WHAT KIND OF COLORADO DO YOU WANT?
Voters in Colorado's November election will be asked to decide on three measures that, if passed, will have a devastating effect on Colorado communities. Amendment 60, Amendment 61 and Proposition 101 are statewide measures that overturn local communities' decisions, impoverish school districts, and halt the development and improvement of state infrastructure.
Vote No on Prop101, A60, and A61.
» Learn more: Proposition 101
» Learn more: Amendment 60
» Learn more: Amendment 61
Just as the economy is beginning to grow, these three measures would stamp out any further progress and worsen Colorado's precarious fiscal situation. Now is the time to prepare for the future, not undermine it.
» Learn more: Impacts in your county
» Learn more: ballot Guide
Three dangerous ballot initiatives have been filed for the November 2010 ballot and are poised to wreak havoc on Colorado's economy. Proposition 101, Amendment 60 & Amendment 61 will collapse Colorado's economy and shut down our ability to ensure our critical capital infrastructure can continue in the future. The combined effect of these initiatives on publically supported services will be devastating, severely impacting Colorado's environment.
Multiple tax reductions contained in the proposals will mean fewer resources for public activities of all types.
We will we see grave cuts to schools, local governments, health care and other services, as well as significant reductions to funds which support water delivery and treatment, environmental monitoring, transit and natural resource management efforts. To cope with these initiatives we will endure a host of increased fees and the elimination of publicly supported infrastructure and loan bonding programs.
These initiatives will limit and impair Colorado's ability to ensure the protection of our air, land and water resources.
Programs that could be eliminated or severely impacted:
- Endangered Species Recovery Program
- Water Quality Control Division Monitoring and Enforcement Programs
- Bark Beetle mitigation and recovery efforts
- Invasive species removal programs
- Transit programs (site specifics)
- Fees for hunting and fishing licenses (increased)
- Usage fees for state parks (increased)
- Fees for many local water suppliers and wastewater treatment plants (increased)
- Loss of matching federal funds for a variety of programs
- Instream flow programs
- Water Efficiency programs
- Wildlife conservation efforts
- Air Quality Control Division Monitoring and Enforcement programs
- Renewable Energy programs
- Others?
Who opposes these measures?
- AARP
- Action 22
- CH2MHill
- Club 20
- Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry
- Colorado Center for Law and Policy/COFPI
- Colorado Community College Board
- Colorado Corn Growers
- Colorado Competitive Council
- Colorado Economical Council Association
- Colorado Visitor and Convention Bureau
- Colorado Environmental Coalition
- Colorado Education Association
- Denver Chamber of Commerce
- Jefferson County Economic Development Council
- Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce
- Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District
- Individuals:
- Senator Josh Penry
- Governor Ritter
- Mayor Hickenlooper
Don't Hurt Colorado Fact Sheet (pdf)
|
Proposition 101 (pdf):
|
|
What it will do:
- Slash support for vital community services like health care, environmental protection, higher education and public safety
- Reduce transportation investment by hundreds of millions of dollars—taking the car registration fee amount back to the 1919 level
- Property taxes will be reduced to $2 for new cars and $1 for used cars, cutting over $250 million from local schools.
|
|
Environmental Impacts:
These massive budget cuts statewide will ultimately lead to cuts in important environmental programs such as:
- Division of Water Resources
- Who will ensure that Colorado's water is legally attained and used?
- Water Quality Control Division
- How will can we ensure our water is safe and clean for healthy rivers, clean drinking water, and thriving fisheries?
- Parks and Outdoor Recreation
- Will our state parks and outdoor recreation activites be able to exist without funding? Or will we as citizens incur enormous fees to access the places we love?
- Divison of Wildlife
- How will invasive species programs and endangered species protection programs continue?
|
|
Amendment 60 (pdf):
What it will do:
- Overturn the will of local voters by voiding past elections
- Cut more than a billion dollars in local funding for schools while putting additional strain on other essential state services
- Mandate new property taxes on water authorities, public universities and Division of Wildlife land that will translate to higher fees
|
|
Environmental Impacts:
Because this amendment will reduce and eliminate property taxes, the state will have to backfill in order to fund K-12 education which could reduce current funding for environmental programs by 20-60%. We as Coloradons will acquire the costs of higher water usage fees, outdated water treatment facilities, and higher fees or even closure for Department of Wildlife public land access. Is this what we want for Colorado?
|
|
Amendment 61 (pdf):
|
|
What it will do:
- Prohibits all state borrowing including short term leases, cash flow loans, and for building public roads, universities, and hospitals
- Undermines Colorado's past infrastructure investments
- Forces local governments to spend more for essential investments like school buildings, water treatment facilities and roads
|
|
Environmental Impacts:
If projects lose the ability to borrow from the state, the state will no longer acquire interest from the loans that traditionally fund many of our environmental programs. As a result, many of our current programs will effectively be eliminated or grinded to a halt, such as:
- Colorado Water Conservation Board Construction Fund
- RTD Fast Tracks project completion
- Water efficiency rebate programs
- Stream quality programs
- In-stream Flow programs
- Endangered Species Conservation Trust
- the list goes on…
|
