The Colorado Chamber of Commerce has endorsed a proposed initiative that would allow third parties to submit economic analyses for future ballot measures, a summary of which would appear before voters.

“All too often when lawmakers or advocacy groups look to create costly new state programs, the burden falls on the business community to foot the bill,” said the group’s president, Chuck Berry. “When these issues make it to the ballot, voters should know just how much they will cost, who pays, and what the impacts will be. Initiative 304 is about transparency and providing voters with an accurate reflection of how future ballot initiatives impact the overall health of our economy.”

The proposal, from designated representatives Emily Martini and Greg Kishiyama, is in the signature-gathering phase. If passed, it would permit economists to prepare and parties to submit an analysis using dynamic modeling, which is an attempt to quantify the effects of a citizen-initiated ballot measure on employment and gross domestic product, among other metrics.

Although the analyses can come from proponents, opponents or others, the state legislature’s chief economist would summarize their findings and include the commentary on the ballot. Currently, nonpartisan staff estimate the effects of measures on governmental spending and revenue, and provide a sense of an initiative’s impact on the state economy.

“A dynamic model attempts to quantify the downstream effects of a policy change throughout the economy, based on assumptions about how the policy change influences people’s economic behavior over time,” reads a draft summary of the initiative that Legislative Council staff has prepared for the ballot information booklet.