Colorado State Election Recap
2020 ELECTION
With all 65 seats up in the House and 18 of 35 in the Senate , last Tuesday ’ s election minimally changed the composition of the Colorado state legislature . Democrats will maintain control of both chambers .
While the Ds lost one seat in the House , Rep . Bri Buentello ( HD 47 - Pueblo ), so did the Rs , Rep . Richard Champion ( HD 38-Littleton ), so the split remains 41-24 in the lower chamber . Senator Jack Tate ( R-Centennial ) decided not to run for reelection in SD 27 and the Republican candidate was not able to hold that seat so the Ds increased their count by one in the Senate for a 20-15 majority . While the R and D split remains very close to the same there will be many new faces at the capitol next year . We will have 15 new House members and 6 new Senate members ( although 3 of the new Senate members will look very familiar as they just completed terms in the House !)
Leroy Garcia ( D-Pueblo ) and Steve Fenberg ( D-Boulder ) will remain Senate President and Majority Leader , respectively . Sen . Chris Holbert ( R-Douglas County ) will continue as Senate Minority Leader .
Current Speaker of the House KC Becker ( D-Boulder ) is term limited and will be replaced as Speaker by current House Majority leader Alec Garnett ( D-Boulder ). Daneya Esgar ( D-Pueblo ) will take Garnett ’ s place as Majority Leader . House Republicans have not yet held their leadership elections as of this writing .
Statewide Ballot Issues
Proposition EE ( Taxes on Nicotine Products ) passed handily , with more than 68 % of the vote . This authorizes a tobacco
tax increase and creates a new tax for e-cigarettes . The revenue is allocated to early childhood education , various health programs and housing .
Amendment B ( Gallagher Repeal ) also passed , with just over 57 % of the vote . As a result of this repeal , commercial and residential property tax assessment percentages will be frozen at their current rates rather than the residential rate continuing to decrease as residential property values increase .
Three ballot issues that also passed and will inevitably have major impacts to the state budget include Propositions 116 , 117 , and 118 . The revenue loss anticipated from the passage of these propositions will create challenges to all aspects of Colorado programs that are funded through the state budget .
• Prop 116 decreased the income tax rate from 4.63 % to 4.55 % which will ultimately impact the amount of state revenue that will be collected . This will continue to cause challenges to the Joint Budget Committee when trying to backfill the state programs that have been cut due to COVID .
• Prop 117 requires the legislature to get voter approval when increasing state fees to anything that will raise $ 50 million over the first 5 years . This will create barriers on the Joint Budget Committee when attempting to fund existing state programs and could lead to more state budget challenges when coupled with other established requirements under TABOR .
• Prop 118 created a state Paid Family Leave program . This proposal has been under consideration by the state legislature for a number of years and models predict a high implementation cost . This could potentially cost the state quite a bit of money to get off the ground . www . aamdhq . org NOV / DEC 2020 TRENDS | 73