Few things have historically been as good for Colorado and as bad as the state’s ballot initiatives.
While it may seem daunting to have to collect 124,238 valid voter signatures from across the state for permission to ask every Colorado voter just about anything you want, money solves that problem.
Dark money from deep-pocket political groups, such as Coalition for American Prosperity and Growth and Advance Colorado, has spent millions of dollars this year to pay petition collectors to get about a dozen questions on the statewide ballot.
Over the past several decades, the ability for state residents to do an end-run around the legislative body has produced some pretty cool and pretty catastrophic lawmaking.
In 2006, fed up with state lawmakers being able to shield themselves from pocketing a wide range of perks from deep-pocket donors, voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 41. That created strict ethical standards, limits and reporting mandates for all government officials and employees across every level of government. It was brilliant, and to this day has helped the press keep a bright light shone on attempts to take graft.
That was the good. There’s been plenty of way bad and hideously ugly.
Amendment 2, passed in 1992, attempted to illegally eradicate legislated LGBTQ+ protection measures across the state. At the time, Denver, Boulder and other governments had enacted laws making it illegal to discriminate against gay, lesbian and bisexual people. It shocked the vast part of the state that never thought that a place as welcoming and progressive as Colorado would ever pass such bigotry. Many voters who approved it said they were deeply confused by a measure that earned Colorado’s moniker as “The Hate State.” It was eventually struck down as unconstitutional. It would have been sadly amusing if the entire nation weren’t embroiled right now in the thick of a nearly identical bigoted bog with the Trump Administration’s no-DEI mandates.
Even worse than that, the Colorado ballot initiative inflicted the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights on the state, also in 1992, by a slim margin of 53.7% of the vote.
AKA TABOR, this is the citizen-enacted law that removed the power of the purse from state lawmakers, wreaking all kinds of havoc with how the state can tax and spend from the state Capitol. While it sounded appealing, with essentially ending the ability of state lawmakers to raise taxes without a vote of the people, it ended representative government and has been a statewide albatross that has diminished schools, roads and far more for decades. It’s an idea so bad that even after more than three decades, no other state has adopted it. Not even MAGA strongholds like Texas, Alabama or Wyoming. Not a single one.
The truth is, this really important right of Colorado residents to legislate for themselves has actually become nothing more than the political minority in Colorado — those would be MAGA Republicans and the like — to do an end run around the duly elected Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature. Colorado Legislative Republicans have become so rare and so extreme that they can barely pass the time of day under the Gold Dome for 180 days each spring during the session. They can barely pass amendments to Democratic-majority-led bills, let alone a unique piece of law.
So all they can do is soak big business and deep-pocket right-wing extremist bank accounts to pay flocks of people to annoy you at the grocery store to “sign here if you think we shouldn’t allow drug dealers to slip fentanyl into the milk cartons of kindergartners.”
The caution here, folks, is: Do your homework this year before you vote on the 14 statewide propositions that gave the Blue Book the heft of a 1972 Sears and Roebuck catalog.
Here are a few hints from me:
• Amendment 81: Law Enforcement Reporting Requirements to Federal Authorities — This far-right measure turns your local cops into ICE agents, which most local cops say is a terrible idea. Given the corrupt malfeasance of what the Trump team has done with ICE so far, vote “hell no.”
• Amendment 82: Right to Natural Gas – This far-right stunt is nothing but a ridiculous money toss to the gas and oil industry. No way.
• Amendment 83: Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish – Another cray cray proposal. Colorado has learned how important it is to allow DOW experts to make environmental decisions based on science. Voters approved the wolf-reintroduction mandate to create a new state nightmare. Nope.
• Amendment 84: Mail Ballot Voter Identification – a far-right waste of time and money chasing a problem that doesn’t exist and only making voting harder for people entitled to vote. Absolutely not.
• Amendment 85: ‘Plain Language Ballot Questions’ – Sounds great, huh? We already have this. Boards of people make sure ballot questions make sense already. Just say no.
• Amendment 86: Congressional Redistricting – Colorado solved this problem years ago. While the Trump era schlemiels are thick in this, Colorado has much more to worry about and a system that so far has withstood gerrymanderitis. Vote no.
• Amendment 87: Graduated Income Tax – There’s no way state lawmakers could have approved this change, partly because of TABOR. But the idea that a flat tax is fair, fair, fair is a lie, lie, lie. Flat taxes are proven to squeeze disproportionate fiscal blood out of the poor and middle class, rather than the “discretionary” blood out of the wealthy. Looks like most of us will only get about $300 a year out of this change, but the impact on raising money for the TABOR-starved state and public schools is huge. I’m giving it a shot with a yes vote.
• Proposition 132: Penalties for Fentanyl Crimes – Insidiously stupid. For decades, the science has made clear that locking up drug addicts only makes them worse and wastes endless amounts of public tax dollars. Don’t fall for this fib. Get tough on health departments, not victims of a national scourge.
• Proposition 133: Penalties for Human Trafficking of a Minor – This is a matter for the courts, which already throw the book at these criminals. Let the courts do their job. So, no.
•Proposition 134: Male and Female Participation in Sports – This is nothing but a bigoted swipe at the LGBTQ+ community and not fodder for state lawmakers. Let the schools sort this out. Nope.
• Proposition 135: Prohibit Certain Surgeries on Minors – The Trump Administration quackery run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and TV Doctor Oz makes clear that we should only allow doctors and patients to make their own medical decisions, not bigots and science-deniers. No way here.
• Proposition 136: Income Tax Rate Cap – This is like “SON OF TABOR.” This is why we have elections: to allow candidates for the state Legislature to represent us when it comes to taxing and spending and then be held accountable for what they do. This is like removing two spark plugs from your car in an effort to save gas. It doesn’t work. Vote no.
• Proposition 137: Sporting Goods Sales Tax for Conservation – Same as above. Targeted spending doesn’t come free. If you want to spend more money on conservation, where would you take it from? This question doesn’t ask that. Leave budgeting to the lawmakers we hire to do this and then remove them for bad behavior or send them back when they do what we ask. Don’t budget at the voting box. Nope.
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