How The Threat of Ballot Initiatives Can Lead to Legislation

An example from The Colorado Sun:

Another special legislative session on Colorado’s property taxes appeared imminent Monday after a long list of top civic and business groups from across the political spectrum said they supported a deal to stop a pair of measures from appearing on the November ballot.

The deal would cut property taxes by an additional $255 million in 2025 for taxes owed in 2026 — on top of the $1 billion cut the legislature already passed this year during its regular legislative session.

In exchange, Michael Fields, who leads Advance Colorado, a conservative political nonprofit, said he would pull Initiatives 50 and 108 off the statewide ballot. Doing so would prevent even larger tax cuts that elected officials in both parties feared would lead to recession-like cuts to state and local services.

“This seems like a good path forward to end — hopefully — the property tax battles, and de-risk the budget,” Mark Ferrandino, the governor’s budget director, told the state’s Property Tax Commission on Monday.

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