Advance Colorado
2026 Ballot Initiatives
Advance Colorado is a right-wing dark money group which spends millions of dollars every two years to influence Colorado’s ballot initiative system. This year, they have succeeded in putting 8 separate initiatives on the November ballot — each of which would benefit Advance Colorado’s funders while harming everyday Coloradans.
AMENDMENT 81
Law Enforcement Reporting Requirements to Federal Authorities
What it is
Amendment 81 would amend the Colorado Constitution to require local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE.
Ties to Advance
The designated representatives for Amendment 81 are Advance Colorado executive director Michael Fields, and the group’s attorney, Suzanne Taheri.
AMENDMENT 82
Right to Natural Gas
What it is
Amendment 82 is a shameless corporate giveaway in defiance of all established climate science. It would amend the Colorado Constitution to enshrine a right for corporations to buy and sell natural gas.
Ties to Advance
Advance Colorado executive director Michael Fields is a designated representative of Amendment 82.
AMENDMENT 83
Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish
What it is
Amendment 83 would add a right to hunt and fish to Colorado’s constitution. According to one of the amendment’s advocates, the goal is to insert “precedent-setting barriers” against future conservation efforts into the state constitution, and also turn-out conservative voters.
Ties to Advance
Suzanne Taheri and Steven Ward, two attorneys with longstanding ties to Advance Colorado, are Amendment 83’s registered representatives, with both listing Advance Colorado’s address on the filing.
AMENDMENT 84
Mail Ballot Voter Identification
What it is
Amendment 84 seeks to amend the Colorado Constitution to add voter ID requirements for the more than 90% of Coloradans who vote by mail. As with other voter ID laws, Amendment 84 is an attempt to create new problems in response to nonexistent problems.
Ties to Advance
Advance attorney Taheri is one of the amendment’s registered representatives, and used Advance Colorado’s address on the filing. The issue committee registered in support of the amendment is also located at the address.
AMENDMENT 85
Plain Language Ballot Questions
What it is
Amendment 85 seeks to add language to the state constitution requiring all future ballot questions to be written “at no more than an 8th grade reading level,” and prohibits the legislature from mandating any language which interferes with that standard. It’s an attempt to make raising taxes on the wealthy harder than cutting them.
Ties to Advance
Advance Colorado executive director, Michael Fields, and attorney Suzanne Taheri are the amendment’s designated representatives. Both listed Advance Colorado’s address on the filing.
AMENDMENT 86
Congressional Redistricting
What it is
In 2025, Trump and Republicans kicked off a push for states to redistrict in the middle of the decade, instead of waiting until after the next census, in hopes of gaining redrawn seats for Republicans. Amendment 86 is Advance Colorado’s contribution to that effort.
Ties to Advance
Advance attorney Taheri and the group’s outreach director, Elizabeth Caven, are the amendment’s designated representatives. The initiative is registered at Advance Colorado’s address.
PROPOSITION 132
Penalties for Fentanyl Crimes
What it is
An old-fashioned “tough-on-crime” approach to handling drugs and addiction, Proposition 132 is a retread of outdated bad ideas which is likely to significantly increase the state’s prison population while substantially increasing overdose deaths.hs. h
Ties to Advance
Advance Colorado executive director, Michael Fields, and attorney Suzanne Taheri are the amendment’s designated representatives. Both listed Advance Colorado’s address on the filing.
PROPOSITION 136
Income Tax Rate Cap
What it is
Trickle-down economics at its worst, Proposition 136 seeks to place a permanent cap on the individual and corporate income tax in Colorado. The policy would force cuts to vital services in order to pad the pockets of big business and the already wealthy.
Ties to Advance
Advance Colorado executive director, Michael Fields, and attorney Suzanne Taheri are the amendment’s designated representatives. Both listed Advance Colorado’s address on the filing.
Beyond Advance Colorado:
Three More Initiatives to Watch
In addition to the 8 initiatives sponsored and funded by Advance Colorado, there are 3 other initiatives on the Colorado ballot which have been linked to another right-wing billionaire's dark money network. The three initiatives target transgender youth and are run by a group named Protect Kids Colorado which earlier this year claimed to be talking with a national donor, who later decided to pass on Colorado but fund very similar initiatives in other states, including Maine, where campaign filings show money from Wisconsin billionaire Richard Uihlein. Uihlein is a mega-donor on the scale of the Koch Brothers, and has been one of the main funders behind the anti-trans panic for nearly a decade.
Proposition 133
Penalties for Human Trafficking of a Minor
Proposition 133 would institute mandatory life sentences for anyone convicted of trafficking a child. Rather than being based on best practices for the support and healing of children who have been victims of a horrible crime, Prop 133 has been called a "Trojan horse" for a broader political agenda. The initiative has not been endorsed by established anti-trafficking organizations like the Colorado-based Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking, and contains no measures to support survivors.
Proposition 134
Male and Female Participation in School Sports
Proposition 134 would prohibit transgender youth of any age from participating in K-12 or collegiate girls' sports. In addition to being largely based on misinformation and scare tactics, the measure is an attempt to create a state law targeting a very small number of children. In order to target those children, the measure would create a regime of mandatory sex-confirmation checks for student-athletes around the state. What form those checks would take – from genetic testing to genital inspections – is unclear.
Proposition 135
Prohibit Certain Surgeries on Minors
Proposition 135 aims to restrict gender-affirming medical care for minors by prohibiting "any surgery to alter sex characteristics" – language opponents warn might outlaw procedures like mastectomies for young patients with breast cancer. The number of such surgeries performed on minors nationwide is vanishingly small, and zero such surgeries are performed on anyone 12 or younger. Proposition 135 seeks to take medical decisions out of the hands of doctors, patients, and their families. As a parent told Westword, "those decisions are not political. They are private family decisions."