After hundreds of letters sent by CEA members urging the legislature to vote in favor of HB24B-1001, Property Taxes, today it fully passed the Senate with a final vote count of 30-4 and in the House with a final vote count of 45-18.
“It’s no secret that Coloradans are struggling to afford their homes and manage the effects of the current spike in property taxes,” said Kevin Vick, educator of 20-plus years and president of CEA. “The deal that was brokered will build on the work of SB24-233 and help provide relief to Coloradans across all four corners of the state while also providing stable, long-term funding for our schools, fire departments, healthcare, and other critical neighborhood services. I’m proud of the work that CEA members have done to ensure that the legislature passed this critical bill.”
The bill will reduce property taxes for homeowners and businesses, all while ensuring the protection and stability of essential funding for public schools, fire safety, libraries, healthcare, and other critical community services that we all rely on. This legislative effort is the result of a carefully negotiated deal aimed at preventing the potentially devastating impact of ballot initiatives 50 and 108, which would have gone before voters. Had those initiatives passed, they would have triggered severe and punitive cuts to the funding that supports our schools, public safety, healthcare facilities, and other vital neighborhood services. This agreement not only provides financial relief to property owners, it also stabilizes the resources that keep our communities thriving and resilient into the future.
Initiatives 50 and 108 aren’t the only measures CEA has prepared to fight at the ballot. Vick added: “Once initiatives 50 and 108 are officially removed from the ballot and Governor Polis signs HB24B-1001, we will be able to turn our full attention to defeating initiative 138 this fall. Initiative 138 would open the door to taking money out of neighborhood public schools to pay for private schools, which directly harms our students. School choice has been enshrined in Colorado law for the past 30 years – amending the constitution to add a right to private schools is unnecessary and potentially devastating to our public schools.”
by Bethany Morris, CEA Director of Communications