discuss everything from skiing to Taylor Swift to Denver being the smallest metro area to have all 5 major sports teams. They discuss the importance of recruiting teams, conventions, visitors, and showing off what makes Denver the special place that it is. Oh, and the economic impact that comes with it! Our full study can be found here.
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Protecting Arizona’s Economic Competitiveness featuring Danny Seiden and Courtney Coolidge

Every year in Arizona, legislators introduce hundreds of bills, most of which are never enacted. This year, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry (“Arizona Chamber”) identified 67 “Job Killer” bills which would have imposed substantial new taxes, costs, or administrative burdens on Arizona businesses. Ultimately, none of these bills were enacted, and the story has been similar for years. But this raises the question: what would happen to the state’s economy and business environment were some or even all these bills ultimately passed into law?
CSI Arizona has utilized the experience and research of our partners in Colorado to estimate the potential impacts on Arizona’s economic prospects of enacting some of the many policy ideas on this list. Bills like those studied here are being shopped at state legislature across the country, and many of them have been introduced annually at the Arizona Legislature. Though they have not moved in the past, the lesson of Colorado’s anti-business policy transformation over the past half decade shows that climates can change quickly. Our full report can be found here.
Our Executive Director and Guest Host Katie Ratlief welcomes Danny Seiden, President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and Courtney Coolidge, Vice President of Government Affairs, to the show to discuss the report, the job killers, and the past present and future of Arizona's economy. 
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Danny Seiden is President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Danny brings more than 16 years of experience in global public affairs and government relations, as well as handling complex legal matters in private practice and public sector service. Prior to joining the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Danny was general counsel to the Valor Global leadership team. He focused on helping achieve growth objectives as well as providing continued public affairs guidance in AZ, WA and other States.
Courtney Coolidge serves as the Vice President for Government Affairs at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Prior to joining the Chamber, Courtney served as the Senior Director for State Relations at Arizona State University and the Deputy Chief of Staff for the Arizona Department of Public Safety where she oversaw legislative affairs, government relations, policy development and implementation. During her time at AZDPS she worked on several significant projects including the Arizona Border Strike Force, self-driving vehicle operations, and management of the Arizona Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit Task Force.

SPECIAL EPISODE: Eggs & the Economy - June 13, 2023

In this special edition of Common Sense Digest, we feature discussion from one of our recent events. On Tuesday, June 13, Common Sense Institute hosted Eggs & the Economy which featured an in-depth conversation from the State House to the walls of local government. The panel featured the following participants:
Kelly Caufield - CSI Executive Director (Host and Moderator)
Stephanie Piko - Mayor of Centennial
Chief Paul Pazen - CSI Criminal Justice Fellow
Adam Paul - Mayor of Lakewood
And a special presentation called "The Scramble" featuring our Senior Economist Steven Byers, Ph.D.
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A Comprehensive Look at Public Safety and Fighting Crime in Colorado featuring Paul Pazen

It’s no secret that Colorado has been hit with a crime wave. Skyrocketing crime rates, fentanyl deaths, and the number one rank in the country when it comes to auto thefts, are all factors that have put Colorado’s economic future at risk and made Coloradans less safe.
Public safety plays a critical role in the economic vitality of a community. Increasing population, attracting new businesses, generating a workforce, and bolstering the ability to attract tourism are all directly related to real and perceived safety challenges. If people are not safe, they cannot learn, work, or enjoy their communities. Ultimately, high crime rates result in a failure to thrive. Our recent report "The Fight Against Crime in Colorado: Policing, Legislation, and Incarceration," poses the question: Why has Colorado become less safe? A comparison of policing and crime rates in the two largest cities in Colorado, Denver and Colorado Springs, uncovers distinctly different trends in policing and police resources that have produced differing outcomes.
2023 Public Safety Fellow Chief Paul Pazen is the former Chief of Police in Denver, Colorado where he rose through the ranks of the department up to his appointment in 2018 as the Chief. He joins Chairman and Host Earl Wright to discuss his report, what contributing factors have led to the increase in crime, what can be done about it, and how the community can play an active role in supporting those who protect us. 
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During his tenure as Police Chief, Paul Pazen (retired) led the creation and expansion of innovative solutions to address complex public safety issues. These programs include spearheading the creation of the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, Outreach Case Coordinators (case managers) and the Domestic Violence Prevention Program. He directed a significant expansion of the mental health clinician Co-Responder Program, Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), the implementation of a forward-thinking use-of-force policy and training curriculum. 
Chief Pazen graduated magna cum laude from Colorado State University – Global with a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership, holds a Master of Arts in Homeland Security and Defense from the Naval Postgraduate School, and is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Executive Institute (NEI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy (FBINA) and the Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP) through the Police Executive Research Forum. Chief Pazen served in the United States Marine Corps and is a Veteran of the Gulf War.

CSI Mid-Year Wrap-Up featuring Lang Sias, George Brauchler and Kelly Caufield

As we near the year's midpoint, we take time to reflect on what we've accomplished and discuss where we go from here. It has been a busy year for Common Sense Institute, which means there is plenty of fertile ground to cover as we discuss the legislative session, touch on our studies and reports, and look ahead to election season and beyond.
Host and Chairman Earl Wright welcomes 2023 Mike A. Leprino Fellow Lang Sias, 2023 CSI Owens-Early Criminal Justice Fellow, and Kelly Caufield, Executive Director of Common Sense Institute for a spirited and wide-ranging conversation about an abundance of topics. Some of the issues touched on include crime (with a particular focus on auto theft and sentencing), housing, economic development, competitiveness and workforce, education, TABOR, the "fair work week," PERA, and many others. This episode is loaded and our panel of experts dive deep into the issues most directly affecting Coloradans.
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Lang Sias is the 2023 CSI Mike A. Leprino Fellow is a former Colorado State legislator, attorney and Navy and Air National Guard fighter pilot. As a Colorado State Representative from 2015-2019, Lang represented House District 27 in Jefferson County. The ranking member on the business committee, Lang also served on the education, public health and health exchange oversight committees, and was a member of the legislative tax simplification task force and the JeffCo school safety task force. Over 85% of the bills Lang sponsored were bipartisan. He focused on solving problems in the areas of education, health care and small business, and on government transparency and accountability. He played major roles in passing legislation expanding public school choice, increasing healthcare transparency and reforming the public pension system to benefit retirees and taxpayers. Lang currently serves on the legislative subcommittee that oversees Colorado’s state pension fund. He was the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2018 and State Treasurer in 2022.
George Brauchler is the 2023 CSI Owens-Early Criminal Justice Fellow, and served as the elected District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District (JD), Colorado’s most populous district, which includes Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln counties, from 2013-2021. As a state prosecutor, he handled the felony cases from the Columbine High School mass shooting case, the Aurora Theater (Batman) mass shooting case, and recently, the STEM Academy school mass shooting case.
Kelly Caufield is the Executive Director of Common Sense Institute. In this role, Kelly is the key management leader of CSI and oversees the administration, strategic plan, and programming for the organization. Kelly brings nearly 20 years of policy, research, and advocacy experience to CSI.  

Manufacturing Matters in Arizona featuring Steve Macias and Glenn Farley

Our recent report, The Economic Impact of Arizona’s Manufacturing Sector, demonstrates how the manufacturing sector has been one of the fastest growing parts of the Arizona economy over the past decade. In March, manufacturers added 2,000 jobs in Arizona (1st in the country), even as the overall labor market shrank. The manufacturing sector has for decades been a focus of public policy and public investment, but despite these efforts, the story of American manufacturing since the late 1970’s has been one of slow decline – at least in terms of employment and at least relative to the rest of the world. However, since 2017, the state and to some extent the country have been undergoing something of a ‘manufacturing renaissance’.
On this edition of Common Sense Digest, Chairman and Host Earl Wright welcomes CSI Board Member and Co-Owner of Pivot Manufacturing Steve Macias and CSI Director of Policy & Research Chris Brown to the show to discuss how policies enacted at both the state and federal level have contributed to manufacturing growth, what obstacles remain, the complex puzzle of workforce development, and much more. What has contributed to Arizona's manufacturing renaissance? What challenges remain? Where do we go from here? All that and a lot more await you in this episode.
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Steve Macias is a co-owner of Pivot Manufacturing and has been the President and CEO since the company’s inception in 2000. Pivot is a vibrant part of the manufacturing community that does machining and assembly work for a variety of companies, primarily in the defense industry. Pivot has grown significantly during the last several years by leveraging the excellent relationships the company has built with existing customers into new manufacturing opportunities. Those opportunities are currently translating to another growth period as Pivot is expanding their building footprint to accommodate future production.
Glenn Farley is CSI Arizona’s Director of Policy & Research. For the past eight years he has worked in the Office of the Arizona Governor, most recently as Gov. Doug Ducey’s Chief Economist and a policy advisor. In that role he advised on issues of tax, fiscal, and regulatory policy, and was one of the Governor’s lead architects of his two major tax reforms. Mr. Farley has also led the budget team that produced the Executive revenue forecasts and caseload spending numbers that have helped ensure the longest run of conservative, structurally balanced budgets in State history. Mr. Farley has a Masters in Economics from Arizona State University’s WP Carey College of Business, as well as a B.S. from Arizona State University.
 

SPECIAL EPISODE: Coffee and Common Sense Arizona 5.2.23

In this special edition of Common Sense Digest Arizona, we feature discussion from one of our recent events. On Tuesday, May 2, Common Sense Institute hosted Coffee & Common Sense: A Conversation About Arizona's Changing Economy. 
We welcomed an expert panel to discuss how Arizona's economy has transformed over the last decade, what's driving this, and what obstacles will policymakers need to overcome to ensure it continues to thrive. 
Hosted by CSI Director of Policy & Research Glenn Farley.
Thank you for listening to Common Sense Digest. Please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcatcher. All of our podcasts can be found here.