You may not especially want this responsibility, but if you are a Colorado registered voter, you will get to serve as “a legislator for a day.”

Just open your recently received mail-in ballot, and you will see you have some “civic homework” to do. When your homework is over, you will probably be glad you are not a full-time state legislator.

The Colorado state legislature has referred three constitutional amendments for you to weigh in on. Eight more ballot issues are being put before you by citizen groups and special advocacy outfits wanting you to enact new state laws.

We will try to help out. But please know we are divided on several of these issues and confess that a few of them are hard choices. We will also offer, with some trepidation and next to no data, forecasts for how we believe Coloradans will vote on these issues.

Eleven issues are on the ballot in the upcoming 2022 general election. Three are constitutional amendments and will require 55% of the vote to be enacted. The other eight are propositions changing state statutes and will need only 50% of the vote to become law. Most voters will also be voting on local city, county and school district issues.

Amendment D: New 23rd Judicial District Judges

Due to population growth, the state legislature divided the 18th Judicial District into two districts. The old 18th Dtrict consists of Arapahoe County, and the new 23rd District is made-up of Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties. This constitutional amendment provides for some of the existing judges in the 18th District to be appointed to the new 23rd district.

Cronin: Yes. Loevy: Yes. This is a routine administrative matter and should pass easily.

Our forecast: Amendment D will be adopted with more than 55% of the vote.

Amendment E: Extend Homestead Exemption to Gold Star Spouses

Senior citizens and disabled veterans currently qualify for reduced property taxes. This amendment would extend the property tax reduction to spouses of armed service members who died in the line of duty (Gold Star Spouses) or from a service-related injury or disease.

Cronin: Yes. Loevy: Yes. It makes sense to honor Gold Star Spouses as well as disabled veterans with a property tax reduction.

Our forecast: Amendment E will be adopted with more than 55% of the vote.

Amendment F: Changes to Charitable Gaming Operations

Here it comes again. Two years ago, at the time of the 2020 general elections, we were in pain over having to vote on the details of the administration of charitable bingo-raffle games in Colorado. Items like this do not belong in the state constitution, but they get there because advocates do not want the state legislature to easily change the reform they are backing

Cronin: Yes. Loevy: Yes. Whether we like it or not, it is in the state constitution, so we should vote to make charitable bingo-raffle games operate more efficiently.

Our forecast: Amendment F will be adopted with more than 55% of the vote.

Proposition FF: Healthy School Meals for All

This will change state law to provide that public school students in Colorado will have access to free school meals. The cost would be paid by reducing state income tax deductions for households making more than $300,000 per year.

Cronin: Yes. Loevy: Yes. For two years during the coronavirus pandemic, all public-school students in Colorado received free school meals. When that program ended, about 40% of all Colorado public-school students (kindergarten through 12th grade) no longer received free school meals.

Poorly fed students generally have a harder time learning and adjusting emotionally in classrooms. The merit of this proposition is that students from economically challenged families will not be embarrassed that they are receiving free meals at public schools. All children will be receiving such meals.

We question the wisdom of financing this reasonable reform with funds from a limited group of people – those making more than $300,000 dollars per year. During slow economic times or a recession, this funding source may not be adequate to finance meals for all of the state’s public-school students. A hard choice here.

Our forecast: Proposition FF will be adopted.

Proposition GG: Add Tax Information Table to Petitions and Ballots

This change in state law will require that a tax information table appear on the petition and ballot for any citizen-initiated measure that changes the individual income tax rate. The table must list the average change in taxes owed for taxpayers in eight specific income categories.

Cronin: Yes. Loevy: Yes. It is a reasonable idea for prospective signers of initiated petitions to be able to see the effect of a change in state income tax rates on how much they themselves pay in state income tax.

Our forecast: Proposition GG will be adopted.

Proposition 121: State Income Tax Rate Reduction

This proposition will reduce the state income tax rate from 4.55% to 4.40%. Previously, state voters in 2020 reduced the state income tax rate from 4.63% to 4.55%. We assume that if this reduction in the state income tax rate is passed by the voters, there will be further reductions sent to the voters in the future.

Cronin: No. Loevy: No. We oppose cutting state income taxes without knowing what important state services might be eliminated by such an action. We know that, in the past, lack of adequate state revenues has mainly impacted road and highway construction and higher education (public colleges and universities) in Colorado. In addition, the major beneficiaries of this measure would be wealthy individuals and corporations.

In recent years, Colorado’s expanding economy has reduced the fiscal impact of lowering the state income tax rate. We worry about what will happen in the future. If there is a major economic recession, the state government will have only a lowered state income tax rate to provide much needed revenues.

Our forecast: Proposition 121 will be adopted.

Proposition 122: Access to Natural Psychedelic Substances

This will decriminalize the personal use of psychedelic mushrooms and create state-licensed facilities that will allow the supervised use of psychedelic mushrooms by individuals aged 21 and older. In the future, a state agency may authorize the use of additional plant-based psychedelic substances such as dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine or mescaline.

Cronin: No. Loevy: No. Psychedelic mushrooms are being investigated as potential cures in the treatment of depression. There are promising developments that combat veterans with PTSD would benefit from these drugs. Yet there is considerable vagueness in this proposition. Most Coloradans would want to know more about what drugs are included, how they may or may not be used for recreational purposes, and exactly how these new clinics and agencies would operate. A greater priority for Colorado right now is to more aggressively fight the fentanyl epidemic and to more rigorously enforce our new laws on fentanyl.

Our forecast: Proposition 122 will be rejected.

Proposition 123: Dedicate Revenue for Affordable Housing Programs

Up to 0.1% of state taxable income each year will be set aside for affordable-housing programs administered by the state. The set aside for budget year 2022-23 will be $145 million and for 2023-24 will be $290 million. The money can be used for a variety of affordable-housing projects, such as acquiring land for affordable housing, building multifamily rental housing, home equity for tenants, down-payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, rental assistance and eviction defense for the homeless and financial support for city planning departments working to increase affordable housing.

Cronin: Yes. Loevy: No. Up to $300 million per year of state revenues will be designated for affordable housing without raising state income tax rates. Local governments will have a wide variety of affordable housing assistance programs from which to choose. That may be the problem. Proposition 123 provides a grab bag of theoretical and untested programs that might or might not help solve affordable housing problems in Colorado. The proposition would be more attractive if it provided up to $300 million to directly build homes and apartments of affordable housing and provide them immediately to persons and families that qualify financially. This is a hard choice.

Our forecast: Proposition 123 will be adopted.

Proposition 124: Increase Allowable Liquor Store Locations

Retail liquor stores will be allowed to apply to state and local governments for additional liquor locations on a phased-in schedule. After 2037 there will be no limits on the number of permissible liquor outlets.

Cronin: Yes. Loevy: No. State and local governments have traditionally limited the number of liquor licenses because liquor stores, bars and taverns were thought to lower neighborhood quality of life. An unfortunate side effect of capping liquor licenses was to give existing liquor stores a monopoly over the sale of alcohol in the community. Proposition 124 would end the liquor store monopoly after 2037 and thereby add to the convenience of shoppers. It also would allow existing liquor stores to add new retail outlets (become chain stores).

Our forecast: Proposition 124 will be adopted.

Proposition 125: Allow Grocery and Convenience Stores to Sell Wine

Grocery stores with pharmacies can already sell wine. This would allow all grocery and convenience stores that currently sell beer to automatically sell wine.

Cronin: Yes. Loevy: No. The struggle over selling wine in grocery and convenience stores has been a recurring one in Colorado. Local retail liquor stores have worked hard to maintain their monopoly over wine sales.

Our forecast: Proposition 125 will be adopted.

Proposition 126: Third-Party Delivery of Alcohol Beverages

Under current law, grocery stores, convenience stores, liquor stores, bars and restaurants can deliver alcohol to their customers, but they must use their own employees to make the delivery. Proposition 126 will allow third-party companies, such as DoorDash, to deliver alcohol directly to customers on behalf of liquor outlets.

Cronin: Yes. Loevy: No. It will be convenient for people to be able to order food and alcoholic beverages delivered to their homes at the same time by the same delivery service. Allowing third-party delivery services will relieve restaurants and liquor stores of maintaining their own delivery crews. Opponents of this idea think it will increase the ease with which children under the age of 21 can obtain alcoholic beverages.

Our forecast: Proposition 126 will be adopted.

Good luck with your civic homework. And thank you, “legislator,” for wrestling with these and related issues on a daily basis. Finally, let’s be grateful we live where we can have reasonable choices for who should serve in public office and we can occasionally vote on policy issues such as those on this year’s ballot. Enjoy your legislating.

Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy regularly write about Colorado and national politics. Our forecasts have been mostly, yet not always, accurate.