Voters can breathe a sigh of relief that they will not see ballot initiatives targeting the oil and gas industry on the ballot in November, avoiding a divisive and costly election battle. These initiatives would have damaged Colorado’s economy and created endless litigation, but Coloradoans again proved they can work together to find solutions instead of fighting at the ballot box.
Recently, the board of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce did take positions on two initiatives that will go to voters in the fall.
Education is a key pillar of the Chamber’s work. The success of Colorado’s economy depends on an education pipeline to provide Colorado’s business community access to a highly educated, innovative workforce. Every aspect of our economic development plan requires an effective education system for our kids to meet the employee needs of the knowledge-based economy we are working to grow in Colorado. Because of this, the board chose to support the Denver Preschool Initiative. This initiative would extend and raise Denver’s preschool sales tax from .012% to .015% to provide more access to this program, which provides preschool tuition support to families in need and invests in improving the overall quality of preschools in Denver.
The Chamber has supported legislation to provide full-day kindergarten and expand the availability of pre-school to help students start their education strong. And, data shows Denver Preschool Program students are ready to learn when they enter kindergarten and they are outperforming non-DDP students in reading and math. A successful business future for Colorado relies on an educated workforce. Reading at grade level by the end of the third grade is a strong indicator of a student’s likelihood to graduate high school. In fact, 90 percent of students who are functionally illiterate in third grade drop of school before graduation. Early literacy is key to the success of our future workforce; thus, ensuring our preschools are preparing students for third grade and setting them up for higher success is essential.
The board also decided to oppose Initiative 48, which would mandate genetically modified organisms (GMOs) be labeled with packaging that announces “Produced With Genetic Engineering.” Distributors, manufacturers and retailers that fail to properly label GMO food would be subject to the state’s misbranding statute and could face criminal prosecution. Along with the Chamber, a coalition of Colorado farmers, food producers, retailers and citizens from across the state and across the country have come together to oppose proposed this initiative because it would hurt thousands of Colorado family farmers, food producers and small store owners, cost Colorado taxpayers millions and increase grocery bills for Colorado families by hundreds of dollars each year.
Click here to learn more about the Chamber and policy focus areas. Click here to learn more about the Chamber’s stances on issues on the fall ballot.
Jennifer Jones is the public affairs manager for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.