Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, proposed by Sen. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, and Rep. Matt Gray, D-Broomfield, would ask voters permission to amend the state’s constitution to replace “state excise taxes on gasoline and other liquid motor fuel with an additional state sales and use tax.”
The new revenue would exclusively fund road construction and maintenance.
The Democratic-controlled legislature has had little trouble passing several controversial bills, leading to Republicans and grassroots groups calling for voters to recall some of the lawmakers behind the pieces of legislation that opponents say don’t represent the views of citizens.
Democrats control both chambers of the General Assembly, and Democratic Gov. Jared Polis supports a vast majority of legislation Democratic lawmakers have passed or plan on passing.
When British citizens voted to leave the European Union, I doubted the British political establishment would allow that decision to stand. Today that establishment is doing everything it can to undermine the Brexit referendum.
Such conduct is not limited to Britain. In the United States also, government officials have a long history of sabotaging ballot measures they don’t like.
Similarly, in 2015 SCOTUS reversed 30 statewide votes reaffirming — generally by landslide margins — the traditional definition of marriage.
But according to a new study, that’s not really the case.
Personal finance website GoBankingRates.com found that some states are actually flourishing more than others when it comes to job creation.
A bill that would ask voters to let Colorado keep more tax revenue — with a third of the money going toward schools — moved forward Monday, even as backers stressed that it is not a “cure-all” for the state’s broader fiscal challenges.
That uncertainty has education advocates watching nervously even though the proposed budget includes a major policy win: an $185 million set-aside to fully fund kindergarten starting this fall. If lawmakers and Gov. Jared Polis do put a lot more money into transportation, other K-12 programs could feel a pinch.
The legislature has a $33B budget and a $1.4B surplus this year. That’s more than enough money. Voters have rejected tax hike after tax hike on the ballot. This will be no different.
PUBLISHED ON MAR 10, 2019 5:00AM MDT
Michael Fields@MichaelCLFields
Special to The Colorado Sun
In a growing partisan culture, there’s still something Coloradans ranging the political spectrum can agree on: the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR).
In recent public polling, when given the simple, unbiased definition, 71 percent of registered voters in Colorado support TABOR, while only 28 percent oppose the law.
What’s the secret to this overwhelming popularity? First, Coloradans love being able to vote on tax increases. It’s simple: the government has to make the case to voters in order to get more of their hard-earned money.
Michael Fields
Second, TABOR provides guardrails for the size of government. The state budget still grows every year, but the growth is limited. TABOR keeps the government truly serving the people.
Over the past several years, voters have sent a message to state lawmakers by voting down the last six statewide tax increases on the ballot — most by huge margins.
But this hasn’t stopped lawmakers and progressive special interest groups from developing workarounds in the form of fees, enterprises, and lawsuits to allow the state to spend more taxpayer money. Continue reading
The measure would amount to the most substantial effort in years to rollback the state’s unique limits on government spending
TABOR Committee members,
The TABOR Committee benefits from having two attorneys staying on top of a new threat to TABOR. One of our Board members, Rebecca Sopkin, and our corporate attorney, Bill Banta, have been watching the developments of a proposed measure that would repeal TABOR in its entirety. The initiated ballot issue would have to collect signatures first before going on this fall’s ballot. The first Title-Setting Board hearing rejected the proposal because it violated the single-subject requirement. After all, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights deals, among other things, with taxing limits on all levels of government, the same for spending limits, specific election requirements, notification requirements, emergency spending and state mandates. The proponents of the measure appealed the initial single-subject ruling, asking for a rehearing. On February 6, at the rehearing, the Title Board upheld its prior decision. Therefore, no title is presently approved for the repeal initiative.
The system is set up to move along faster than normal for any further appeals. The proponents (Carol Hedges and Steve Briggs) may appeal directly to the Colorado Supreme Court to reverse the Title Board’s decision. That skips hearings at the trial court level and the Appellate Court level. There is no automated system to notify objectors (i.e., the TABOR Committee) if that appeal is filed, but our volunteers will keep monitoring for further developments.