It is petition circulating time in Colorado and thanks to Amendment 71 Grand Junction will be seeing a number of petition gatherers in our area. Amendment 71, while still being challenged in the courts still dictates that signatures must be gathered statewide for Constitutional Amendments. Proposed changes to state statutes do not have the same requirement but it is still possible to be asked to sign these petitions locally as well. Your signature is valuable and the Chamber urges you to be judicious in how you use it. If this is an issue you know little about or one you don’t believe in, it is perfectly okay to “decline to sign” a petition. Ballot measures are often crafted by special interests and often times those interests do not align with a strong business climate.
So far, the Chamber is aware of several proposed ballot measures that impact our local economy and our wallets that have been cleared for signature gathering. Here are just a few:
- Amendment 73 which requires education funding be tied to a percentage of total personal income in Colorado
- Amendment 93 which creates a Quality Public Education Fund to fund all-day kindergarten through a variety of methods including income and corporate taxes
- Proposition 66 which allows voters on a countywide basis to enact growth limits on housing
- Proposition 97 which would require all new oil and gas development to be set back at least 2,500 feet from occupied structures
- Proposition 82 which allows immigrants in the country illegally to qualify for identification cards and drivers’ licenses
- Proposition 83, the Fair and Simple Income Tax which requires that tax returns be four lines and tied to 4.6% of federal taxable income
- Proposition 94 seeks to increase severance taxes from 7% to 10%