November Policy Update: Post Election Recap

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State and Local Ballot Measures

On election day, Coloradans faced an unprecedented number of ballot initiatives at the state and local level. The Denver Metro Chamber took decisive positions on a number of measures and at the end of the day, voters closely aligned with the Chamber after they completed their ballots.

  • Prop JJ: Retain Additional Sports Betting Tax Revenue
    • DMCC Position – Support | Voter Outcome – Approved
    • In 2019, Colorado voters approved legalized sports betting, with 10% of proceeds benefiting Colorado water projects. The revenue generated from sports betting exceeded original projections, and therefore given Colorado’s TABOR requirements, voters had to approve any allocation of additional tax revenue.
  • Ordinance 308: Prohibition of Fur Products
    • DMCC Position – Opposed | Voter Outcome – Failed ​​​​​​
    • Ordinance 308 sought to end the sale and manufacture of fur in the City of Denver, prohibiting many vendors from selling goods such as cowboy hats or fly-fishing flies within Denver proper, spelling major impacts to the National Western Stock Show.
  • Ordinance 309: Slaughterhouse Ban
    • DMCC Position – Opposed | Voter Outcome – Failed ​​​​​
    • Ordinance 309 sought to prohibit slaughterhouses within the city and county of Denver. This would have put the one remaining slaughterhouse and 160 employees at a single employee-owned business out of work.
  • Ballot Issue 2Q: Denver Health Funding
    • DMCC Position – Support | Voter Outcome – Approved
    • Denver Health proposed a 0.34% sales tax increase to stabilize its strained budget and avoided significant cuts to services. The revenue generated from the increase is anticipated to add $70 million to Denver Health’s budget and go a long way toward closing the gap as the cost of care has quickly outpaced revenue.
  • Ballot Issue 7A: RTD TABOR Debruce
    • DMCC Position – Support | Voter Outcome – Approved
    • Similar to Prop JJ seeking to retain excess sports betting tax revenue, RTD ran a debrucing measure asking to extend voter-approved exemptions to its TABOR revenue limit to retain funds to reinvest into public transit.
  • Ballot Issue 2U: Collective Bargaining
    • DMCC Position – Opposed | Voter Outcome – Approved
    • The measure established collective bargaining for non-supervisory city employees to negotiate compensation, working conditions, and other employment terms. The measure allows for strikes or slowdowns, but not if they would substantially threaten public health, welfare, or safety, and not for employees of the Denver County Court or Denver Water. The Chamber believes in a market-based approach, and did not support the collective bargaining measure on principle, but also noted that this proposal was significantly improved from the original version and included meaningful protections for critical services.
  • Ballot Issue 2R: Sales Tax for Affordable Housing
    • DMCC Position – No Position | Voter Outcome – Failed
    • Mayor Johnston proposed a 0.5% sales tax increase aimed at generating $100 million to address the city’s housing challenge. The mayor’s recognition of this significant issue and dedication to tackling it is greatly appreciated, as is his administration’s focus on permitting and process improvement reform to ensure a potential influx of dollars goes as far as possible. The Chamber looks forward to continuing working with the administration on this critical issue.
  • Prop 131: Ranked Choice Voting
    • DMCC Position – No Position | Voter Outcome – Failed
    • This year, Coloradans saw a statewide ballot measure to implement open primaries and ranked-choice voting in the general election, with the aim of incentivizing collaboration and compromise within our elected bodies and fully engaging unaffiliated voters. While the Chamber agreed with many of the aims of the proposal – greater voter participation, incentivizing compromise rather than polarization – we questioned this measure as the vehicle to achieve those. ​​​​​​

On the National Stage

Congressional Outcomes

The Colorado Statehouse

  • The question in the Colorado legislature was not whether Democrats would continue to hold majorities in each chamber, but by how much. Last session’s supermajority in the Colorado House was expected to continue, while all eyes were on the Senate, which was one vote shy of supermajority heading into the election.
  • A supermajority in both chambers could give the body a veto-proof majority, significantly diminishing the Governor’s influence in the process. The two-thirds majority designation would also enable Democrats to refer constitutional amendments without Republican help and expand their numbers on legislative committees.
  • In the Senate, Republicans held on to two hard-fought seats, and picked up a third in Adams County. Meanwhile, Democrats turned over an El Paso County seat and held another. One Adams County race remains outstanding, and while likely to hold for Democrats, they will fall short of a supermajority in the body.
  • Say hello, and wave goodbye – Sen. Chris Hansen (D-Denver), a leader on tax, budget and energy policy, was re–reelected to his seat last Tuesday, and is expected to resign from it today, potentially setting off a cascade of vacancy appointments.
  • In the House, there is still no answer to the question of a legislative supermajority, as a handful of tight races remain too close to call. Republicans picked up a Weld County seat, and currently hold small leads in two other races. If they prevail in both, Democrats lose their supermajority and will have to reduce their two-vote majority on committees down to one. Results are due to the Secretary of State by Nov. 15.

Legislative Leadership

  • The caucuses voted to elect their leaders for the 2025 session, with a mix of new names and old.
  • The House Speaker and Senate President, with their respective Majority Leaders, have the power to set committee sizes, make committee assignments for their caucus, assign bills to committees, and determine the order of business on the floor, while Minority Leaders make committee assignments for their caucus. The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) members have enormous power when it comes to the state budget, spending months in hearings with Departments leading up to the creation of the State Budget each year.
  • Senate Democrats elected Sen. James Coleman (D-Denver) to serve as President.
    • Sen. Robert Rodriguez (D-Denver) will continue as Senate Majority Leader.  Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet (D-Adams) will serve as President Pro Tem.  Sen. Lisa Cutter (D-Jefferson) will serve as the Assistant Majority Leader and Sen. Dylan Roberts (D-Clear Creek) will be caucus chair.  Senate Majority Whip will be Nick Hinrichsen (D-Pueblo).  Both Sens. Bridges (D-Arapahoe/Denver Counties) and Amabile (D-Boulder) will serve on the Joint Budget Committee.
  • House Democrats re-elected Julie McCluskie (D-Dillon) as Speaker of the House.  
    • Also re-elected: Monica Duran (D-Jeffco) as the House Majority Leader and Rep. Jennifer Bacon (D-Denver) as Assistant Majority Leader.  Others elected to leadership include Co-Caucus Chairs Reps. Lindsay and Joseph and Majority Whips Reps. Martinez and Jodeh.  The Joint Budget Committee appointments are made by the Speaker but we anticipate those to be Rep. Shannon Bird and Rep. Emily Sirota.
  • House Republican re-elected Rep. Rose Pugliese (R-El Pason) to serve as Minority Leader.   ​​​​
    • Rep. Ty Winter (R-Baca) will continue to serve as Assistant Minority Leader. Rep. Ryan Armagost (R-Larimer/Weld) as Minority whip and Rep. Anthony Hartsook (R-Douglas) as caucus chair.  The Joint Budget Committee is appointed not elected and will be announced later today.   Rep. Rick Taggart (R-Grand Junction) is anticipated to remain on the JBC.
  • Senate Republicans re-elected Sen. Paul Lundeen (R-Monument) to serve as Minority Leader.
    • Sen. Cleave Simpson (R-Alamosa) will serve as Assistant Minority Leader. Sen. Janice Rich (R-Grand Junction) as Minority Whip and Sen. Byron Pelton (R-Sterling) as Caucus Chair. Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer (R-Weld) will continue to serve on the Joint Budget Committee.

Big Picture