Dear government, pay me for my losses. Inside Amendment 74, a ballot measure that has Colorado's

Dear government, pay me for my losses. Inside Amendment 74, a ballot measure that has Colorado’s towns and cities scared


Imagine you are a property owner. One day, you decide you want to use your land to develop a sand and gravel operation. You do your research, and you find out that your property is smack in the middle of a floodplain the county has designated. So the local authorities turn down your request for that sand and gravel operation. What do you do? You sue, arguing that the designation is causing you financial harm.

You will lose.

In fact, the Colorado Supreme Court sided with La Plata County in this very case in 2001.

Now, 17 years later, a constitutional amendment that appears on the ballot this November seeks to significantly strengthen a property owner’s rights in the event of a loss based on a government rule or regulation. It would also ease access to financial compensation in such cases. Critics argue that, if passed, the measure would lead to a flood of lawsuits that could bankrupt smaller and less affluent municipalities or have a chilling effect on proposing regulations in the first place.

The proposed amendment, which is backed by the oil and gas industry, is the latest salvo in the ongoing turf war between municipalities seeking local control to protect the safety and health of their communities and powerful industries and individuals alike seeking to benefit from the extraction of resources close to those communities.

Read more: https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2018/09/20/colorado-amendment-74-takings-just-compensation-regulation/