Every other week for the past five years, Senate Republican leadership has had a standing meeting with Gov. Jared Polis and his staff. This has ensured an open line of communication we have always appreciated and one that has hopefully given the governor insight into how our senators and our constituents feel about the issues that affect their everyday lives.

Despite our numerous vigorous policy disagreements, I have professional respect for Governor Polis. He has always been willing to listen, been straightforward and honest in deliberations, and has frequently been the moderating voice within a political party tilting further toward statism and socialism.

During this most recent legislative session, the issue of property tax relief was frequently brought up by our leadership team during these routine check-ins. We called it out as not only a top priority for our caucus, but a ticking time bomb for our citizens. On balance, Coloradans are facing a 42% jump in property taxes in a single year, the highest jump in our state’s history. Consistently, week after week, we were met with the same assurance they were working on the issue and would keep us in the loop.

It felt as if we got a pat on the head and were condescendingly shooed away. “Now, now, little ones – we’ve got it all under control!”

Since the Gallagher Amendment was repealed in 2020 (a measure I voted against in the legislature, and did not support at the ballot box – but the majority of Coloradans did), there was an understanding the legislature had to come up with a long-term replacement. In 2021 and 2022, Democrats in the legislature decided it wasn’t a priority, passing single-year caps on property taxes and kicking the can down the road. Then came the revised assessment rates for 2023, gauged at a time where Colorado’s housing market was near its peak.

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My colleague, Sen. Byron Pelton, alongside state Rep. Lisa Frizell, ran House Bill 23-1054 in lieu of any sort of legislation from the majority party. The bill, just seven pages long, would have simply pushed back the home value assessment until 2025, giving us additional time to find a long-term solution and preventing a massive increase this year. The bill was killed in its first committee by Democrats in the House.

Why? Because there was a “better solution” coming, of course.

Finally, a week before we were to adjourn sine die, during the chaos of a concluding session, a bill was introduced to address the property tax crisis: Senate Bill 23-303. The bill was advertised as “property tax relief,” and Colorado’s media ate it up. Credit where it’s due, 9News’ Kyle Clark was quick to point out the truth about the proposal, saying “Polis is pitching a plan to keep property taxes from spiking quite as much as they would by using some of your money that would have been refunded to you anyway.” The Common Sense Institute, a non-partisan policy think-tank, just published their analysis of Proposition HH and found, “most taxpayers will pay more over the next 10 years if HH passes – than if HH fails.”

Proposition HH accomplishes this by simply allowing the state government to keep more of your tax dollars year after year, eventually whittling away your Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) tax refunds until they’re potentially eliminated forever. But, no surprise, you won’t hear about that fine print in any of the proponents’ campaign materials.

Coloradans have experience in defending TABOR, but Denver politicians are getting more and more clever with how they attempt to dismantle it. Thankfully, even liberals in support of the measure can’t quite figure out how to be deceptive about the measure’s effects.

Former state Rep. Joe Salazar is one of those who must’ve missed the talking points memo. He recently proclaimed Prop HH is “such an important ballot initiative for Colorado.” His reasoning? “K-12 education is wildly underfunded. Prop HH provides additional funding for our kids.”

Wait a minute, I thought this was about cutting property taxes?

The answer is simple. Vote NO on HH and call a special legislative session to actually fix the property tax problem.

Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican, represents District 9 in the Colorado state Senate as minority leader.