Voters' approval of Tabor changed government

By John Sanko
News Capitol Bureau

The 1992 election changed the face of government in Colorado.

Ignoring the dire warnings of top political leaders, 53.6 percent of Colorado voters that November approved Amendment 1 - the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.

``I told people when it passed that it's the most important political event since statehood,'' said Douglas Bruce, the former deputy prosecutor from Los Angeles who led the fight to get it on the ballot. ``It was ... and it still is.''

TABOR took tax increases out of the hands of politicians at all levels of government and gave the decision to voters. Politicians could cut taxes; only voters could increase them.

But TABOR also set spending limits. Increases were limited to inflation and local growth or population. If governments wanted more, they had to ask for voter approval.

Any surplus had to be returned to the people - unless they voted to let government keep it.

``Clearly, it was a constitutional and fiscal turning point for the operation of government, no doubt about it,'' said Colorado political pollster Floyd Ciruli. ``We do things very differently now than we ever did before.''

``It's probably the most revolutionary thing that has happened in this state in the whole 20th century,'' said Joan Johnson, a former state senator.

``What it did was strip away a layer of representative government. It took away the power of elected representatives to make decisions and moved it more to a direct democracy. Whether that is a good idea or not depends on whether you believe in representative government.''

``It (the election) said two things,'' said Larry Kallenberger, a cabinet member under former Gov. Roy Romer and now executive director of Colorado Counties Inc.

``The citizens were saying, `Quit giving us this crap about needing more money every year.' The second thing was it marked the real beginning of the initiative effort in Colorado.

``We had one 20 years ago keeping the Olympics out of Colorado, but that was an anomaly. The TABOR amendment kicked off a surge of citizen initiatives, and I don't see it stopping anytime soon.''

Passage of the measure came as a shock to many who had opposed it. Eight times since 1966, similar measures had gone down to defeat - although the elections had been getting closer.

Opponents in 1992 included an impressive array of political leaders, past and present - including a very popular Romer and all the former governors. Businesses fought it. So did school officials and teachers.

The warnings were dire. Prison inmates would be let out early. Colleges would have to restrict enrollment. Services of all kinds would be cut back. Classrooms would be overcrowded.

Romer once compared Bruce, now a rental property owner living in Colorado Springs, to a ``terrorist'' and his amendment to a ``bomb.'' The New York Times called it the ``most radical ballot issue'' in the nation.

``The hyperbole was absurd,'' Bruce said. ``None of the disasters they predicted came true.

``TABOR, frankly, has had a more positive impact than all the laws of all the legislators in my lifetime. . . . We have more freedom and less government. It shrank bureaucracies and humbled bureaucrats.''

``There was primarily a general lack of trust in government at all levels,'' Ciruli explained. ``Basically, they were saying they did not believe government promises.''

In addition, Colorado was just emerging from a recession, and no one was sure how long the improved economy would last.

The tremors from TABOR still haven't stopped. The measure has prompted hundreds of elections at the local and state levels, two special legislative sessions over refunding millions of dollars to taxpayers and legal battles that have reached the Colorado Supreme Court.

The legislature this year approved $490 million a year in tax cuts - the largest in state history - all because of TABOR.

Economists have told state officials that they will have to return more than $5.6 billion to Coloradans in refunds or tax cuts through 2003.

No level of government has been untouched - state, counties and cities, public school districts, higher education and special districts have been affected.

Doug Brown, the legislature's chief attorney, said lawmakers' attention on fiscal matters has been dominated by TABOR because of its complexities.

``Lawmakers are constantly confronted by issues as to `can they do it' or `can't they,' '' he said. ``It's like a constant cloud over fiscal deliberations.''

``It puts such limiting straitjackets on legislative bodies that they have to contort themselves to get something done,'' Romer said.

Gov. Bill Owens was hoping lawmakers would give him the authority to borrow money, backed largely by federal transportation funds, to jump-start road projects this year.

Citing TABOR, the Colorado Supreme Court told him to take it to a vote of the people. He will - in November.

Cities have held hundreds of elections since TABOR passed, many of them ``de-Brucing'' amendments to let them spend more money.

Since November 1993, 698 TABOR-related revenue change, tax rate and fiscal debt questions have been submitted to municipal voters and 533, or 76 percent, were approved.

``While a lot of local initiatives to override TABOR pass, the iceberg below the sea is all those that never get taken to the ballot because elected officials are certain they won't pass,'' Kallenberger said.

Voters can pick and choose. Denver voters in 1998 approved five debt increases totaling almost $100 million for parks and recreation, libraries, public safety, health care and streets.

Although the warnings of doom and gloom about TABOR have failed to occur, many government officials say the glowing economy is the only thing that has prevented massive cutbacks.

``School districts in Colorado have been keeping their heads above water because of the booming economy,'' said Phil Fox, deputy director of the Colorado Association of School Executives.

``But when the economy sours, and because of TABOR, every district will be in a state of hemorrhage.

``Like when the weather guys predict the 100-year storm, you know it's gonna happen. The question is not `if' but `when.' ''

August 3, 1999

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