TABOR's nerdy little brother?

State Senators Sheila Harsdorff and Ron Brown have announced their opposition to the TPA and have proposed a law that would would "cap local government property tax levies at the percentage gain in new construction in their communities, plus inflation; limit overall state spending to growth in personal income statewide; and give local government new flexibility to deal with soaring health-care bills."

This is not as potent as the TPA in that it could be overridden by a vote of the legislature and, of course, sets what should, in most years, be a higher limit, i.e., increase in personal income growth as opposed to inflation.

Having said that, it could be better than nothing if it requires a separate vote on lifting the cap. Legislators who wish to exceed the funding limit would have to go on record rather than simply saying that they "had to" vote for the budget but would have preferred to spend less. It will make it less easy to claim that it was the fault of "those other guys." If this is the best we can get, it might be worth having.