The Unaffiliated | The story behind the Colorado Concern, Advance Colorado property tax alliance (2024)

The property tax cut alliance announced this week between Colorado Concern, a nonprofit representing business leaders in the state, and Advance Colorado, a conservative political nonprofit, will heap pressure onto the legislature to come up with a long-term solution to rising property tax bills.

We’re learning more about how it came to be.

Dave Davia, the new leader of Colorado Concern, said the partnership came together “fairly quickly” so that the groups could file a trio of proposed 2024 property tax cut ballot measures by the close of business Feb. 9. That ensures they would be heard by the state’s Title Board this month — before a new property tax commission formed by the legislature issues a report to state lawmakers March 15.

“To be honest with you, a week ago there was a lot of runway between where we are today and where we had to get to,” Davia said Tuesday in an interview with The Unaffiliated, explaining that the hurdles included getting approval from Colorado Concern’s board and hashing out the details of their joint proposals.

Michael Fields, who leads Advance Colorado, said the two groups have talked sporadically in recent years about teaming up on a property tax ballot measure. He said he can’t remember who reached out first, but that there were obvious synergies between what the organizations wanted to pass and so Friday they submitted Initiatives 198, 199 and 200.

The measures would each cap statewide property tax revenue growth at 4% annually (unless there’s a statewide vote to raise the cap)‚ and then, starting in 2025, it would reduce the residential property tax assessment rate to 5.7% from 7.15% and the commercial rate to 25.5% from 29%. It would also exempt the first $55,000 of residential property’s value from taxation.

The difference between the proposals is how they would handle reimbursem*nts to local governments to account for the cuts, money that would come out of the state’s general fund. Initiative 198 would require the legislature to fully reimburse the cuts — potentially billions of dollars — while Initiative 200 would limit the reimbursem*nts to $750 million and Initiative 199 would instruct lawmakers to reimburse “to the maximum extent practicable.” The initiatives would prohibit the General Assembly from cutting school funding to make the offsets happen.

Davia said the reimbursem*nt amounts aren’t set in stone. “There’s room for discussion in landing on the right number,” he said. “Those are what our proposals say today, but there are going to be some conversations.”

But that’s probably not much solace to the Democratic majority at the Capitol, which would have to deal with the financial consequences of the proposals on the budget.

The bottom line: The state budget can’t absorb billions of dollars in new payments to local governments without major cuts to existing state services. Budget writers in both parties say big-ticket items like higher education and payments to health care providers are already underfunded.

Moreover, protections under the measures for K-12 funding are not ironclad. For one, they’re statutory, meaning they can be undone with a simple majority vote. Also, Colorado lawmakers for decades fell short of their school funding requirements under Amendment 23, and that’s in the state constitution.

Fields said voters have made it clear they don’t want local funding cuts, but that they don’t want a big spike in their property tax bills, either.

MORE: Two other things you should know: Fields, who is an alumnus of the national conservative political nonprofit Americans for Prosperity, said his organization still plans to pursue Initiative 50, which has already qualified for the November ballot. It would amend the state constitution to impose the 4% annual property tax revenue increase limit.

Additionally, Initiatives 198, 199 and 200, which are statutory, would offer a relief valve for local governments by allowing them to ask voters to raise local tax rates and not have those hikes be subject to the 4% cap.

We asked Davia if Colorado Concern and Advance Colorado have the millions of dollars they would need to collect signatures to get one of the initiatives on the November ballot available. He said they do.

Davia and Fields have suggested that if the legislature comes up with what they think is a suitable alternative, they would back off their proposals. But Davia said the Colorado Concern-Advance Colorado measures, which are certainly nonstarters for Democrats at the Capitol, are, in his opinion, “very balanced and fair.”

Analysis: The partnership makes a lot of political sense. Advance Colorado has very deep pockets, but as a conservative group it doesn’t have much sway among Democratic movers and shakers, which limits its influence in a state dominated by Democrats. Colorado Concern has some of that sway, but it has been less of a big political spender in recent years despite the wealth of its members.

COLORADO POLITICS

Does this mean Colorado Concern and Jared Polis are breaking up?

We’re months and big political and financial hurdles away from knowing whether the Colorado Concern-Advance Colorado alliance will result in a measure being on the November ballot.

But the partnership has immediate political implications.

Colorado Concern, which until recently was led by Mike Kopp, a Republican former state senator, for years partnered with Gov. Jared Polis on property tax and other fiscal policy proposals, most recently Proposition HH, which voters rejected in November.

Advance Colorado, meanwhile, fiercely opposed HH and has taken an antagonistic stance toward other Polis-Colorado Concern ventures.

“We are not separating from the governor, I would argue,” said Dave Davia, the nonprofit’s new CEO, pointing to how the measures would cut the state’s assessment rates and exempt a portion of residential properties’ value, two things Polis wants.

But that’s not how most everyone in the Colorado political world is viewing the situation, and the fact that Davia is only a few weeks into his new job is making observers think this is a sea change.

Shelby Wieman, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Polis “will review all ballot measures that qualify for the ballot as we get closer to the election in November to help determine which would best reduce property taxes, which is his normal process.” She didn’t, however, address the Colorado Concern-Advance Colorado partnership.

Behind the scenes: We know the failure of Proposition HH led to a lot of finger-pointing and bad blood within the coalition that supported the measure.

Separately, Davia said the alliance isn’t an indication that he doesn’t have faith in the state’s property tax task force. He just wants to be prepared if they don’t come up with a solution the alliance likes, which may not become clear until after it’s too late for Colorado Concern to pursue a measure on the November ballot.

“It’s just the calendars don’t align,” he said.

However, Michael Fields, who leads Advance Colorado, said he’s not expecting much.

One hot take: “Colorado Concern under Mike Kopp was instrumental in actually addressing transportation funding in Colorado. It was unsolvable until we solved it,” former state Rep. Matt Gray, a Broomfield Democrat, posted on social media, referencing the transportation fee bill the legislature passed in 2021. “Watching the organization join the Koch crusade hurts my heart.”

The fee bill was fought, by the way, by Fields and Americans For Prosperity, the national conservative political nonprofit backed by the Koch family.

THE POLITICAL TICKER

OIL AND GAS: A bill that would prohibit the state from issuing new oil and gas drilling permits starting in 2030 will not make it out of its first committee as written despite all the hoopla it’s causing. Sen. Dylan Roberts, a Frisco Democrat who is chair of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, where Senate Bill 159 was assigned, said he won’t vote for a measure that blocks the state from issuing the permits starting at a specific date. Since Democrats only have a 4-3 majority on committee, it can’t pass as-is without Roberts’ support. Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, a Longmont Democrat who is one of the lead sponsors of the measure, has told colleagues she plans to try to amend the bill in a sizable way. The measure hasn’t been scheduled for its first hearing yet.

COLORADO STATE SENATE: State Rep. Marc Catlin, R-Montrose, filed Tuesday to run to represent state Senate District 5 on the Western Slope. State Sen. Perry Will, a New Castle Republican who currently represents the district, recently announced he wouldn’t run for reelection to the seat he was appointed to in January 2023. Two Democrats are also running to represent the district, which leans slightly in Republicans’ favor, according to past election results. Republicans need to hold the district to have a realistic chance at winning back a majority in the Senate in 2026.

AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY: Americans for Prosperity Action, the campaign arm of the deep-pocketed national conservative political nonprofit Americans for Prosperity, has endorsed Republicans Jeff Hurd and Gabe Evans in their 2024 congressional bids. Hurd, a Grand Junction lawyer, is running to represent the 3rd Congressional District, while Evans, a state representative, is running to represent the 8th Congressional District. “AFP Action’s strong grassroots organization throughout the state will be focused on making Jeff Hurd and Rep. Gabe Evans Colorado’s newest congressmen come November,” Jesse Mallory, who leads AFP’s Colorado branch and is a senior adviser to AFP Action, said in a written statement.

ELECTION 2024: Floyd Trujillo of Littleton filed to run for the GOP nomination in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, bringing the number of Republicans in the contest to a dozen. Trujillo ran briefly for U.S. Senate in 2014, but was among several candidates who withdrew when then-U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner entered the contest. Joshua Griffin of Fountain filed to run as a Republican to represent the 5th Congressional District. Griffin is an Army veteran who was the oldest person to play football at Colorado State University. He is the fifth Republican to file to run in the 5th District.

CONGRESS: U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Lafayette, will run to be Assistant Democratic Leader of the House Democratic Caucus, the No. 4 position in the caucus after U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, announced Wednesday he is stepping down from the role after just a year. Neguse is rumored to be interested in running for Colorado governor in 2026. It’s not clear how moving up the House Democratic leadership ranks may affect those plans.

TINA PETERS: The Denver lawyers who parted ways with Tina Peters last week before her delayed-again criminal trial in an election security breach also withdrew this week from representing the former Mesa County clerk in two appellate cases. Peters is appealing a misdemeanor obstruction conviction and a contempt of court ruling, both out of Mesa County. It’s unclear who will represent the Republican in the appellate cases moving forward.

STORY: Colorado could become the first state to require in-person voting in jails

STORY: Colorado AG sues to block merger between parent companies of King Soopers and Safeway

STORY: Hundreds of formerly federally regulated Colorado wetlands and streams are unshielded right now

THE WESTMINSTER WINDOW: Congressional candidate Scott James brushes off national endorsem*nts for his opponent Gabe Evans

COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO: Colorado Springs approves resolution declaring it is not a sanctuary city

KUNC: A new bill would curb book bans in schools and public libraries

THE DAILY SENTINEL: Five GOP candidates appear at CD3 forum

THE DENVER POST: Colorado spends less on low-income legal aid than most Western states. That may soon change.

9NEWS: Denver Clerk and Recorder says his office will not comply with budget cuts requested by mayor

THE NARRATIVE

Odds and ends from the second major CD4 Republican debate

We wrote in Tuesday’s edition about how the Republican primary debate for 4th Congressional District candidates Monday was about more than U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert. Here are our other big takeaways from the Douglas County gathering:

• The candidates were asked about U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s legacy and his remarks in announcing his retirement from the 4th District about the Republican Party losing its way. State Rep. Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, said he thinks Buck “didn’t have the discipline to actually resist the temptations that D.C. provides.” Lynch’s comments were a nod to how many Republicans think Buck is too focused on making media appearances.
• “I’m the only candidate up here right now that is serving the leadership position in the state legislature,” state Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron said in a dig at Lynch, who recently resigned from his job as minority leader after his 2022 drunken driving arrest became public.
• “It’s time for new leadership,” conservative talk radio host Deborah Flora said a few times during the debate. She also pitched herself as the candidate who can win in the 4th District moving forward as it becomes more favorable to Democrats given the state’s changing demographics.
• The candidates were asked about whether they would support continuing military funding for Ukraine. Boebert, Flora and former state Sen. Ted Harvey said “no,” while Lynch couched his answer by saying the funding shouldn’t continue as long as our nation’s borders aren’t closed. Holtorf said “yes,” while former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg said “there are some things that I would support — I wouldn’t support sending troops.”
• Sonnenberg, talking about immigration, said: “Until we elect President Trump as our president, none of this is going to get fixed. That has to be priority one.”
• “If you’re looking for the slickest, snazziest speech that you’re ever going to hear, that’s not going to come from me,” Lynch said. “What you’re going to get from me is what happened seven days after high school and I’m on the bus and I’m joining the military — and I never quit serving this country.”

MORE: Weld County businessman Peter Yu made some bold claims during the debate about his 2018 congressional bid against Democrat Joe Neguse, which he lost by 26 percentage points.

Yu, one of a dozen Republicans running to represent the 4th District, said he “was able to pull votes away from the Democrats” in 2018 and that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders came to do a get-out-the-vote rally for Neguse at the University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State University in Fort Collins “because of that kind of effect.”

There isn’t evidence to back up either of those claims.

Yes, Sanders visited the universities a few days before the election in 2018, but it wasn’t because Neguse needed help. There were a host of competitive statewide and legislative elections in Colorado that year, and Democrats won all of them — flipping the offices of attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer and winning back a majority in the state Senate.

Yu also claimed during the debate that the National Republican Congressional Committee “declared” him “the top candidate in Colorado in 2018.”

We haven’t found any evidence of that either, and, frankly, it doesn’t make sense because the NRCC had its hands full trying to defend Republican U.S. Reps. Mike Coffman and Scott Tipton that year in competitive races. (Coffman lost, while Tipton won.)

Neguse beat Yu in 2018 in the reliably Democratic 2nd Congressional District, which is based in Boulder and also includes Fort Collins and Summit and Eagle counties. The last time a Republican won in the 2nd District was more than 50 years ago — 1972.

In an interview Thursday with The Unaffiliated, Yu said it was his perception that Sanders visited the 2nd District to shore up support for Neguse. He also said his claim that he took votes away from Democrats was based, in part, on remarks from two political prognosticators, one who is highly conservative and, mind you, wrongly predicted Yu would win in the 2nd District. Yu said the other prognosticator was from California, but he couldn’t remember his name.

Yu, who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination in the 2nd District, said the NRCC bit actually came in a private email from a staffer in the organization that was sent after the election to Republican U.S. House candidates in Colorado that year. And, according to Yu, the staffer didn’t say Yu was the “top candidate” in Colorado, but rather that he did the best job of “moving the needle.”

Yu said he doesn’t have access to his email account from 2018 to verify the message. The NRCC declined to comment. But you should know that then-U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, a Democrat, beat his Republican candidate in the 2nd District by 20 percentage points in 2016.

So Yu did move the needle in 2018 — 6 percentage points in the wrong direction for Republicans.

“I will make sure going forward that I’m a little bit more clear in how I present my statements,” said Yu, who also ran for U.S. Senate in 2022 but failed to make the Republican primary ballot.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

• Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s decision to invest more Pennsylvania money in Israel Bonds draws protest, Democratic opposition
  — Spotlight PA
• In New York win, Democrats sense a pivot on immigration and border politics
  — The New York Times
• California has had a woman in the Senate for 30 years. Is that about to change?
  — The 19th
• Feds deliver stark warnings to state election officials ahead of November
  — Stateline

Corrections & Clarifications

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