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Tag: HB26-1430

CoCo’s tax heads to the ballot as backers move to pull Initiative 175
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

CoCo’s tax heads to the ballot as backers move to pull Initiative 175

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice For months, two transportation questions were headed toward the same November ballot, pulling against each other. One would have locked specified vehicle and fuel revenue to roads. The other would raise a new tax to build a train. Within 24 hours, backers moved to pull one as the district referred the other. On Aug. 27, Restore Our Roads announced it would withdraw Initiative 175, the construction-industry measure that would have amended the state constitution to reserve specified vehicle and fuel taxes and fees for roads.  The next day, the Front Range Passenger Rail District board voted 14-1 at the Transportation Technology Center near Pueblo to send its own funding question to voters. It asks for a 0.333% sales...
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Who controls CoCo: The governance architecture Polis leaves behind
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Who controls CoCo: The governance architecture Polis leaves behind

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Sal Pace knew the project before he ran it. In October 2025, the Front Range Passenger Rail District named Pace its first General Manager.  The district is a nominally independent, special taxing district created by the Colorado legislature in 2021 to plan, fund, and build passenger rail along the Front Range. Governor Jared Polis issued a personal statement praising the hire. According to FRPRD's hiring announcement, Pace had co-chaired the Governor's own Transition Committee to advance rail initiatives.  The board chair responsible for evaluating Pace's performance is John Putnam — a Polis appointee. That is one loop. There are several more. CoCo's governance structure runs from the district level ...
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When the people vote, the majority should not pre-load a workaround
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

When the people vote, the majority should not pre-load a workaround

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado is supposed to be a representative government, not a manager class that “handles” voters the way an accountant handles a problem line item. Yet that is exactly what HB26-1430 represents: a legislature preparing a conditional “counterpunch” that activates only if voters approve Initiative 175 this November. Reasonable people can disagree about Initiative 175. That is not the point. The point is this: the majority is building an escape hatch before the people have even spoken. That posture is a warning sign in any republic, because it reveals what leadership thinks about consent. What HB26-1430 is, in plain English Initiative 175 would amend the Colorado Constitution to redirect certain transportation-rela...
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