Private interests are using ballot measures to influence state laws. It’s worrying lawmakers.

(Via AP Storyshare)

While lawmakers were working at the State Capitol this spring, Coloradans were seeing a splashy TV commercial paid for by the American Petroleum Institute, the largest fossil fuel industry advocacy group in the country.

“Here in Colorado, our economy, good schools and state parks are all powered by oil and natural gas,” the ad said over ominous music. “But right now, a handful of politicians in Denver are pushing the most extreme anti-energy bills in state history.”

The commercial blasted lawmakers for introducing several bills that would have implemented aggressive new oil and gas regulations at a time when Colorado communities are plagued by poor air quality, especially along the northern Front Range where there is significant fossil fuel production. The fossil fuel industry also filed several ballot measures that would have directly contradicted the Democratic majority’s environmental policies.

“That’s a really scary proposition, which puts you in the place where you have to make a deal, or else,” Democratic Rep. Jenny Willford, a sponsor of the proposed regulations, said.

In the end, Willford and her fellow lawmakers withdrew their bills and the fossil fuel industry agreed to hold off on the ballot measures. Under the deal — which was signed into law earlier this summer — oil and gas producers won’t be subject to any additional regulations until 2028.

“The fact that they can do that and use it as a way to force legislation or force compromises,” Willford said. “I get that it’s part of the process, but it also feels really icky.”

This year’s fight over oil and gas regulations is just one example of how industries and wealthy interest groups are increasingly using ballot measures to influence Colorado’s lawmaking process. Lawmakers are concerned it’s undermining democracy.

Only Colorado and 25 other states have a process for citizen-initiated ballot measures, or initiatives brought to the ballot by private interests that are able to gather a required number of signatures from supporters. Almost every state allows for measures referred to the ballot by their legislatures.

Historically in Colorado, ballot initiatives have led to major policy shifts, like cannabis decriminalization in 2012 and the creation of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or TABOR, in 1992. This year, ballot questions also focus on hot-button issues including abortion, same-sex marriage, housing rules, and parental rights. Another contentious measure would make big changes to property tax policy.

Rep. Chris DeGruy-Kennedy was part of this year’s long-awaited bipartisan compromise to avert a sharp, exponential spike in property taxes that threatened to overwhelm many taxpayers.

Despite significant negotiations between lawmakers and other interest groups, the compromise didn’t leave everyone happy. One of the groups opposed to it, conservative political group Advance Colorado, is running two ballot measures, Initiatives 50 and 108, that would directly contradict the legislation.

The legislature’s property tax bill doesn’t technically cut current taxes. Instead, it keeps tax assessment rates the same for the first year and then reduces annual increases in those rates so taxes don’t climb too quickly. A core part of the legislation is also making sure schools and other local services that are funded by property taxes don’t lose too much money.

Advance Colorado’s measures would cap tax rates at much lower levels and require the legislature to make up for lost revenue.

“There’s some indication that they’re still trying to prompt action,” DeGruy-Kennedy said. “They’re trying to put on the strongest possible front to try to coerce the governor into calling a special session to cut taxes even deeper.”

Ballot initiatives are also one of the only ways conservative interests can counter the strong Democratic majority in the legislature, and DeGruy-Kennedy said the group is circumventing the transparency and public engagement that comes with representative democracy by running ballot initiatives.

“When these wealthy interests are able to do whatever the heck they want without having to engage in the process that the legislature engages in, it ends up just being all about their own self interest,” DeGruy-Kennedy said.

Advance Colorado’s president Michael Fields pushed back on the assertion that the group is trying to force lawmakers to do anything. He sees ballot measures as an important counterbalance to the legislature.

“It’s not an empty threat, it’s not ‘we’ll do this measure to get them to do something’,” Fields said. “It’s kind of an outlet to have a conversation with voters if legislators won’t act on an issue that we think is important and that voters think is important.”

Another issue with ballot measures is implementation. Senate President Steve Fenberg said that’s in part because legislation requires input from diverse interests, whereas ballot initiatives don’t.

“That’s how you get better policy with more people weighing in on it, more people discussing it,” Fenberg said. “Kind of like kicking the tires and figuring out what the unintended consequences could be.”

Fenberg referred to one ballot measure that he said would be particularly challenging, if not impossible, to implement if it passes. The measure, Initiative 310, would overhaul Colorado’s election system by implementing open primaries that include all candidates regardless of party and ranked-choice voting for general elections. It would also directly conflict with election legislation Fenberg sponsored this spring that created procedural hurdles to implementing the measure’s election changes.

At the end of the day, though, Fenberg said ballot measures play an important role in Colorado.

“It’s not to say that voters shouldn’t have direct democracy,” Fenberg said. “[Ballot initiatives] should be used as a way to force an issue, rather than set prescriptive policy in stone.”

So far, two measures have been cleared to appear on the November ballot here in Colorado. More than thirty others are still pending, though it’s unlikely all of them will be approved. The Secretary of State’s office will confirm the finalized ballot questions in early September.

Lucas Brady Woods, KUNC