The Independence Institute offers sincere congratulations to the election winners, condolences to the losers, and an open door to everyone. Colorado voters chose Democrats to run the state and entrusted them with more money, but protecting taxpayers and expanding individual freedom are always bipartisan winners.
Is this a dawn of a new era, or did the sun just set on the Colorado we once knew? The sun rose this morning– perhaps reluctantly, but it happened– and that brings opportunities to start something new. More on that in the weeks to come.
For now, let’s review the “Big Three” ballot results (Prop NN, Amendment 87 and the COCO Train) and consider what happens next for each measure:
Colorado’s spending problem: Amendment 87 and Proposition NN
There is an old saying about weight loss: you cannot outrun your fork. Colorado cannot tax its way out of a spending problem, either. The state’s fiscal challenges are driven by spending commitments that keep growing faster than taxpayers can reasonably sustain. New revenue does not substitute for difficult decisions, meaningful oversight, or fiscal restraint.
Amendment 87 may pass, but the state’s budget problems will remain. Legislators will still need to confront the spending commitments driving costs, particularly Medicaid. The arithmetic was difficult before Election Day. It will still be difficult in the years to come. Passage of the amendment will also require Governor-elect Weiser to pursue aggressive pro-business strategies to prevent an exodus of job creators, and we’ve got plenty of suggestions.
Proposition NN – Despite it’s passage, legal questions remain about NN’s implementation. The Taxpayers Bill of Rights in the Colorado constitution sets clear definitions for the state’s spending caps and spending measures that cannot be redefined in statute, so we will be watching closely as the General Assembly implements the measure. The pressures driving state education spending will remain, and policymakers will face difficult choices during future revenue downturns. Retaining additional taxpayer dollars cannot become an excuse to postpone those choices.
More importantly, passage should mark the beginning—not the end—of rigorous scrutiny. Proposition NN was sold to voters as a way to help Colorado children and schools. The state must now prove the dollars go to educational priorities and meaningful academic improvements. Independence Institute will be watching how funds move from the state to districts, how districts spend them, whether new money supplements rather than replaces existing commitments, and whether administrative growth crowds out classroom priorities. We will pay close attention to teacher compensation, class sizes, career and technical education, and student outcomes—not merely the size of the appropriation.
NN requires annual independent audits and district-level spending disclosures. Those requirements should be treated as the floor for transparency, not the ceiling. If our TABOR refunds will be forever utilized as a supplemental fund for education, you can bet we’ll be asking hard questions about spending classifications and actual results, pushing for clear and accessible reporting that taxpayers and parents can understand, and ensuring that every possible dollar finds its way through the massive K-12 bureaucracy to actual students instead of bloated administrative budgets.
Voters may have authorized the state to keep more of their money. They did not authorize the state to waste it. The test is not how much Colorado spends on education. It is how much that spending improves education for Colorado kids.
Medicaid: A sustainable program requires real reform
Colorado cannot preserve access to essential health care for the disabled without confronting the unsustainable drivers of Medicaid spending. The answer cannot simply be higher appropriations every year. The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing deserves a serious structural review. When the same agency shapes policy, administers benefits, pays claims, and oversees large portions of the system, accountability needs especially strong external checks. Colorado should examine whether greater independent auditing, stronger separation of oversight functions where federal law allows, and clearer public reporting would reduce waste and conflicts. Reform should protect people who genuinely need assistance, such as individuals with developmental disabilities, while helping working-age adults build independence.
Education: Fund students, not empty seats
Unless we plan to start gold-plating empty school buildings or filling vacant classrooms with duffel bags of cash, more money alone isn’t going to solve Colorado’s declining enrollment problem. Colorado’s schools must adapt to changing demographics and changing family needs. That means candid conversations about facilities, district overhead, school consolidation when warranted, and ensuring that education dollars follow students toward programs that serve them well.
Attracting jobs and young families to Colorado matters, but it is only part of the answer. Policy makers should not address long term trends with short-term triage that leads to fewer choices and declining scores. A flexible system with meaningful school choice, transparent spending, strong academic expectations, and a willingness to rethink outdated delivery models will be better positioned to serve students than one built around preserving institutions at any cost.
Transportation: Ballot Issue 7A / Front Range Passenger Rail
Thanks to creatively-revised (and despite poorly-administered) district boundaries, Denver and Boulder voters approved a major new rail funding commitment that will impact almost every city and county along the Front Range. We feel like we need to say it: Please double check the District’s boundaries before levying the taxes.
Now, the conversation is about strict oversight of project costs, projected ridership, financing, and delivery milestones essential from day one. The unfinished commitments associated with FasTracks are a reminder that approving a transportation vision is very different from delivering it.
State leaders also must follow through on the increased road-funding framework announced in August. Colorado’s highway system ranks 42nd nationally in performance. Policymakers should prioritize pavement condition, congestion relief, transparent project selection, and maintenance of the infrastructure Coloradans already use. The agreement to pursue more pavement-focused funding should become a concrete, publicly measurable plan—not another promise lost in the legislative process. CDOT leadership should resume the pursuit of public-private partnerships to help some of the bigger projects pay for themselves, such as congestion relief projects along I-25 and I-70.
——-
The Independence Institute and it’s campaign arm, Affordable Colorado, have been working against these initiatives since they were a twinkle in the Bell Policy Center’s manifesto. At the bottom of this article you’ll find links to all of our videos and articles on the Big Three Tax hikes.
Prop NN Videos YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT2JpINK_Fs0
Amendment 87 YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJHvH3gwCxfI
CoCo Is Cuckoo: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUs0Y70kQS_E
For a list of over 20 research articles on the proposed tax increases, click here:
https://i2i.org/?s=tax+increase&e_search_props=dce6211-22768
For Complete Colorado coverage of all state and local tax increases on the 2026 ballot, click here: https://completecolorado.com/page/3/?s=tax+increase+2026