39D6E1FE6EE5B7FF8725846B006E1C4E Hearing Summary

Mr. Schwartz and Ms. Logan presented the first Colorado Youth Advisory Council (COYAC) policy recommendation, concerning a children's budget. Committee members received a summary of the proposal (Attachment A) and a sample children's budget document (Attachment B). Ms. Logan noted that there is no consistent definition of "youth" across state departments and agencies. Mr. Schwartz discussed the benefits of a written children's budget.

Ms. Logan explained that legislating this issue would provide an official record, increasing accountability and reducing bias.

Senator Court discussed the challenge of determining which items to include in the children's budget. She expressed concerns with trying to pull in state education spending. Senators Coram and Todd continued to discuss the scope of the children's budget.

Mr. Schwartz responded to questions from Representative McKean about the goals of the policy recommendation. Ms. Logan suggested that the budget document could be kept to the department level. Committee members discussed the tension between making the document useful but keeping it manageable.

Representative McKean made suggestions for how to continue refining the proposal and asked that it be revisited later in the meeting. Senators Todd, Court, and Coram made additional suggestions.