Basics
YES is always a vote to CHANGE the law. NO means existing law will remain the same.
Constitutional Amendments 81-87
An amendment to add new language to the Colorado Constitution is successful only if YES votes are 55% or more; this applies to Amendments 81-86. Repealing or changing a constitutional provision requires a simple majority (50% + 1), which applies only to Amendment 87.
Constitutional amendments cannot be changed by the legislature without a public vote. If a proposal doesn’t work well, supporters cannot be forced to correct it. The legislature can refer changes to voters but only with a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and House.
Propositions 132-137 are changes to state statutes and can be amended by the legislature.
Questions
Amendment 81 – Report criminal illegal immigrants
Overrides Colorado’s “sanctuary state” immigration law by requiring state and local law enforcement to notify federal immigration authorities if a person is charged with a violent crime or has a prior felony conviction and if that person is not lawfully present in the United States.
Comment: YES.
Amendment 82 – Right to natural gas
Adds a state constitutional right for consumers, distributors and utilities to buy or sell natural gas for heating or cooking in homes or businesses across the state.
Comment: YES to prevent Colorado’s crazy legislature and goofy local governments from taking away our choice to cook or heat with gas.
Amendment 83 – Right to hunt and fish
Creates a constitutional right to hunt, fish and take wildlife using traditional methods. Does not apply to non-game animals, endangered species or any animal illegal to hunt under federal law. Continues to allow the State of Colorado to regulate and manage wildlife for conservation and to preserve future hunting and fishing opportunities.
Comment: Again, YES to put guardrails around our state legislature.
Amendment 84 – Voter ID on mail ballots
Requires a voter to include, along with their signature, either the last four digits of their Social Security number of Colorado driver’s license or ID card when returning a mail ballot for a state or federal election. Prohibits counting any mail ballot that does not have this information. Provides the opportunity for voters to correct omission of those numbers.
Comment: YES to improve election security.
Amendment 85 – Plain language ballot titles
Amends the state constitution to require ballot questions to be written in “plain language” at no more than an eighth-grade reading level.
Comment: YES. While I dislike the idea of “dumbing down” our ballots, this will also make it more difficult for the legislature to manipulate ballot language.
Amendment 86 – Congressional redistricting
Colorado has a fair process for congressional and legislative redistricting which requires a commission consisting of Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters to approve maps by super-majority vote once every 10 years after each census. This amendment would prevent mid-decade redistricting unless those mid-decade maps were approved by that commission and the Colorado Supreme Court.
Comment: YES. Games both parties are playing with mid-decade redistricting are despicable. Let’s keep that out of Colorado.
Amendment 87 – Progressive income tax
If passed, this law is expected to increase state spending by $2.7 billion or about 11% in just the first year. It would replace Colorado’s simple, flat income tax (4.4%) with a progressive tax rate: 3.7% on the first $25,000, 4.2% up to $100,000, 4.4% on $100,000 to $500,000, 7.4% on $500,000 to $750,000, 7.9% on $750,000 to $1 million, 8.4% over $1 million.
Comment: NO. This deceptive measure tries to sucker voters with a tiny tax cut (at most, $325) while nearly doubling taxes on businesses and individuals with more than $500,000 in taxable income. Remember: “If you want less of something, tax it.” Apparently, proponents want fewer Coloradans to be financially successful.
Prop NN – Deceptive increase in state spending limit
Promises to increase spending on public schools by about $240 million a year but raises the statewide spending limit by $4.6 BILLION – which opens up a gigantic backdoor for the legislature to impose more “fees” without a vote of the people.
Comment: NO to this bait-and-switch scheme.
Prop 132 – Increase penalties for fentanyl crimes
Makes distribution, manufacture or possession of anything containing fentanyl or other synthetic drugs a felony. Penalty for possession of 1 gram or less could be vacated if the person completes a treatment program.
Comment: YES. Our state’s passive approach to drugs has failed. Fentanyl and other synthetic drugs are deadly. I support measures to punish those who distribute them and scare or punish anyone who might take a foolish risk by using.
Prop 133 – Penalties for human trafficking of a minor
Makes trafficking a child for sex a Class 1 felony without possibility of parole.
Comment: YES. There is no justification for a reduced penalty for someone who ruins a young person’s life by selling them to be used for sexual gratification. If this penalty is more severe than for murder (as some argue), it should be considering the lifelong damage it causes to the victim.
Prop 134 – Male & female participation in sports
Prohibits biological males from participating in women’s or girls’ sports in elementary or secondary schools, colleges or universities.
Comment: YES. Girls or women’s sports should be reserved for biological girls or women. Boys or men who “identify” as girls or women have physiological advantages that place girls and women at an inherent disadvantage and, in some sports, in danger of severe physical injury.
Prop 135 – Prohibit gender surgery on minors
Prohibits medical professionals from performing surgery to change a minor’s biological sexual characteristics.
Comment: YES. Colorado law already protects minors against making other life-altering decisions (including many less drastic than gender-reassignment surgery). Minors deserve protection against adults who coerce them to make an irreversible decision in response to a temporary problem.
Prop 136 – Income tax rate
Caps the state income tax rate at 4.4% of federal taxable income – an amount that could only be changed with voter approval. Prop 136 directly contradicts Amendment 87 (graduated income tax). If both pass, whichever receives more votes would establish the maximum income tax rate.
Comment: YES because it will keep Colorado’s income tax rate competitive with other states.
Prop 137 – Sporting good sales tax for conservation
Requires a portion of sales tax generated by sporting goods sales to be spent “to protect Colorado’s water, land and forests, prevent wildfires, and support outdoor recreational training and activities.”
Comment: NO. Most of us don’t like “earmarks” in Congress; this is the same thing at the state level – earmarking a portion of existing tax revenue to be spent on specific programs. This complicated proposal covers 3½ pages of small, single-spaced type. These programs should compete for our tax dollars through the budget process, just like all the others.