ORGANIZERS DROP OFF SIGNATURES FOR FALL BALLOT
Supporters of oil and gas setbacks among those turning in signatures for ballot
Seven statewide initiatives, including the oil drilling setback measure, submitted petitions.
Organizers for the oil and gas well setback initiative dropped off about 171,000 signatures Monday, days after allegations that their gatherers were being paid by opponents to leave the state.
Russell Mendell, a volunteer with Colorado Rising, said the group is confident it has the 98,492 valid voter signatures needed for Initiative 97 to qualify for the November ballot.
“We just feel the incredible momentum of the past few days,” Mendell said.
The initiative would require new oil and gas wells to be at least 2,500 feet away from homes and schools. Currently they must be 500 feet from homes and 1,000 feet from schools.
Initiative 97 was one of seven proposed statewide initiatives to submit petitions by Monday’s deadline for the fall election. Signatures still need to be verified before they qualify for the ballot.
Groups aligned with the oil and gas industry vowed to continue fighting the measure and challenge the validity of signatures supporting the initiative. They say it will kill thousands of jobs and put a stranglehold on the industry.
“We are prepared to challenge the validity of these signatures to ensure that they are accurate, valid and that they were obtained by following all the proper laws, including that the signature gatherers were properly certified to carry petitions,” said Scott Gessler, attorney for Protect Colorado, in a statement.
Others that submitted petitions Monday included two strikingly different initiatives for transportation funding. Initiative 153 seeks to raise money for transportation projects with an increase in the state’s sales-and-use tax from 2.9 percent to 3.52 percent for a 20-year period. The state’s transportation department would be able sell up to $6 billion in bonds with the tax increase’s revenue. Initiative 153 organizers collected 198,261 signatures.
The other one, Initiative 167, would require the state to prioritize its existing income in a way that puts more dollars toward transportation projects without raising taxes. Called “Fix Our Damn Roads,” the measure would require the state to take out $3.5 billion in bonds and put the money toward road projects.
Jon Caldara, the organizer of the Initiative 167 effort, said more than 150,000 signatures have been collected for the effort from “fedup Coloradans demanding that we fix our damn roads.” Caldara, a Denver Post columnist, is president of the Independence Institute, a conservative-libertarian
think tank.
Other initiatives for which petitions have been turned in:
• Initiative 173, a campaign finance measure, drew about 212,000 signatures. Under the proposed initiative, if candidates give or loan more than $1 million to their campaign, or direct a thirdparty donor to give more than $1 million, then their opponents can raise fives times the campaign limits authorized by the law. “It’s really about the large sums of money going to one particular person because that’s what creates the appearance and potential for corruption,” said former state Rep. B.J. Nikkel, an organizer of the effort.
• Initiative 126, which would lower the annual interest rate that payday lenders can charge to 36 percent, gathered nearly 190,000 signatures.
• Initiative 108, which would require the government to compensate private property owners when its action reduces a property’s fair market value, turned in 209,000 signatures Friday.
• Initiative 93, an effort to increase public education funding by increasing the state income tax, turned in about 179,000 signatures in July. It would increase personal income tax rates in a range of 0.37 percent to 3.62 percent, based on income. Corporate state income tax rates would also be increased by 1.37 percent.
Initiatives that didn’t meet the petition deadline encompassed a variety of topics, including immigration, oil and gas development, and smart phone sales to preteen minors.