Things have changed, as we suspected, for the November ballot. There are now 11 questions for us to consider. A couple need no extensive explanation, so we can consider the more complex in detail.
First, a clarification: The ‘initiative’ and ‘number’ will not appear on the ballot. Instead, they will appear as ‘Prop’ and ‘different number’ or as ‘amendment’ and ‘letters’. However, the title and text will stay the same.
Sooooo, here we go. Let’s start with the easy ones.
Initiative #257 Vote no
Local Voter Approval of Gaming Limits in Black Hawk, Central City, and Cripple Creek
The title sounds good but the expansion of taxes and the bureaucracy outweigh the good. Gives a little bit of liberty but takes a lot more. The impact on our local casinos is unknown at this time.
Initiative #76 Vote yes
State Income Tax Rate Reduction
Reducing the state income-tax rate from 4.63 to 4.55 is a good move when you consider how the legislature has created the ‘fee’ hoax. (See below.)
Initiative #76 Vote yes
Citizenship Qualification of Electors
Our constitutions both begin with ‘We the people…’ The founders fully expected this to apply to citizens. When passed, the Colorado Constitution, Art. VII, Sect 1, would change from ‘Every citizen…’ to ‘Only a citizen…’ has the right to vote. The recent allowance of non-citizens to obtain driver’s license and receive automatic “voter registration” option has created an opening for confusion.
Initiative #120 Vote yes
Prohibition on Late-Term Abortions
This one should be a no-brainer. Abortion is murder. Using taxpayers funding to support it makes the taxpaying public complicit against their choice.
Initiative #283 Vote no
Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program
This one creates more ‘socialist’ meddling in private business and an expanded bureaucracy.
Initiative #295 Vote yes
Voter Approval Requirement for Creation of Certain Fee-Based Enterprises
Our legislators have found a way around TABOR — fees and ‘enterprises’. These are exempt because fees were supposed to be for specified services like a parks pass or license plates (not the tax on your car). More and more every year the Legislature creates enterprises which, if less than 10 percent of the budget is from tax sources, are exempt from TABOR and can raise the rates at will. The Gallagher Amendment and TABOR were passed because the state legislature could not control its lust for more of your money and liberty. We must take every measure we can to control them.
Senate Bill SB19-042 Vote no
National Popular Vote
This one may seem confusing. A no vote means you wish to repeal SB19-042, which joined Colorado to the NPV compact.
This is unconstitutional on its face. The full title is ‘National Popular Vote Interstate Compact’. This is a clear violation of Article 1, Sect. 10, Par. 3 of the Federal Constitution.
This would result in the destruction of our republic. Our Founding Fathers created the system of presidential electors (not the ‘Electoral College) for this very reason: That as urban centers grew and became more liberal and dependent on government they would outvote the rest of the country and eventually go socialist. That is the exact purpose of NPV and why we must repeal this law.
To read the referred measures from the Legislature (and a fairly good summary), you can go to https://leg.colorado.gov, click on “bills” and enter the desired bill number in the left-hand box.
You can also use this link which includes a link for each measure to the actual legislative language. https://www.sos.state. co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/ballot/ contacts/2020.html
Also note when trying to locate the info in .gov, you must enter the “initiative” number, then also click the initiative number in the upper right box. As these are not “bills.”
Finally, a caution. What is on the ballot is not the actual legislative language. As noted, the local control of gaming does not inform you of additional taxing and bureaucracy.
Creston “Bud” Garner writes from Cortez, Colo.
