Proposition 130: Colorado Should Not Invest $350 Million More in Policing
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Vote No on Proposition 130
Enhancing public safety throughout the state has been a key focus for communities and local leaders for many years. Proposition 130, which will be on the ballot this November, aims to address the issue of public safety through increasing state funding for local law enforcement. Proposition 130 proposes to allocate an additional $350 million state dollars to expand policing across Colorado—that’s more than 10 times the amount of recent state funding for local law enforcement.
City police departments and sheriff’s offices would be able to apply for a portion of the $350 million through the Colorado Department of Public Safety (CDPS), but other public safety resources like firefighters or first responders are not eligible for this money. This approach is not a solution for promoting public safety. Proposition 130 is an expensive and ineffective investment, especially when considering the types of crime that are most common in Colorado and the underlying causes.
In the first half of 2024, Colorado recorded nearly six times the number of property crime incidents compared to violent crimes. Research indicates that poverty is a major factor contributing to property crime. Research and data support that increased policing and incarceration does not reduce the rate of violent crimes, and incarceration is both expensive and ineffective in reducing property crime. Considering that the vast majority of crime is property crime and heavily influenced by cycles of poverty, it is clear that the solution is not investing $350 million towards expanding surveillance, force, and punishment.
Proposition 130 would also require the state to establish an ongoing fund that provides a $1 million death benefit to the family of each law enforcement officer who loses their life while policing. Currently, families of most law enforcement officers receive ongoing survivor benefits through the officer’s pension. Some local law enforcement agencies provide their own death and disability benefits.
This measure seeks to drastically increase the state’s contribution to local police funding. Eighty-eight percent of law enforcement funding comes from the local level; additional funding is also allocated from the federal level. The majority of state law enforcement funding has historically been allocated towards state troopers and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, not expanding local policing. Over the past two years, Colorado has granted local law enforcement agencies $30 million through the Colorado Department of Public Safety (CDPS) for police recruitment and retention.
Funding Proposition 130 would require cutting budgets for essential services and programs that are data-supported to reduce poverty and crime, such as affordable housing, education, healthcare, food access, direct cash supplements, and targeted tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), and Colorado’s Family Affordability Tax Credit (FATC).
The $350 million dollars needed to fund Proposition 130 would also impact the state legislature’s ability to pass any new legislation that needs funding, which would leave a gap for the state to make up for any funding cuts in current or new programs that help meet the basic needs of Coloradans.
Fiscal Impact
This $350 million provision is a new cost with no new funding source. The $350 million is to be allocated to CDPS with no guidelines for equitable distribution across the state. Furthermore, this significant additional police funding comes with no additional accountability requirements.
For FY 25-26, the Office of State Planning and Budgeting (OSPB) forecasts that available revenue under the TABOR cap will grow by only 3.4%, which means only $650 million would be available to cover inflation costs and capacity increases across the state’s budget.
$350 million invested elsewhere could fund
- 5,758 K-12 teachers’ salaries based on the current Colorado average teacher pay ($60,775/year).
- 41,194 students at Colorado’s current average base per pupil spending level ($8,496.38/year).
- more than double the FY 2024-25 allocation into Colorado’s Affordable Housing Fund from $317 million to $667 million.
Police Funding in Colorado
In 2021, Colorado ranked 13th highest nationally in state and local police funding per capita. Police funding was $2.4 billion that year, which is $419 per Colorado resident spent on policing. 88% of that $2.4 billion police budget came from local funding.
The passage of Proposition 130 would impose a significant financial burden on Colorado’s state budget and divert funds from other essential services and programs. Given the limited budgetary flexibility under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), this initiative would compromise the state’s ability to invest in critical areas such as affordable housing, education, food access, and health services, which are all essential for promoting public safety.
We urge Coloradans to consider these significant fiscal and social impacts when evaluating Proposition 130. We recommend exploring alternative measures that focus on poverty reduction, rehabilitation, and crime prevention rather than the unaccountable expansion of policing, surveillance, and incarceration, which has proven to be both costly and ineffective.
