Colorado Legislators Subvert Citizen Initiative! Democrats Sabotage Ballot Measure to Fix Our Roads!

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Well, hello free people of the Rocky Mountain region. This is Brandon from Free State Colorado and I hope you're doing well. Unfortunately, during the last few weeks of our 2026 legislative session, the Democrat majority, they are the majority in our state legislature, passed a bill to subvert a citizen-led ballot measure that would require, would force our state government to spend tax money collected on transportation to fix our roads. I know, what a novel concept.

[00:00:24]Why aren't they doing this already? The money they collect on taxes for cars and fuel should go to fixing the roads that we drive on. I mean, isn't that the justification for them taxing us? But unfortunately, here in Colorado, these Democrat lawmakers use our money, our hard-earned tax money to reward their political allies, fund special interest programs, and just grow the size of government, and really fund programs that don't serve the majority of the people of Colorado. Where we're all suffering, our roads are deteriorating, our cars are falling apart driving over all these potholes, and traffic just seems to be getting worse and worse.

[00:00:59]So, citizens wanted to do something about it, and that's what we're going to be talking about today. So, let's jump into this article here from Rocky Mountain Voice from May 11th, 2026. When the people vote, the majority should not pre-load a workaround. This is from C.J.

[00:01:14]Garbo, guest commentary.

[00:01:16]Colorado is supposed to be a representative government, not a manager class that handles voters the way an accountant handles a problem line item.

[00:01:24]Yet, that is exactly what House Bill 26-14-30 represents, a legislature preparing a conditional counterpunch that activates only if voters approve Initiative 175 this November.

[00:01:36]Reasonable people can disagree about 175. That is not the point. The point is this, the majority is building an escape hatch before the people have even spoken. And that's the majority in the legislature, the Democrats.

[00:01:50]That posture is a warning sign in any republic because it reveals what leadership thinks about consent.

[00:01:57]Initiative 175 would amend the Colorado Constitution to redirect certain transportation-related revenues so they must be used on road transportation, and it would decrease funding for other transportation programs. Geez, I I sure see a lot of buses and empty bike lanes, I don't know about you. House Bill 1430 is explicitly contingent on voters approving that initiative, and then and and then reduces certain transportation-related taxes and fees for a defined period among other adjustments.

[00:02:28]That means lawmakers are not simply debating the initiative on its merits.

[00:02:31]They're designing a policy mechanism to change what happens after your yes vote.

[00:02:37]Supporters of 1430 describe it as a way to safeguard or protect K-12 and healthcare funding if Initiative 175 passes.

[00:02:45]Read that carefully. Safeguard is not a neutral word. It signals that the voters' decision is being treated as a threat, and that the legislature's job is to neutralize it.

[00:02:56]Because once you accept the premise that elected officials are justified in protecting their preferred budget priorities from the public's vote, you have quietly replaced government by consent with government by containment.

[00:03:09]This is what contempt for the voter looks like in practice. You can dress it up in policy language, but the dynamic is straightforward. One, citizens go to the ballot to set priorities because the normal process is not delivering, and it's our constitutional right, for heaven's sakes. Two, the Democrat majority in the legislature, instead of making its case and accepting the outcome, builds a conditional workaround in advance.

[00:03:32]Three, if voters approve the initiative, the workaround triggers and blunts the impact. Four, officials then claim they respected the vote while ensuring the vote changes as little as possible.

[00:03:44]That is not representation. That is a controlled burn. And it trains politicians in the most dangerous habit a political class can learn. When we ignore the public, we can't ignore the public and survive. You can read the rest of this article, folks. It's definitely worth your time here from C.J. Garbo over at Rocky Mountain Voice.

[00:04:02]And we can take a look here at the Secretary of State's website. This is a great resource, especially as we get closer over to November. You can see the ballot measures that have already made it, have already cleared the signature threshold, been approved by the title board, gone through that whole process.

[00:04:15]So, this November so far, this is going to change, I'm sure, but so far, here's what we're going to have on our voting on our ballots this year, this November.

[00:04:22]Increasing penalties for fentanyl crimes, law enforcement reporting requirements to federal authorities.

[00:04:26]That's to do with the illegal immigration.

[00:04:28]Penalties for human trafficking of a minor, male and female participation in school sports, and prohibit certain surgeries on minors. These last three measures are the great Protect Kids Colorado ballot measures that I'm definitely going to be talking a lot more about.

[00:04:42]But right now, in front of grocery stores across Colorado, there is people collecting signatures, and this Initiative 175 is one of them. So, they got to get the signatures in, got to get them there. They are due on May 27th, 2026.

[00:04:57]There's a lot of other signatures that are being collected, and a lot of potential to have some changes on our ballots. We'll see who else makes it, but I think 175, from what I've seen, this is one where the voters, where the people of Colorado want to see it passed.

[00:05:12]So, this bill, 1430, the the legislators who are the prime sponsors of this should actually absolutely be ashamed of themselves. Andrew Boesenecker is a big government authoritarian government advocate. Emily Sirota, I don't think she's ever had a real job in her life, comes up with the most crazy schemes in the legislature. William Lindstedt, who was recently a vacancy appointment in the Senate.

[00:05:32]Judy Amabile from Boulder. Just these people make horrible, horrible decisions here, folks. But the idea is they're going to cut taxes, the tax money we would be putting towards roads, and then also creating this new fund for money to go in certain directions. So, total subversion of what the will of the voters potentially could have. Let's take a quick look at the voting record here. So, over in the Senate, as you'd expect, uh pretty partisan vote. 22 voted yes, so that's all Democrats. 13 voted no.

[00:06:02]So, all the Republicans in the Senate voted against this bill, including Mark Baisley, Scott Bright, John Carson, Mark Catlin, Lisa Frizell, Bob Kirkmeyer, of course, Larry Liston. But, also, we also saw it, Dylan Roberts, a Democrat vote against this bill. And I think part of the reason is because he's in a swing district, right? There's actually more registered Republicans in his Senate district than there are registered Democrats. Now, of course, unaffiliated voters are still the largest percent, so they really determine who's going to win or lose that election.

[00:06:32]But, nonetheless, over on the house side, we've seen, um gosh, similar votes, actually. But, I got to show this to you because this is this is absolutely crazy. Third reading in the state house, we had 42 yes, all mostly Democrats, and 22 no, mostly Republicans. The difference is there, folks, is we actually have this guy named Rick Taggart, who's a so-called Republican from Grand Junction, who should probably just change his voter registration to Democrat. This guy has been voting so bad this year, and I'm really just concerned that he doesn't know what he's voting for. But, he's the only Republican in both chambers to vote for this bill on third reading.

[00:07:10]Absolutely insane. This bill is so egregious that even Bob Marshall, a big government Democrat out of Highlands Ranch, voted against this bill. He's also in a swing district, and he knows that this is subverting the will of the voters. This is something that's a total scheme by our Democrat majority to tell the voters of Colorado that your voice doesn't matter. So, I got to speak, uh I spoke uh during the last week of the legislative session a couple weeks ago, and I want to play that testimony because I got to tell you it's it's so important for us to have a voice to speak out and share our thoughts, not just to the legislators, but everybody else who's in that room.

[00:07:43]So, I'm going to go ahead and play play you what I said here during that committee hearing.

[00:07:47]Brandon Workin, I'm representing myself.

[00:07:49]Article 2, Section 24 of the Colorado Constitution ensures the right of the people to assemble and petition. Quote, the people have the right to peacefully assemble for the common good and to apply to those invested with the powers of the government for redress of grievances by petition or remonstrance.

[00:08:06]And end quote. And may I remind you that the Colorado legislature is only granted power at the consent of the governed.

[00:08:12]Article 2, Section 1 of the Colorado Constitution states, quote, all political power is vested in and derived from the people. All government of right originates from the people. It is a found It is founded upon their will only and is instituted solely for the good of the whole. End quote. This bill is against the spirit of our state constitution, of which you all swore to uphold. The purpose of this bill, as you know, is to subvert a citizen-led initiative to require our state government to do its job of keeping our roads in good condition. The people of Colorado feel it every day when they drive to work. They feel the failure of our current government failing to fulfill its core function.

[00:08:49]If our roads were in great condition, the citizen initiative would not be necessary in getting Colorado voters to sign a petition to get it on the ballot would probably be a challenge. Instead, I've personally seen people rush to sign a petition after hearing what it was about. The people of Colorado are attempting to petition our government, which is our constitutional right. And the legislators sponsoring and voting in favor of this this bill are directly in conflict with the rights of the people.

[00:09:13]This is egregious. It is anti-democratic. It is shameful.

[00:09:17]The right of the people to petition the government should be protected and not subverted by you, the individuals who are elected by the people.

[00:09:24]So, do the right thing and vote no on this bill. Stand up for the people of Colorado and our constitutional rights.

[00:09:29]Oh, and the comments from the senator who is trivializing the citizen initiative process by talking about ponies and the tooth fairy were absolutely shameful comments. Your power comes from the people. If the majority of the voters want you to fix the roads, then that is what you're going to do.

[00:09:42]Thank you. Folks, I got to tell you how valuable it is, I think, maybe how important it is for us as individuals to have a voice in the process, but it does feel good to be able to say these things to legislators. And don't get me wrong, I'm not didn't change anybody's votes, but I think it's important that we speak up. We can't let these measures pass in silence, right? Without any public outcry.

[00:10:04]You can also read the fiscal note here, folks. You can see how many hundreds of millions of dollars they're talking about through this whole scheme here if this ends up going through. So, we'll see. Initiative 175 is going to be a very interesting ballot measure this year.

[00:10:19]I did hear talk during the testimony that this bill 1430 is going to be used as a as a bargaining chip where they're going to tell the the people who are behind 175 to say, "Hey, listen. Well, if you pull that initiative, then 1430 doesn't count, and we'll come up with some sort of working group and some sort of negotiation to to help you get more funding for roads."

[00:10:41]I hope they don't go along with it. I hope the people of Colorado have a voice and say, "Listen, if you collect taxes, excise taxes, and fees on motor vehicles and motor vehicle fuel, it should go to roads, 100%. Why isn't this the case already? Sales and use taxes imposed on motor vehicles, parts, and accessories?

[00:10:56]Yeah, put it towards roads. It shouldn't be going to all these other different schemes. If they don't have enough money to keep the roads functioning, then how do we even have a functional society, right? We see all the costs associated with that.

[00:11:08]Common Sense Institute had a good little write-up here as well. I'm going to share it at freestatecolorado.com, of course, with the rest of these links.

[00:11:15]But I really wanted you to be aware that our Democrat majority is trying to subvert the will of the voters, tell us that our voice doesn't matter, and that ultimately they want to try and stop a citizen initiative, which is our as I mentioned in my testimony, our God-given right, I would say, but also our constitutional right under the Colorado Constitution. We're all consent that all the power that the legislature have is from the consent of the governed. So, for them to come in and say, "Hey, listen, you people of Colorado don't have a voice. You shouldn't have a say in the process." is totally irresponsible and unconstitutional, against the spirit of the Constitution.

[00:11:48]That's for sure. So, check this out if you want to dig in deeper, folks, but that's really what I wanted to share with you today because I think it's a an interesting topic. And these legislators who voted for this bill need to be held accountable. They need to be out of office. They have no business serving in our state government if they're not willing to respect the will of the voters. And I got to tell you, folks, please, if you get the opportunity, sign Initiative 175 and let's hope it passes because we have to push back as people, as the the people, we the people, against these authoritarians who think they can just manage our lives without our ability to even have consent or a voice in the process. So, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time. Take care and we'll talk to you again soon.