2018 Voter’s Guide to Ballot Issues

The official text for all these initiatives can be found on the Secretary of State’s website HERE.

Amendment V:  Lower Age Requirement for Members of the State Legislature – NO RECOMMENDATION 

 

Amendment W:  Election Ballot Format for Judicial Retention Elections – NO

Principles:  N/A

This is a solution in search of a problem.  Might decrease printing costs slightly, but the change might also confuse voters who think they are voting for all judges collectively instead of each judge individually.

  

Amendment X:  Industrial Hemp Definition – YES

Principles:  Limited government, Free markets, Property rights

By aligning our definition of “industrial hemp” with that of federal law, Colorado hemp farmers will not be disadvantaged in selling their products across state lines.

 

Amendments Y & Z:  Congressional and Legislative Redistricting – NO

Principles:  Limited government, Equal protection/Rule of law

These two are tricky.  Y refers to congressional redistricting and Z refers to legislative redistricting.  They should be considered together and voted similarly in order to remain consistent in principle.

While this amendment proposes to prevent gerrymandering by the party in power every census year, it also excludes minor parties from participating in the process. Furthermore, it places the power of redistricting into the hands of 12 people appointed by the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court and 3 former justices to create an “independent and politically balanced” board that will determine district lines.  Understand that we would be concentrating power in the hands of a few unelected, unaccountable appointees.  Recognize too, that this amendment will increase the length of the Colorado Constitution by over 12,000 words or 16% and would be extremely difficult to overturn if it doesn’t work or has unintended consequences.

 

Amendment A:  Prohibit Slavery and Involuntary Servitude in All Circumstances – YES

Principles:  Limited Government

It’s time to bury this issue.

 

Amendment 73:  Funding for Public Schools – NO

Principles:  Limited government, Equal protection/Rule of law

The reasons to oppose this are many. It does away with Colorado’s flat tax, pours more money into public schools with no accountability or guarantee of improved performance, and will tax corporations and small businesses yet again, driving them to set up shop in lower-tax states.

 

Amendment 74:  Just Compensation for Reduction in Fair Market Value by Government Law or Regulation – NO RECOMMENDATION

 

Amendment 75:  Constitutional Campaign Contributions  – NO RECOMMENDATION

 

Prop 109:  Statutory Authorization of Bonds for Transportation Projects (Fix Our Damn Roads)- YES

Principles:  Limited Government, Free Markets

While not perfect, this is a huge improvement over Prop 110.  No new taxes are involved, but it does increase state debt by $3.5 billion. This initiative serves as a defensive and strategic move on the part of Independence Institute and aligned liberty groups to cut the legs out from under Prop 110, which would increase the state sales tax by a whopping 21% with very little detail about how the funds would be distributed among transportation projects. 

 

Prop 110:  Statutory Transportation Funding – NO

Principles:  Limited Government, Free Markets

See Prop 109 above.

 

Prop 111: Statutory Payday Loans – NO

Principles:  Free markets, Limited government, Individual liberty/Individual responsibility

Where there’s a willing buyer and a willing seller, there’s a free market.  Government should not be allowed to dictate the terms of payday loans.

 

Prop 112:  Statutory Setback Requirement for Oil & Gas Development – NO

Principles:  Limited government, Property rights

This is a thinly-veiled attempt to ban fracking in Colorado.  While some make the case that local governments should decide whether or not fracking should be allowed within their boundaries, this would violate the property rights of those who would like to sell mineral rights to oil & gas interests.  These setbacks would take those rights away from property owners in about 85% of cases.

 

Ballot Issue 7G:  Denver Urban Drainage and Flood Control District Tax – NO

• *Because this initiative affects multiple front range counties (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson), we are including it in our voter guide.

Principles:  Limited government, Equal protection/Rule of law

This special taxing district is run by unelected bureaucrats who want to increase the mill levy in some counties by as much as 100%.  The district is also asking to be removed from TABOR protections under Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution, allowing them to increase the tax up to $24 million without a vote of the people. This is clearly “taxation without representation”.

Official text for 7G can be found HERE.

 

We also encourage you to vote for all Republicans on your ballot, especially our endorsees:  Tim Neville in Senate District 16, Christine Jensen in Senate District 20 and Tony Sanchez in Senate District 22.

Clear the Bench Colorado evaluates performance of judges

Matt Arnold, RLCCO member and author of Clear the Bench Colorado has done the legwork on judicial performance.  For his analysis go to Clear the Bench Colorado