In a jaw-dropping power grab, Colorado’s Democrat-dominated legislature is bulldozing two insidious bills that threaten to obliterate the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) and strangle the voice of everyday citizens.
Already rammed through the House and the Senate State, HB 25-1327 is a blatant attack on Coloradans’ sacred right to launch citizen initiatives. The legislation slashes the already razor-thin timeline for setting petition titles, throws up a gauntlet of bureaucratic traps, and hits petition organizers with outrageous fines, up to $1,500, for even the smallest paperwork misstep.
There is also a sneaky “safety clause” that brands this bill as critical for “public peace, health, or safety,” blocking voters from challenging it through a referendum. This attack on citizen petition rights is designed to be untouchable, shielding itself from the very democratic process it seeks to destroy.
Meanwhile, HJR 25-1023 is moving toward a House floor debate with an even more sinister component. This resolution authorizes a taxpayer-funded lawsuit to dismantle the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR).
TABOR, a constitutional amendment in Colorado, passed by voters in 1992, is designed to limit government spending and taxation. It requires voter approval for most tax increases, new taxes, or debt issuance and caps annual government spending growth to the rate of inflation plus population growth.
Any revenue collected above this limit must be refunded to taxpayers unless voters approve keeping it. TABOR applies to state and local governments, aiming to ensure fiscal restraint and protect taxpayers from unchecked government expansion.
Taxpayers will be hit even harder by being on the hook to pay for lawyers to fight against their own interests.
Colorado taxpayers may foot the bill twice if Democratic lawmakers manage to pass a resolution directing the legislature to sue the state in an attempt to invalidate the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
That’s because not only will taxpayers likely be responsible for paying the lawyers hired by the legislature to bring the case, but they’ll also be on the hook for the costs incurred by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to defend against the legal challenge to TABOR, a constitutional amendment voters approved in 1992.
If House Joint Resolution 25-1023 passes as expected, the General Assembly’s nonpartisan Office of Legislative Legal Services would likely hire a group of attorneys to file the lawsuit. In the past, the legislature’s third-party legal bills in much smaller cases have cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.
SB25-173 just passed thirds. This disastrous bill attacks TABOR by letting the state hide revenue from taxpayers and keep money that should be refunded. In a $1.2 billion shortfall, Democrats are finding new ways to rob Coloradans instead of cutting spending. pic.twitter.com/xoLIOTM7bI
— Colorado House Republicans (@COHouseGOP) April 28, 2025
If this lawsuit prevails, it could unleash a tidal wave of attacks on other voter-passed laws, from transparency mandates and ethics reforms to term limits.
While the left spends time at protests chanting about ‘saving democracy, ‘ Democrats in Colorado are working hard to dismantle the democratic process in the state.
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