DENVER — In one of the longest ballots in Colorado history that included 14 state-wide measures, including seven constitutional changes, Colorado voters were divided on some and very definitive on others.
Here is the complete breakdown of how the measures fared:
PASSED —
- Amendment G: Passed by 72.82 percent — This legislature-referred amendment expands the property tax exemption for veterans with a disability to include those with “individual unemployability” status.
- Amendment H: Passed by 72.93 percent — This legislature-referred amendment creates an independent judicial discipline adjudicative board and creates new rules for the judicial discipline process, including making the process public from the time the proceedings started, rather than confidential until the cases are completed.
- Amendment I: Passed by 69.02 percent— This legislature-referred amendment will make criminal suspects charged with first-degree murder ineligible for bail when the proof is evident or the presumption of guilt is great. The state Constitution currently says only those who have committed “capital offenses” can be denied bail.
- Amendment J: Passed by 64.25 percent— This legislature-referred amendment removes a sentence from the state Constitution that says “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.” Gay marriage has been legal in Colorado since 2014, and in 2015 the US Supreme Court ruled that marriage equality is the law of the nation, making the language invalid.
- Amendment 79: Passed by 61.86 percent — This citizen-initiated amendment will enshrine a right to abortion in the Colorado Constitution, and remove a current constitutional provision that bans the use of public funds for abortions, opening the door to public subsidy of the procedure. Colorado law already allows for near-unrestricted access to abortion (including for women from out of state).
- Proposition JJ: Passed by 76.24 percent — This legislative initiative will remove Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) revenue restrictions on the tax money collected by the state from sports betting. Currently, the state can only keep up to $29 million.
- Proposition KK: Passed by 54.39 percent— This legislative initiative creates a new tax of a 6.5% excise tax on firearms and ammunition manufacturing and sales to be imposed on firearms dealers, manufacturers, and ammunition vendors. A new cash fund would be created known as the Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax Cash Fund and would be used to fund crime victim services programs, education programs, and mental and behavioral health programs for children and veterans.
- Proposition 128: Passed by 62.17 percent— This citizens’ initiative will increase the minimum amount of time spent in jail for certain crimes before being eligible for parole. It will require offenders convicted of certain violent crimes on or after January 1, 2025 to serve at least 85% of their sentence and offenders with two prior violent crime convictions to serve their full sentence before being eligible for parole.
- Proposition 129: PASSED by 52.46 percent— This citizens’ initiative will create the profession of veterinary professional associate (VPA), requiring a master’s degree and registration with the state board of veterinary medicine.
- Proposition 130: Passed by 52.82 percent — This citizens’ initiative will create the “Peace Officer Training and Support Fund” to provide funding for law enforcement training, retention, and hiring; training surrounding the use of force. It would also provide death benefits for surviving spouses and children of officers or first responders killed in the line of duty.
FAILED —
- Amendment K: Failed by 55.17 percent— This legislature-referred amendment would have changed the deadlines for filing initiative and referendum petition signatures and judicial retention notice deadlines. It would shorten the timeline one week in order to allow one extra week for the secretary of state to certify ballot order and content and election officials’ deadline to transmit ballots.
- Amendment 80: Failed by 51.60 percent— This citizen-initiated amendment would have guaranteed parents the right to choose which school model is best for their child including everything from traditional brick and mortar to public charter, to home schools, and private schools. Advocates said it was needed to protect charter schools and other options from a legislature hostile to school choice.
- Proposition 127: Failed by 55.16 percent— This citizen’s initiative would have prohibited so-called “trophy hunting” of mountain lions, bobcats, or lynx, despite the practice already being illegal in Colorado. Opponents made a winning case that the measure would deny the ability of the Division of Wildlife to control the big cat population with current, science-based wildlife management practices..
- Proposition 131: Failed by 54.35 percent — This citizen initiative would have fundamentally changed the way elections are held in Colorado for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, University of Colorado board of regents, state board of education, and state legislature by utilizing an open system and ranked-choice voting for the primaries. It would have created a true open primary (all candidates run on one ballot, no separating primary by party anymore), and the top four would advance to the general election. Voters would rank their choices by preference, and those rankings would be calculated by eliminating the lowest performing candidate in “rounds” and adding the voter’s “next choice” to the results until only four remain.
