State Democratic lawmakers abandoned their effort to blunt the potential impact of a proposed ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to give Coloradans a “right to natural gas.”
Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Littleton, had pledged Friday to introduce a bill that would ensure the amendment doesn’t threaten public safety or local air quality.
They would have had to introduce the bill on Monday in order to have enough time to get it passed by the end of the legislative session on Wednesday. Republican House members asked that several bills be read at length Monday in protest of the effort, a time-killing measure meant to run out the clock.
Ultimately, the Democrats never introduced their bill.
The proposed amendment, known as Initiative 177, is backed by Advance Colorado, a conservative political nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors. The ballot measure has triggered fears among Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Jared Polis that it could uproot a deal struck between the oil and gas industry, environmentalists and state lawmakers in 2024 that tightened air quality regulations and created a new oil and gas production fee for transportation and conservation projects.
McCluskie said the bill they had planned to introduce would not have meaningfully changed the impacts of Initiative 177.
“The only rational way forward for the good of our state is for Advance Colorado to pull down their measures so that compromise and common sense can prevail,” McCluskie said in a statement. “Short of that, I call on local governments, utilities, labor and community organizations to work in opposition to the measure.”
Advance Colorado is still gathering the required signatures by a June 25 deadline to get on the November ballot.
Advance Colorado has spent millions of dollars in recent years on ballot measures, including efforts to keep people in prison longer and give parents more school choices. They’ve had a mixed record of success.
It’s unclear exactly how Initiative 177 could impact state climate policies or local building regulations. If passed, distributors would have a constitutional right to sell natural gas, and consumers would have the same legal backing to purchase the fuel for cooking and heating. That could interfere with state and local efforts to cut natural gas usage to meet state climate targets.
Michael Fields, the executive director of Advance Colorado, said the proposed ballot measure is meant to protect consumers against rising energy costs. In a recent report, his organization argued that statewide energy policies — such as Colorado’s climate goals and its plan to force natural gas utilities to cut emissions — have made it harder for consumers to access a reliable, affordable energy source.
Last week, he said he wasn’t worried about the legislative effort to thwart his initiative.