There are less than two days left in Colorado’s 2024 legislative session and lawmakers have dozens of high-priority bills still pending, including some late-session compromises on property taxes and other major policy issues.
Gov. Jared Polis and a bipartisan group of lawmakers announced a long-awaited measure Monday that’s intended to provide long-term property tax relief to Coloradans amid increasing property values. Supporters are calling it a compromise between Democrats, Republicans and local governments.
The bill comes more than a year after state lawmakers and the governor began looking for a solution to spiking property taxes. Democratic lawmakers passed a proposal along party lines in the final days of last year’s session, only to have it rejected by voters in November. After the ballot box defeat, the legislature held a special session focused on the issue. One result was the formation of a bipartisan commission of lawmakers and local government representatives to develop a solution, which was central to developing the latest bill.
“We're talking about a huge property tax cut for property owners without crippling our state budget, which is where I felt we needed to get to,” bill sponsor Republican Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, who has criticized the late introduction of bills in the past, said. “I feel like we did our job...listening to everybody, even those that don't agree with us, to make sure that their viewpoints were heard within this bill, and I feel confident that they are.”
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The complex bill wouldn’t reduce Coloradans’ tax bills, but would prevent them from climbing too sharply. It would start by keeping this year’s tax rates the same as last year’s. Then, starting in 2025, it would cap local government tax revenues to keep tax rates down, while separating school district revenue. Keeping schools at a higher rate and using state money to backfill some school revenue losses is meant to prevent budget shortfalls. Eventually, the bill would allow homeowner property exemptions.
The legislation is intended to keep taxes low without cutting revenue for schools and other local services, which are funded by property tax revenue. Lawmakers pushed through the compromise this year, in part, to get ahead of ballot initiatives in November that would cut taxes without making up for losses to local services.
“They are nothing other than reckless and self-serving measures,” Senate President Steve Fenberg said about the ballot measures. “I think everybody came to the table because they all agree, whether they will say it out loud or not, that the ballot measures out there are existential threats to the state—to the state's government, state's economy and state's budget.”
Other major compromises to avoid ballot measure fights have materialized in recent weeks.
Gov. Polis announced a deal late last month with the oil and gas industry and environmentalists to pull their respective measures from the November ballot that threatened to derail the state’s clean air strategy. In exchange, lawmakers agreed to scrap pending air quality legislation in place of new bills, and to hold off on any new fossil fuel regulations until 2028.
Another deal announced last week avoided a ballot box fight over medical malpractice lawsuits.
The property tax, air quality, and medical malpractice compromise bills have made some progress through the legislative process, but are still pending along with major housing, substance use, and transportation legislation.
As of Tuesday morning, there were well over 100 bills still pending on the legislative calendar. Lawmakers have until 11:59 pm Wednesday to pass them. Anything left on the calendar after that will be considered dead.
