Ballot Title Setting Board
2003-2004

The title as designated and fixed by the Board is as follows:

State taxes shall be increased by $217.3 million annually by an amendment to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning the imposition and expenditure of tobacco taxes, and, in connection therewith, imposing additional statewide taxes, effective July 1, 2004, on the sale of cigarettes by wholesalers at the rate of four cents per cigarette and on the sale, use, consumption, handling, or distribution of tobacco products other than cigarettes by distributors at the rate of fifteen percent of the manufacturer's list price; requiring that the revenues collected from the additional tobacco taxes be utilized to provide certain replacement revenue for the state's general fund and old age pension fund and for county and municipal governments; requiring that moneys not used for replacement revenues be utilized, in specified percentages, for a new prescription drug assistance program, a new small employer reinsurance program, tobacco education and prevention programs, the children's basic health plan, and the collection of such additional taxes; providing that such revenues shall be in addition to and not substituted for any appropriations made by the General Assembly for such programs as of January 1, 2003; and excluding revenues collected from the increased tobacco taxes from fiscal year spending for purposes of section 20 of article X of the Colorado constitution.

The ballot title and submission clause as designated and fixed by the Board is as follows:

Shall state taxes be increased by $217.3 million annually by an amendment to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning the imposition and expenditure of tobacco taxes, and, in connection therewith, imposing additional statewide taxes, effective July 1, 2004, on the sale of cigarettes by wholesalers at the rate of four cents per cigarette and on the sale, use, consumption, handling, or distribution of tobacco products other than cigarettes by distributors at the rate of fifteen percent of the manufacturer's list price; requiring that the revenues collected from the additional tobacco taxes be utilized to provide certain replacement revenue for the state's general fund and old age pension fund and for county and municipal governments; requiring that moneys not used for replacement revenues be utilized, in specified percentages, for a new prescription drug assistance program, a new small employer reinsurance program, tobacco education and prevention programs, the children's basic health plan, and the collection of such additional taxes; providing that such revenues shall be in addition to and not substituted for any appropriations made by the General Assembly for such programs as of January 1, 2003; and excluding revenues collected from the increased tobacco taxes from fiscal year spending for purposes of section 20 of article X of the Colorado constitution?

Hearing February 19, 2003

Single subject approved; staff draft amended; titles set.
Hearing adjourned 4:07 p.m.

Hearing March 5, 2003

Motion for Rehearing granted in part to the extent Board amended titles; denied in all other respects.
Hearing adjourned 4:39 p.m.

March 25, 2003

Titles corrected by Secretary of State to reflect accurately the action of the Board on February 19, 2003 (in the first clause, removed the phrase "for health related purposes and removed the word "in" after "concerning", and, in the second clause, removed the comma after the word "imposing").

* Unofficially captioned "Increase Tobacco Taxes" by legislative staff for tracking purposes. Such caption is not part of the titles set by the Board.