Colorado: Terrance Carroll

A Democratic-backed law that kept property taxes from decreasing survived its final legal challenge Monday as the Colorado Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that the 2007 measure violated the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights in the state constitution.

In a 6-1 ruling, the court reversed a May 2008 district court ruling that said the law, which kept local mill-levy rates from going down and is expected to raise more than $100 million annually, violated TABOR's requirement that voters approve any additional tax increases.

Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, who was a defendant in the suit, said the ruling would avert even deeper cuts in the state budget to education programs like full-day kindergarten and school counseling.

Avoiding further chaos for an already-strapped state budget, the Colorado Supreme Court today ruled that a 2007 law that allowed local property taxes to grow did not violate the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.

The seven-member court overturned a May 2008 district court ruling that said the law, which kept local mill-levy rates from going down, violated TABOR's requirement that voters approve any additional tax increases.

The court flatly rejected that argument advanced by opponents of the law, which included the Mesa County Board of Commissioners. The court said that was because voters in 174 of the state's 178 school districts had voted to cast off limitations under TABOR, allowing them to keep property tax revenues.

Late last week, state Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, cast a vote in committee that critics say could come back to haunt her if she seeks re-election in 2010.

Curry voted against House Bill 1255, which would have weakened the roles of the Division of Wildlife and Department of Public Health and Environment in the state’s new regulatory process for oil and natural gas drilling. In 2008, the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission created new permitting rules after the General Assembly voted to have the agency design better protections for wildlife and public health.

Without legislative clarification about the role of the DOW, opponents say the new rules could devastate the oil and gas industry in Colorado.

The bill signing attracted a who's who of Denver Democratic politics.

The president was accompanied on Air Force One by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and met on the tarmac by Gov. Bill Ritter and his son August; U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet; U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (whom the president called "de-jet" during his speech); U.S. Rep. Ed Perl mutter; and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. At the museum, there were also Bennet's wife, Susan Daggett, who received a kiss on the cheek from the president; Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien; former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and his wife, Wilma; former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer and his son, state Sen. Chris Romer; former Denver mayor and secretary of energy and transportation Federico Peña; Senate President
Obama in Denver

Peter Groff; House Speaker Terrance Carroll; Colorado Democratic Party chair Pat Waak; attorney and Democratic fundraiser Steve Farber; and political consultant David Kenney. The Denver Post