For Young, the mistake was a simple fix.
To others, it didn’t matter that it was unintentional.
The governor’s office and special districts believed they had support from Senate leaders to make the fix, but in the end, they had miscalculated the politics of the situation: a flawless storm involving the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, a series of gaffes and a conservative backlash, all of which combined to derail the special session.
Colorado lawmakers brought a special session to screeching halt earlier this week without resolving an error pertaining to marijuana taxes.
” Regional Transportation District – $3.6 million”.
The centerpiece of this drama is Senate Bill 17-267, which is accessible below. “So no matter what it was before, it now is what it is”. The proposal would have revived a portion of the law that was repealed earlier this year. It was a legislative sideshow that, according to reports, almost resulted in a clenched-fist riot between Democrats and Republicans over which party is to blame for sectors losing out on millions of dollars.
For their part, Democrats tried to argue that TABOR never intended such a “ridiculous” outcome, saying the courts have repeatedly agreed with that assessment.
Democratic and Republican leaders said a solution to fix the error is possible when lawmakers return in January. It was the second special session of Hickenlooper’s term in office.
Leading the charge on Tuesday was South Dakota Senator John Thune, who said in an interview with NBC News that, given the fact that there’s no way to stop a mass shooting from happening in an “open society”, citizens’ best hope to avoid being violently killed is to… duck. “It just doesn’t fit under the strictest interpretation of TABOR”.
In that case, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that it didn’t constitute a tax policy change requiring approval by school district voters.
GOP Sens. Randy Baumgardner, who represents several counties in northwest Colorado, and John Cooke, of Weld County, also voted against the measure. Ray Scott, Grand Junction Republican and critic of the bill.
From the start, even a minor fix to Senate Bill 267 was poised to generate controversy, given the opposition to the far-reaching spending measure and the blowback from conservative groups after its hurried bipartisan passage in the final days of the session. It takes at least three to pass a bill.
With meaningful action off the table, the only question for Republican lawmakers after a gun massacre is which one will offer a more depressing peek into the dystopian picture of America the party puts forth as the unfortunate but unavoidable price of freedom. “The drafting mistake unintentionally prevented some special districts – the Regional Transportation District and the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District in the Denver metro area, as well as rural transportation districts across the state, a housing district in Summit County and a hospital district in Montezuma County – from collecting revenues on retail marijuana sales”, a Colorado House Democrats release points out. “The impact they anticipate is about a 23 percent reduction in senior transportation services”.
Some of those districts said they may have to raise rates on consumers to cover the loss in recreational marijuana sales tax revenue.
credit:420intel.com
