Colorado 2013 ballot measures

2014 →

← 2012

Two statewide ballot measures were on the November 5, 2013 statewide ballot in Colorado. One was defeated, while the other was approved.

Colorado's state legislative session began January 9, 2013, and concluded May 8, 2013.

The signature deadline for initiatives was August 5, 2013. Supporters of Amendment 66, the one initiated constitutional amendment on the 2013 Colorado ballot, submitted 160,000 signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State on August 5 to qualify their measure. On September 4, the secretary of state declared that 89,820 signatures out of the 160,000 submitted were valid. The required threshold of valid signatures was 86,105, meaning Amendment 66 squeezed by with only a little over 3,000 valid signatures to spare.

Colorado Amendment 66 was one of only three initiatives on November 5, 2013 election ballots across the nation. The measure's support campaign, with its war chest of $10,427,029, received the most monetary donations of any support campaign for the 2013 election cycle. Colorado Amendment 66 also featured a very large discrepancy between support and opposition campaign donations. The "No on 66" campaign received only $36,043. This was only 0.3% of what was donated to the campaign in favor of Amendment 66.

Historical facts

• Since 1990, an average of 7 measures have appeared on the ballot in Colorado. Therefore, 2013 was a below average year.
• Since 1990, 54 of 127 or 42.5% of Colorado ballot measures have been approved by voters.
• Conversely, 73 of 127 or 57.5% of statewide measures have been defeated since 1990.

On the ballot

November 5:

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRSS	Proposition AA	Taxes/Marijuana	Impose a 15% excise tax and a 10% sales tax on all marijuana sales in the state	a
CICA	Amendment 66	Taxes	Raise additional taxes for funding public schools, and implement the new School Finance Act (SB 213)	d

Summary of campaign spending

Below is a table that summarizes the campaign contributions to both the campaigns for and against Colorado's two statewide ballot measures:

Measure	Donations in favor	Donations against
Amendment 66	$10,427,029	$36,043
Proposition AA	$65,635	$2,147

Signature collection costs

See also: 2013 ballot measure petition signature costs

Amendment 66 was the only state-wide initiative on the November 5, 2013 ballot in Colorado.

• Signatures to qualify Amendment 66 for the ballot were collected by FieldWorks, a paid petition drive management company. FieldWorks received between $704,046.89 and $987,845.09 for its work collecting signatures.

• Using the "Cost Per Required Signature" metric and considering that between $704,046.89 and $987,845.09 was likely spent on signatures versus a minimum requirement of 86,105 signatures, the CPRS for Amendment 66 that between approximately $8.18 and $11.47 was spent per required signature to qualify Amendment 66 for the ballot.

• Nationally, the most expensive signature collection effort in 2012 was in California, where $10.86 per signature was spent to qualify California Proposition 30 for the ballot. California's Proposition 30 was also a tax increase to boost educational funding. The average CPRS in 2012, nationally, was $4.06.

• There were only two other ballot measures in the country that were put on the November 5, 2013 ballot through petition. Signature costs for Initiative 522, which sought to require labeling of genetically engineered food, amounted to only $1.66 per signature, while for Initiative 517, which would have changed laws governing initiatives in Washington, the cost per signature reached $1.24.

Local ballot measures

See also: Local ballot measure elections in 2013

November 5

Voting on Marijuana
Ballot Measures
By state
By year
Not on ballot
Local Local marijuana Local marijuana tax

Fracking

Below are links to articles about the 5 local measures that proposed a moratorium or permanent ban on fracking in cities across Colorado. Four of these measures were on the ballot on November 5 and one, a City of Loveland Two Year Fracking Suspension Initiative, is awaiting a court case decision and may or may not be put on a latter special election ballot.

• Question 300: City of Lafayette "Community Rights Act" Fracking Ban Amendment
• Question 2H: City of Boulder Five Year Fracking Suspension
• Question 300: Broomfield Five Year Fracking Suspension
• Question 2A: City of Fort Collins Five Year Fracking Suspension

City of Loveland Two Year Fracking Suspension Initiative (This measure was moved to a July 29, 2014 election date.)

Marijuana tax

There were also sales tax increases for recreational Marijuana laws ballot measuresin the cities of Denver and Boulder, in addition to the successful statewide measure that sought an excise and sales tax on all recreational marijuana, Proposition AA.

County secession

In eleven counties, constituents voted on a resolution requiring their respective county commissions "to Pursue the Creation of a 51st State" in concert with the other counties seeking to secede. The counties in which this question were before voters on November 5 were:

• Weld
• Logan
• Sedgwick
• Phillips
• Washington
• Yuma
• Elbert
• Lincoln
• Kit Carson
• Cheyenne
• Moffat
  

Legend
Green Counties	Resolution on ballot
Yellow Counties	In process
Blue Counties	Support shown
White Counties	Under consideration
Red Counties	Not interested

April 2

On April 2, 2013, five ballot measures were put to vote. Three ballot measures were approved and two were defeated.

• 2 measures concerned the sale or zoning of city property.
• 1 measure was a charter amendment seeking to increase the City Council salary.
• 1 measure concerned the allocation of sales taxes.
• The remaining measure requested tabor override authority to retain excess tax revenue.

Notable measure:

Colorado Springs City of El Paso County featured a charter amendment to increase the City Council Salary from a little over $6,000 per year to $48,000 per year in an attempt to make it possible for young people and low-income people to run for City Council positions.

For more information about local ballot measures in Colorado, please click here. Read about local happenings here.

See also

• 2013 ballot measures
• List of Colorado ballot measures
• Colorado signature requirements
• Laws governing the initiative process in Colorado

External links

• Colorado proposed initiatives
• Colorado State Measure Blue Book/Voter Guide for November 5, 2013
• ColoradoBallot Review of the proposed initiatives