Click the link to read the article on the Alamosa Citizen website:
May 20, 2024
It’s filling up. Already nine ballot measures have been approved for Colorado voters to decide in the Nov. 5 general election. Two of the measures are citizen initiatives – one requiring the state to seek voter approval to retain property tax revenue projected to increase more than 4 percent over the prior year; another asking voters to signal the right to an abortion, including allowing for health insurance coverage for public employees.
The other seven measures were sent to the ballot by the Colorado Legislature. Those include:
- A proposed amendment to the Colorado Constitution that removes the provision that states, “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in the state.”
- A ballot measure that would collect an 11 percent retail sales tax from firearms dealers, manufacturers, and ammunition vendors. The collected revenue would fund the Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax Cash Fund that would support programs for crime victims, education, and mental and behavioral health for children and veterans.
- A legislative-approved ballot measure that asks voters to allow the state to retain tax revenue collected above $29 million annually from sports betting. The money kept by the state would be used to pay for projects in the Colorado Water Plan.
In an episode of The Valley Pod, Colorado State Sen. Cleave Simpson and State Rep. Matthew Martinez talked about their support for the state legislature’s referred-measure to amend the Colorado Constitution on the definition of marriage. If adopted the amendment essentially would remove the ban on a same-sex marriage in the Colorado Constitution.
“Nobody here (in Colorado) has been denied a marriage license for same-sex marriage because of the direction from the U.S. Supreme Court. This just affirms and puts us in that position,” said Simpson. “And I have any number of same-sex marriage friends and acquaintances, and I just think out of respect to them, and this should be something that the people of Colorado should decide. It doesn’t have huge financial implications. It doesn’t have huge personal implications other than folks, I know that this impacts them. And I think this is something that the voters should be able to decide.”
“I think it’s pretty straightforward. And we’ve had this control through the legislature, the ability to have same-sex marriage for some time,” said Martinez. “This just really aligns what we’re already doing, both with the state and with the federal level.”
Simpson also weighed in on allowing Colorado to keep gambling revenue that exceeds $29 million in any given year. Currently revenue above $29 million that’s collected goes back to the casinos that generated the revenue.
In addition to the measures already on the ballot, there are 25 others with petitions out collecting voter signatures to try to qualify. Here’s a look at what’s qualified so far:
Other proposed amendments to the Colorado Constitution referred by the Colorado Legislature
Colorado Independent Judicial Discipline Adjudicative Board Amendment – Amendment to the Colorado Constitution concerning judicial discipline and establishing an independent judicial discipline adjudicative board, setting standards for judicial review of a discipline case, and clarifying when discipline proceedings become public.
Colorado Initiative and Referendum Filing and Judicial Retention Filing Deadlines Amendment – Changes deadlines for filing initiative and referendum petition signatures and judicial retention notice deadlines and allows for one extra week for the Colorado Secretary of State to certify ballot order and content and election officials’ deadline to transmit ballots.
Colorado Property Tax Exemption for Veterans with Individual Unemployability Status Amendment – Expands eligibility for property tax exemption by allowing a veteran who has individual unemployability status, as determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, to claim the property tax exemption beginning in 2025.
Remove Right to Bail in First Degree Murder Cases Amendment — Creates an exception to the right to bail for cases of murder in the first degree when proof is evident or presumption is great.
Ballot Initiatives
Initiative No. 50 Voter approval to retain additional property tax revenue – Proposal “conditionally decreases property tax revenue in years when statewide property tax revenue is projected to grow more than 4 percent over the prior year, unless voters approve a ballot measure allowing for the additional revenue to be retained.” The initiative is sponsored by Advance Colorado Institute, a conservative think tank.
Initiative No. 89 Right to Abortion – Proposals reads, “The right to an abortion is hereby recognized. Government shall not deny, impede, or discriminate against the exercise of that right, including prohibiting health insurance coverage for abortion.” Initiative submitted by Dusti Gurule of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights; and Dani Newsum, director of strategic partnerships at Cobalt, reproductive advocates.