Denver's 2024 Ballot Issues

This year there are 14 state ballot issues and 11 Denver ballot issues. This post addresses the Denver ballot issues with brief summaries and my recommendations. A previous separate post will addressed the 14 Colorado ballot issues.

While I am a Democratic Party precinct organizer, these opinions are purely my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Democratic Party of Colorado or of Denver.

* Referred Denver ballot issue 2Q - increases sales taxes by 0.34 percentage points to raise $70 million a year for Denver Health.

Yes. Denver health is a critical cornerstone of our health care system and a Level One trauma center that needs more funding to function.

* Referred Denver ballot issue 2R - increases sales taxes by 0.5 percentage points to raise $100 million a year for affordable housing for low and middle class families with rental assistance and first time home buyer assistance.

Weak yes. Unaffordable housing is a huge problem in Denver. Subsidies are probably not the optimal solution (relaxing land use regulation is the most important step that can be taken), but it would still make a big difference to many people who are struggling right now.

* Referred Denver Ballot Issue 2S - creates a Mayoral cabinet agency of Human Rights and Community Partnerships.

Yes. This shouldn't require a vote of the people, and the Mayor and City Council want it. This housekeeping measure should be approved.

* Referred Denver Ballot Issue 2T - allows lawful permanent residents who aren't U.S. citizens to be police officers and firefighters.

Yes. There is no legitimate reason to exclude people from these positions simply because they are immigrants. The U.S. has a long and storied history of immigrant law enforcement officers and firefighters.

* Referred Denver Ballot Issue 2U - Allows most non-managerial Denver employees to unionize, bargain collectively, and strike (but prohibits strikes by police officers, sheriffs, and firefighters who already have collective bargaining rights and are prohibited from striking, and prohibits strikes by certain county court and Denver Water employees).

Yes. These employees should not be prohibited from having unions because they work for a local government instead of a private sector firm.

* Referred Denver Ballot Issue 2V - Allows for binding arbitration in lieu of an advisory fact-finding process when an impasse occurs between the City and Firefighters during collective bargaining.

No. Arbitration is a horribly bad way to resolve disputes, and is even worse in a situation like this one where it is entirely unprincipled.

* Referred Denver Ballot Issue 2W - Replaces salary setting for elected officials in the City and County by the city council for the post-election set of elected officials with a one time set of salaries adjusted for inflation over time.

No. Salaries for elected officials should not run on autopilot. The existing system works fine.

* Initiated Denver Ordinance 308 -  prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, display, sale, or trade of certain animal fur products in the City beginning July 1, 2025.

No. Animal fur products are no worse than eating meat. They should not be banned.

* Initiated Denver Ordinance 309 - Prohibiting slaughter houses in the City.

No. There is nothing wrong with eating meat and slaughter houses are a necessary part of a society that eats meat.

* Referred Denver School Board Issue 4A - Allows the school board to borrow up to $975 million financed with existing property taxes for capital improvements to school buildings.

Yes. Denver's K-12 students deserve to go to buildings that are modern and don't need major deferred maintenance, particularly to the extent that this can be achieved without raising taxes.

* Referred Regional Transportation District Ballot Issue 7A - Debruces RTD sales tax reveues.

Yes. This measure simply allows RTD to keep all of its existing sales tax revenues, even if they increase.

Colorado's 2024 Ballot Issues

This year there are 14 state ballot issues and 11 Denver ballot issues. This post addresses the state ballot issues with brief summaries and my recommendations. A separate post will address the 11 Denver ballot issues.

While I am a Democratic Party precinct organizer, these opinions are purely my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Democratic Party of Colorado or of Denver.

* Referred State Constitutional Amendment G - Tweak property tax breaks for disabled veterans. 

Weak Yes. It isn't much money and doesn't impact that many people. It has broad support and already exists in some form.

* Referred State Constitutional Amendment H - Reforms the professional ethics systems for judges.

Yes. The current system isn't very good.

* Referred State Constitutional Amendment I - Allows people charged with first degree murder to be held without an opportunity to bail out when "proof is evident or the presumption is great."

Yes. This is a small sliver of cases with a particularly high risk, and doesn't have much of an impact as bail amounts are usually set at very high levels in these cases anyway.

* Referred State Constitutional Amendment J - Remove the unconstitutional state constitutional ban on same sex marriage.

Strong Yes. In theory, this is housekeeping, but as Dobson (which repealed Roe v. Wade) showed, the U.S. Supreme Court can't be trusted to adhere to its precedents.

* Referred State Constitutional Amendment K - Tweaks deadlines for special elections. 

Yes. This housekeeping measure with broad support should be adopted.

* Initiated Constitutional Amendment 79 - Guarantees abortion rights in the state constitution.

Strong Yes. With Roe v. Wade overruled, this is necessary.

* Initiated Constitutional Amendment 80 - Creates a right to school vouchers.

No. This undermines the public schools and is an attempt to get the government to fund religious institutions.

* Referred State Statute JJ - Debruces sport betting taxation so that grow in revenue can fund water conservation instead of being refunded to casinos.

Yes. Debrucing (i.e. exempting a revenue source from TABOR) is always the right choice.

* Referred State Statute KK - Create a new 6.5% state sales tax on guns and ammo that will raise $39 million a year for mental health treatment, gun safety programs, and domestic violence victims.

Yes. The gun industry and gun owners should pay for programs that reduce the harm that the industry creates.

* Initiated State Statute 127 - Establish a misdemeanor offense for killing wildcats if one of eight exceptions (e.g. self-defense) does not apply.

Yes. Wildcats are almost endangered and are natural ways to regulate the ecosystem.

* Initiated State Statute 128 - Reduce parole eligibility for certain violent crimes.

No. Colorado's sentences for violent crimes are already more than sufficiently long, and making them a little longer for convicted felons who have aged out, doesn't meaningfully reduce recidivism.

* Initiated State Statute 129 - Create a new independent veterinary paraprofessional occupational licensing regime.

No. This complex regulatory decision shouldn't be made by an all or nothing initiative and isn't necessary.

* Initiated State Statute 130 - Increasing funding for law enforcement officers by 350 million a year.

No. Initiatives are not the place to make budget decisions and Colorado's crime rates are plummeting as it is now. Also, law enforcement funding is predominantly a local government decision and should stay that way.

* Initiated State Statute 131 - Ranked choice voting, a non-partisan jungle primary, and other election reforms.

Yes. Ranked choice voting would end the spoiler effect that makes third-party and independent political campaigns toxic in our current system. A non-partisan jungle primary would remove institutional barriers associated with a two-party system that discourages moderate candidates. There are devils in the details, like voter ID requirements for primary elections, that I don't love. But since it is a statute, the state legislature can fix those problems later. A challenge to the existing two political party system will never be secured through the legislature.

Crime Is Down

Crime is at near record lows. The economy is exceedingly healthy. Why is this election even close?

The Quarterly Uniform Crime Report (Q2), January-June 2024, provides a preliminary look at crime trends for January through June 2024 compared to January through June 2023. A comparison of data from agencies that voluntarily submitted at least three or more common months of data for January through June 2023 and 2024 indicates reported violent crime decreased by 10.3%. Murder decreased by 22.7%, rape decreased by 17.7%, robbery decreased by 13.6%, and aggravated assault decreased by 8.1%. Reported property crime also decreased by 13.1%. . . .  

Murder is down at the fastest rate ever recorded, easily eclipsing 2023’s previous record decline. Violent crime is down a fair amount — 4 or 5 percent — and will likely be the lowest reported violent crime rate since 1969 considering that 2023’s violent crime rate was virtually tied with 2014 for that honor. And property crime is down a ton thanks to the massive decline in motor vehicle theft following several years of huge increases.

Via the Sentencing Law and Policy Blog.

Cluster Bombs In Ukraine

Nagl and Rice, writing in the Small Wars Journal argue that making cluster bombs available to Ukraine starting in May 2024 has greatly increased Russian casualties:

The success of cluster munitions is seen most dramatically in the Russian casualty count increases after all the significant milestones above. Russian casualties have increased to over 35,000 casualties per month starting in May 2024 and have had over 150,000 dead or wounded Russians in the past five months alone[.]