DENVER — Three more statewide initiatives — concerning the expansion of liquor licenses, where wine can be sold, and for third-party alcohol delivery — will be up for consideration by voters in Colorado’s November election, the Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Friday.
The three measures – Initiative 96, Initiative 121, and Initiative 122 – all collected enough valid signatures to be placed on November’s ballot. The addition of the three to the ballot now means six citizen-referred initiatives will be up for a vote in November.
Initiative 96 would allow liquor retailers to hold an increasing number of licenses for more stores, which would move to an unlimited number in 2037.
Initiative 121 would, if approved, let grocery stores and convenience stores that hold beer sales licenses to also sell wine.
And Initiative 122 would allow for third-party alcohol delivery services in Colorado.
Currently, a retailer that holds a liquor license can only have three stores, but if Initiative 96 passes, that would change to eight, then to 13 in 2027, to 20 in 2032, and to an unlimited number in 2037.
U.S. Rep. David Trone, D-Md., and his brother, Robert Trone, who are the co-founders of the multi-billion alcohol chain Total Wine & More, have spent $1.8 million in support of Initiative 96 through the Coloradans for Liquor Fairness committee.
The other citizen-referred measures are Initiative 108, which would put 0.1% of state income tax revenue toward the State Affordable Housing Fund to expand affordable housing in Colorado; the Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022, called Initiative 58, would create a natural medicine regulated access model, which would create healing center for patients and remove criminal penalties for people ages 21+ involving certain plant or fungi-based psychedelic medicines; and Initiative 31, called “State Income Tax Rate Reduction,” would reduce the state income tax rate from 4.55% to 4.4%, which would save taxpayers some money each year, but which would also reduce state revenues.
Voters will also decide on a legislature-referred measure of whether to change the state’s tax code to pay for free school meals for all students, and another that would require initiatives to carry tables that show how taxpayer brackets would be affected in terms of income tax.
