Colorado voters will decide whether the Legislature should have more control over how money from legal settlements and the federal government is spent after a third and final measure qualified to be on the statewide ballot in November.
The signatures turned in to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office by proponents of Initiative 19 were deemed sufficient Aug. 31.
To get their question on the Nov. 2 ballot, backers needed the signatures of 124,632 registered voters, including a minimum of 2% of registered voters from each of Colorado’s 35 state Senate districts.
The two other questions on the statewide ballot in November are:
- Initiative 27, which would lower the property tax assessment rate for multi-family residential homes to 6.5% from 6.8% and to 26.4% for lodging properties from 29%.
- Initiative 25, which would impose a new 3% sales tax on recreational marijuana starting Jan. 1 and increasing to 5% by Jan. 1, 2024, at which point it is projected to generate about $138 million a year. That’s in addition to the existing 15% state sales tax on recreational marijuana. The money generated by the increased taxes would go toward bolstering out-of-school learning.
Initiatives 19 and 27 are being pushed by Colorado Rising Action, a conservative fiscal group.
Initiative 25 has bipartisan support, though the marijuana industry and the state’s largest teachers union have expressed concern about the measure.
Colorado Education Association President Amie Baca-Oehlert said her organization has anxieties over the implementation of the out-of-school learning program under the measure and whether students will truly be able to access aid in their communities.
There are no other groups seeking to place measures on the November ballot.
