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Voter Transparency in Ballot Measures puts funding impacts into initiatives
Ballot initiatives allow voters to decide government policy, including how the state must spend its money. A good example is Amendment 23 that required the state to spend dollars on public education that slightly exceeded inflation up to 2011 and that matched inflation subsequently. The amendment passed in 2000, but with the Great Recession of 2008-2009, it went under water.
HB26-1084 says that initiatives that will increase state budget expenses must declare the top three programs that will be affected if not enough money is available to cover funding for new or expanded budget items. Amendment 23 was the sacrificial lamb in budget cuts from 2009 until the most recent budget year. The amendment was underfunded for a decade and a half because not enough money was available.
HB26-1084 does not address initiatives that will cut tax revenues and how those cuts will affect programs.
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