STAFF
Charles (Charlie) S. Brown, chair of the panel’s staff, was executive director of the Legislative Council Staff, the nonpartisan research staff of the Colorado General Assembly, for 17 years. The council staff is responsible for economic forecasting and analysis, including general and cash fund revenues, property tax assessed values, public school and higher education enrollments, prison populations, Medicaid caseloads, and the state education fund. The staff also provides fiscal analyses for bills during the legislative session, provides simulations of the state public school finance act, staffs all committees of reference of the General Assembly, and provides other administrative support services. Earlier, Brown was an assistant commissioner of education for two years, responsible for administering all aspects of the state’s system for funding public schools. Since retiring from state government, he has been a private consultant, including engagements for the Center for Tax Policy and the University of Denver’s Institute for Public Policy Studies.
Bill Hanna founded Bill Hanna and Associates in 2002, providing consulting and lobbying services assisting nonprofit and public service organizations. Earlier he was the legislative liaison for the Colorado Department of Human Services, serving as chief spokesperson and strategist for all state level legislative activities related to programs and funding administered by the department. Hanna also served as the d epartment’s fiscal note coordinator. He retired from state government in 2000.
Jim Jacobs , a former director of policy and research for the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, has analyzed public finance trends in Colorado for 25 years. Responsible for tracking developments in higher education policy both nationally and internationally, he served as lead staff member for the commission’s Blue Ribbon Panel, making presentations on higher education and directing the department’s fiscal note responses. As director of finance he oversaw the funding of Colorado’s higher education system. Before joining the Commission on Higher Education, Jacobs was director of research for the Colorado Public Expenditure Council (CPEC). He was the principal author of CPEC’s research publications on state and local government and taxation.
Phyllis Resnick is director of research for the Center for Tax Policy (CTP), formerly the Colorado Public Expenditures Council. Responsible for development and implementation of the center’s research agenda, she conducts research, authors the publications, and presents research findings to civic groups, conferences and legislative committees. She is involved in establishing an on-going partnership with University of Denver Daniels College of Business where she works directly with MBA students to jointly conduct a CTP research project each year. Resnick is currently involved in developing the Colorado Data Repository, a proposed data and modeling center to be housed at the Center for Tax Policy in partnership with the Daniels College.