Tax policy - Rocky Mountain Voice

Activism over science? Ballot measure #82 would gut CPW authority, opponents say

Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories / May 27, 2025 / Ballot Initiative, Ballot-box Biology, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Conservation Policy, Hunting Rights, Private Property Rights, Science-Based Management, Tax policy, Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation Commission

Critics across Colorado’s hunting, ranching, and wildlife management communities are sounding the alarm over a 2026 ballot measure they say could upend science-based conservation and rural land rights.

Initiative #82, called the Colorado Wildlife and Biodiversity Protection Act, would create a new regulatory body, the Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation Commission (WECC). The commission would hold far-reaching powers over endangered species protections, wildlife corridors, land use, and even Colorado Parks and Wildlife itself.

Activism over science? Ballot measure #82 would gut CPW authority, opponents say Read More »

Polis’ ‘libertarian’ label faces reality check from Reason Magazine

DENVER — Amidst ongoing battles within his own party, and despite recently vetoing a pair of bills that concentrated more authority in Colorado state government, Jared Polis’ carefully scripted reputation as a libertarian-leaning governor appears to be fading.

Even Reason Magazine, the national media outlet that has for years has hung its hat on the idea that Polis is more liberty-minded than progressive, is now questioning whether Polis’ moderate temperament is real, with editor-at-large Nick Gillepsie tugging back on Polis’ libertarian card in an April 14 article asking if the “small government Democrat is beefing up state power.”