Legal Challenge to TABOR May Proceed

On July 30 US District Judge William Martinez ruled that a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of TABOR may proceed. Attorney General John Suthers, representing Governor Hickenlooper, unsuccessfully argued that the plaintiffs didn’t have legal standing to bring forward the lawsuit.

As reported here in May of last year, a bipartisan group of plaintiffs filed suit. The judge declared that the 13 plaintiffs who are current members of the Colorado General Assembly have standing to sue.

Judge Martinez did agree with AG Suthers that TABOR does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution.

David Skaggs, a former US congressman who represented the Boulder area, is one of the attorneys working pro bono for the plaintiffs. The trial will likely begin in early 2013.

A form of TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) was on the ballot in 1988 and 1990 before it passed 54% to 46% as Issue 1 in 1992.