DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis called for a special session of the state legislature Thursday to look at ways to provide property tax relief after voters defeated Proposition HH on Tuesday.
Polis asked lawmakers to reconvene at 9 a.m. Nov. 17, and once they do, they'll look at providing property tax relief for the tax year 2023, which is paid next year.
"There is plenty, we want to reduce taxes over time, and hopefully the General Assembly can and will do that during the normal session," Polis said. "But the only time that the General Assembly can get the $200 million reserved for property tax cuts and additional money that we can find for property cuts is now. And that's not an opportunity we want to miss."
The state legislature had set aside $200 million to be used if Prop HH passed. With its failure, that $200 million is still there to be spent or saved.
"I want to be clear, we don't have a particular plan in the sense of the actual policy, but we want to give the legislature the room to use the $200 million for property tax relief, to use more than that for property tax relief," Polis said.
The session will not address long-term property tax issues, which Polis said should include a cap.
The legislature also will take up a second, unrelated issue.
"We have an opportunity to provide 300,000 Colorado children access to food and debit cards from the Department of Agriculture for the summer school lunch program during the summer of 2024. This requires an immediate legislative action to meet the federal deadline," Polis said.
Proposition HH would have reduced property taxes next year and created a discount over the next 10 years. It would have allowed the state to retain and spend some Colorado Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) funds that would have otherwise been refunded.
Click here for more information on special sessions of the Colorado General Assembly.
Despite the failure of Prop HH, there are several parts of it that lawmakers can do without your vote.
They can make some of your property value tax-free.
They can lower the state assessment rate, which is part of the math equation that determines your property tax bill.
They can still alter how TABOR refunds are issued, using it for additional property tax relief or adjusting it to be the same dollar amount no matter your taxable income.
"And we need people over politics. We need Republicans and Democrats working together to do that," Polis said.
"He said, 'people over politics' and I'm not sure that's accurate. I think this is one more round of government over people," State Sen. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, said.
Lundeen, the Senate Minority Leader, is one of the Republicans who received a phone call from Polis on Tuesday before Prop HH results started coming in. State Rep. Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, the House Minority Leader, also talked to Polis before polls closed on Tuesday.
"He called to say, 'May the best policy win. Are there options and what are your thoughts around property tax relief,'" Lundeen said.
He said the governor was calling to see what policies he could support, not what policy ideas he had.
“For the governor to have called me and said, ‘Hey, I want to run the Republican policies on property tax relief,' would have been wonderful, but that’s not what happened,'" Lundeen said.
Republicans have no power at the state Capitol. Democrats can pass their bills without a single Republican vote. Lundeen supports reduced increases in property tax bills, but not the part where the state backfills the local governments that would get fewer property tax dollars.
“Backfill is a euphemism for 'grow government,' for 'big government,'" Lundeen said. "Property taxes are going up. There is no need for a backfill.”
> Watch the full news conference below:
Polis was a big proponent of the issue and called the ballot question a comprehensive, long-term response to high property tax increases, which are the result of recent double-digit property value assessments.
Opponents of Prop HH said it was an attempt to grow government by cutting into future TABOR refunds and doing so without actually softening the increase on property tax bills.
Resistance to some of the policy that comes out of the special session may also come from other Democrats.
"I think if you have a five, 10, $20 million home, and there are many five, 10 and $20 million dollar homes in Colorado, I don't think you need property tax relief," State Rep. Javier Mabrey, D-Denver, said.
Mabrey, one of the progressive Democrats in the State House, would rather see property tax relief limited to homes with certain property values.
“People like John Elway, who might have five, $10 million dollar homes, no offense to John Elway, he was my hero when I was a kid, but I’m not sure he needs a tax break when we’re trying to fully fund our schools," Mabrey said.
“We want to provide property tax relief to everybody. We can’t pick and choose," Polis said at his news conference.
Even though Prop HH failed, state lawmakers can still adjust how TABOR refunds are distributed next year.
Under the Prop HH proposal, if it passed, TABOR refunds would have been equal to every tax filer, regardless of income level. If Prop HH failed, TABOR refunds were supposed to be based on income level with lower income tax filers receiving fewer TABOR refund dollars and higher income tax filers receiving a higher dollar amount in TABOR refunds.
“I’m certainly going to advocate for a more equitable distribution of TABOR refunds," Mabrey said.
Polis was asked to weigh in on why Prop HH failed.
"People that voted no, there was a couple of things, one is long and confusing," he said. "Perhaps in the future things need to be broken down to two or three initiatives in the future."
He said he believed that some parts of Prop HH were popular but that voters found issues with other parts, specifically the portion dealing with TABOR.
"I think the least popular thing was the formulaic change to TABOR," he said. "People were worried what could happen year seven, year eight. I think what people probably want is more specificity about exactly how any change would save them money and it's clear how that occurs."
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Politics
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Politics
9NEWS+ has multiple live daily shows including 9NEWS Mornings, Next with Kyle Clark and 9NEWS+ Daily, an original streaming program. 9NEWS+ is where you can watch live breaking news, weather updates, and press conferences. You can also replay recent newscasts and find videos on demand of our top stories, local politics, investigations and Colorado specific features.
To download 9NEWS+ on Roku search for KUSA.
To download 9NEWS+ on Fire TV search for 9NEWS.