Gov. Polis declares special legislative session to deal with property taxes

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday called the Legislature back to work for a special session to address rising property taxes, making it the second time in less than a year that lawmakers will meet outside their regular term to work on the issue.

The special session will begin Aug. 26 and last at least three days, the minimum time necessary to pass a bill.

“The cost of inaction is too high. We refuse to gamble with our schools, our economy, our future. Proposed ballot measures threaten to gut funding for K-12 and higher education, and Coloradans are counting on us to find a path forward that saves people money on property taxes while preserving these critical institutions,” Polis said in a statement.

In exchange for additional legislation to further cut tax rates and put limits on growth, conservative groups said they will withdraw two ballot measures from the November ballot that state and local officials fear would be catastrophic to their budgets and ability to provide services.

Initiative 50 would put a cap on annual statewide property tax growth. Initiative 108, which is still undergoing signature verification, would lower the assessment rate used for property taxes and would result in $2.4 billion less collected in 2026, according to state economists.

Polis said he will not sign any legislation passed during the special session until those two initiatives are pulled from the ballot. Proponents of the initiatives have until Sept. 6 to do so.

A proposed deal for the session, which was crafted behind closed doors, would cut taxes by an additional $255 million for taxes owed in 2026. It builds upon Senate Bill 24-233, which lawmakers approved in the final days of this year’s regular session and amounts to over $1 billion in tax cuts.

The deal would further cut residential tax rates for school districts and local governments and keep commercial and agricultural rates under the SB-233 framework as well as further reduce the industrial property tax rate. It would also impose two-year growth caps for school districts and local governments.

This is the third special session Polis has called as governor.

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