Colorado’s ballots routinely feature citizen-led initiatives to amend statute or, more commonly, the state constitution. While 2013, an off-year election, only saw two statewide initiatives — Amendment 66, the failed school finance measure, and Proposition AA, which enabled Colorado to tax recreational marijuana sales — the list of proposed measures aiming for a spot on the 2014 ballot is lengthy. The age-old attempt to define personhood at conception will once again appear before voters, and a litany of others are awaiting approval. Those include gun-related measures, one that would form a state-owned bank, a labeling requirement for GMO foods, and initiatives addressing health care.
Far and away, though, energy-related measures dominate the list of proposed initiatives. There are at least a dozen such initiatives vying for a spot on the ballot. They range from attempts to expand local control over whether gas and oil development occurs in a given community to counter-measures that would limit oil and gas tax revenue for communities in which drilling is banned. The list is long, the topics varied. Taken together, these proposed initiatives provide a crucible in which to conduct the fight over gas and oil development in Colorado. It is a more polarizing environment than doing so through a stakeholder process or via legislative means — either at the municipal or county level, or at the state capitol.
Get ready for a politically charged election season, made more so by a ballot full of divisive energy-related measures. Won’t it be fun.
http://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_2014_ballot_measures
