TABOR Friends and Supporters,

Here is an update regarding the lawsuit the TABOR Foundation filed to stop the new taxes RTD imposed without voter approval.  The last we reported was that Judge Bruce Jones ruled against us, saying in essence that the legislature can change the taxes for RTD as long as an implausibly broad definition of existing taxes is met.

The legal firm representing us (for free!) is Mountain States Legal Foundation.  The attorney reviewed the Ruling and let us know that his organization would be willing to appeal on our behalf.  In March, your Board of Directors voted to authorize the TABOR Foundation to follow through with Mountain States as far as we can in order to win.  The attorney, Jeffrey McCoy, timely filed a Notice of Appeal.  That’s where the case rests now.

So that you know what to expect from this point forward:  The trial court has until roughly the end of June to send its case paperwork to the Court of Appeals.  After that point, the Plaintiff (us) and the Defendants will submit a series of written arguments and replies.  The attorney expects that the “Briefing” phase will wrap up in early-to-mid fall.  Only after Briefing is complete does the Court assign the three judges who will comprise the Appellate Panel to hear the case.  Administratively, it is unlikely that Panel will set a Hearing date until early in the winter.  If the case follows the expected timeline, we will have a decision by the Court of Appeals in late winter or early spring 2016.

Penn Pfiffner

Chairman

Our most recent need is for a volunteer to make order out of the myriad motions, etc. in our various lawsuits and to (very briefly) describe what each step means.  The web site is cluttered with the documents, but there’s not an explanation for what’s there.  The person we are looking for should likely have some background and familiarity with the legal process.  The time required might be around eight to ten hours for each of three lawsuits.