Colorado
The citizen-generated measures before Colorado voters this fall are struggling to find support, according to a 9NEWS-Denver Post poll conducted by Survey USA. Despite none coming remotely close to having enough support to pass, large numbers of voters remain undecided as ballots will be sent out by county clerks one week from Monday.
The debate about medical marijuana continues as the election draws closer. Opponents of a November ballot issue that would ban medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated parts of El Paso County gathered today. This ban would affect about 76 businesses, those dispensaries and medical marijuana grow operations outside city limits. The ballot initiative is called 1A.
Facing a significant loss of funding if Colorado voters approve Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101, the Brush Board of Education formalized its opposition to the ballot initiatives last week. The three ballot measures would offer tax and fee breaks for Colorado residents by reducing state spending, much of which goes to school districts. Board member Mike Dixon’s motion to adopt a resolution opposing the three initiatives was supported by all board members except Blaine Uhrig, who was absent.
Bankers, unions, Democrats and Republicans are joining forces to oppose three tax measures on November’s ballot. They claim the measures will cost 73,000 jobs if they pass, so the groups have raised more than $6 million to fight the proposals. Supporters say the measures will create private-sector jobs, but they have raised just $14,000 to press their case. The impacts would occur over several years.
Colorado has plenty of money, and, unless the state’s voters further restrain it, state government will continue to divert funds into programs it shouldn’t be funding, a backer of the so-called Big 3 ballot issues told Club 20 last weekend. “I’m tired of hearing that the state is broke,” said Debbie Schum, a rancher from Delta County’s North Fork Valley.
To kick off a campaign to extend a portion of a property tax mill levy benefiting the Summit School District, numerous community members and officials ”” even a student or two ”” gathered Tuesday at the Summit County Community and Senior Center. The Summit Board of Education recently voted unanimously to go to local voters with a school funding measure in November. Due to cuts, declines in revenue and new initiatives on the ballot that could further affect school funding, the school district is now asking voters to help make up the difference with a $2.1 million mill levy.
With the fall election on people’s minds, this week the Snowmass Sun asked Snowmass-Wildcat Fire Protection District’s Chief Steve Sowles, and Fire Marshal, John Mele, for more information about why they are seeking tax increases in November. Their responses to commonly asked questions follow: Snowmass Sun: What are the Snowmass-Wildcat Fire Protection District’s ballot questions going to ask for this fall?
A trio of state ballot initiatives aimed at bringing tax relief for state and local taxpayers may be too extreme even for Tea Party-minded Silt Mayor Dave Moore. “I still have some questions that need to be answered, but I’d have to say I’m leaning against them right now based on what I’ve heard,” Moore said of the tax-cutting, government debt-limiting measures that appear on the Nov. 2 ballot in Colorado.
The board of education for Trinidad School District No.1 came out in opposition at its Aug. 24 board meeting to a series of ballot initiatives intended to curtail a number of state and local taxes and fees. The resolution approved unanimously by the board calls the initiatives “unnecessary” due to the state constitution already containing provisions that, “require the state to balance its budget and that give citizens the right to vote on all tax increases and creation of debt.”
Coloradans will get to weigh in on the health care overhaul this fall with a ballot measure that attempts to block the government from requiring people to have health insurance. The Colorado Secretary of State today announced that backers of the ballot initiative collected the required number of signatures for inclusion on this fall’s ballot. Amendment 63 was pushed by conservative groups who feel the new health insurance mandate is an overreach.
A group that fell short of collecting the required number of voter signatures to place an initiative on the November ballot vowed Monday to get the job done by early next week. “If the (city) clerk needs more signatures, we’re going to get them for her,” said Kevin Walker, director of Citizens for Accountable Leadership.
Federal District Court Judge Philip Brimmer has put another nail in the coffin of the Colorado General Assembly’s attempt to silence the state’s voters. Back in June the judge issued a preliminary injunction against part of HB 1326 - which passed overwhelmingly in 2009 - that restricted how ballot initiative campaigns could pay their workers. Last week he followed with another order saying Colorado couldn’t prevent campaigns from using petition circulators from other states.
On August 1, Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute turned in nearly 131,000 signatures to qualify a ballot initiative for the November election that would take Colorado out of the federal government’s mandated health insurance requirement. The “Right to Health Care Choice” ballot initiative would amend the state constitution to say that no statute or policy adopted or enforced by the state shall require someone to participate in any public or private health insurance plan, health care coverage or health benefit plan.
John Hickenlooper, Scott McInnis and Dan Maes are all currently running for governor in Colorado. Hickenlooper is the current Democrat Mayor of Denver, McInnis is a former Republican member of Congress from Colorado, and Maes is a business manager who is also running on the Republican ticket.
Yesterday all three were at gubernatorial candidate forum and the topic of ballot initiatives and petition rights came up. Here is what they had to say:
John Hickenlooper and Scott McInnis may stand together against three spending-reduction initiatives on Colorado’s November ballot, but they separate on the issue of whether something should be done to make it harder for proposals like them to wind up before state voters in the future. Hickenlooper, McInnis and Dan Maes appeared at a Colorado Association of Realtors forum of gubernatorial candidates Thursday afternoon in Golden. The topics of questions ranged from eminent domain to transportation funding, and not all of the questions went to each of the candidates.