the legislature's Joint Budget Committee, and a seat on the House Appropriations Committee as the ranking Republican member. During hearings before the beginning of the legislative session, Marostica supported withdrawing all state funding from public research universities, a move opposed by university leaders, but which was discussed more seriously after poor economic forecasts. Marostica also helped to lead an effort to allow the state to tap the financial reserves of Pinnacol Assurance, a quasi-governmental worker's compensation insurer, in order to balance the state budget. Following the legislative session, Marostica served on Colorado's Long-Term Fiscal Stability Commission, a panel created by legislation during the 2009 General Assembly to consider changes to constitutional constraints on the state budget. In February, Marostica was the only Republican who announced plans to support legislation to repeal Colorado's Arveschoug-Bird limit, which capped the growth of general fund expenditures at 6 percent per year. Marostica faced pressure from prominent Republicans, including Independence Institute President Jon Caldara and former state treasurer Mark Hillman, to drop his support; in response, he referred to Hillman and Caldera as "has-beens" and "losers," earning him additional criticism from House Republicans; Marostica later promised to apologize to Hillman and Caldera. Marostica was the prime sponsor of the bill in the House, where, after surviving an attempted Republican filibuster in the Senate, it was ratified, and later signed into law. Marostica also broke with other Republicans as the only member of his party to vote in support of a failed effort to repeal Colorado's death penalty; the proposal passed the Colorado House by one vote, but was defeated in the Senate. Marostica also sponsored bills to allow golf carts, scooters, and small electric vehicles to travel on some public roads, to allow state veterans organizations to provide burial for unclaimed remains of Colorado military personnel, and to allow building inspectors from other municipalities to assess structural damage to properties, a proposal stemming from a May 2008 tornado in Windsor, Colorado. to enable increased state funding for online education, and to keep Colorado's tobacco litigation settlement cash fund open for one additional year. Marostica announced plans to introduce legislation to expand the definition of cigar bars to increase the number of establishments exempt from Colorado's indoor smoking ban, but withdrew the legislation after facing opposition from Democrats; that same week, he denounced as "inappropriate and offensive" a British National Health Service flyer distributed by a