State Sen. Linda Newell, D-Arapahoe, State Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton and State Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver, talked about the bills they were sponsoring, the Legislature’s struggle to balance the budget, and fielded questions Feb. 9 as they met with the Englewood City Council.

Annually, the council invites the state legislators to provide prospective of the legislative session.

There was a lot of discussion of the budget. Newell said the Legislature faces the challenge of making very difficult decisions, including budget cuts.

Rice agreed. However, he added that, while it will be difficult, it will eventually cost more to do nothing than to do what is being proposed at this time.

McGihon also agreed. She said a lot could change, depending on how the federal economic stimulus money is used. She added that she was saddened to see the latest proposal that so much money originally earmarked for education and school construction was cut to reduce the total cost of the stimulus package.

One bill Newell is sponsoring was authored in cooperation with Arapahoe County that would use temporary assistance to needy families funds to provide job training and assistance in job placement for noncustodial parents ordered to pay child support.

“The idea is to help the individual obtain the skills needed to get a job so child support payments could be made,” the senator said. “That would put one individual to work and may help keep the other members of the family off the welfare roles.”

She said Senate Bill 09-100 passed the Senate Feb. 9 and now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Rice said a bill he is sponsoring would make changes in the business personal property tax.

He said at least one or two business property bills have been considered every year for the last two decades and, while there is a lot of sentiment to eliminate the tax, it probably won’t happen for a long time because it raises about $1 billion a year for local governments.

He said he feels the practical way to address the issue is to raise the exemption to a point where the tax would no longer apply to 30,000 or 40,000 businesses.

A bill requiring companies with more than 15 employees to set up a program where employees earn sick time based on hours worked is one of the bills McGihon is sponsoring.

She said, while many employers provide sick time for employees, that doesn’t apply to members of the General Assembly.

Her proposal would allow employees to earn an hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. She said the biggest opposition is from the hospitality industry and that statistics indicate 83 percent of the hospitality industry doesn’t have any type of system for employees to earn sick time.

Councilman Joe Jefferson said that businesses should be allowed to make these types of decisions based on what is best for the business.

However, Councilman Bob McCaslin said that didn’t always work.

As the discussions wrapped up, the legislators said city residents and members of the council are free to call or e-mail any time and said they hoped to be invited back to meet not only with the council but with city residents.