Colorado voters handed a poll measure that advocates say might be a lifeline for victims’ providers.Chet Unusual/AP
Colorado voters on Tuesday dropped at victory a poll measure that can present thousands and thousands of vital {dollars} to organizations supporting victims of home and sexual violence by way of the creation of a brand new tax on firearms and ammunition.
With almost three-quarters of the votes counted as of this morning, the measure, often called Proposition KK, handed with 54 % of votes. When it takes impact in April, it would impose a 6.5 % excise tax on firearms and ammunition, which is able to present an estimated $39 million in annual income. The majority of these funds, roughly $30 million, will go towards organizations that help victims of crimes, principally home and sexual violence. The remainder of the funds will help psychological well being providers for veterans and younger individuals, in addition to elevated safety in Colorado public colleges.
The cash is particularly essential in mild of the yearslong decline in federal funding from the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), which has compelled organizations that help survivors of home abuse to chop employees and reduce providers, as I not too long ago investigated for Mom Jones. In Colorado, the state went from receiving $31.3 million in VOCA funds in fiscal yr 2017 to about $13.6 million in the latest fiscal yr, when the cash was used to help greater than 125,000 survivors, principally ladies who have been victims of home violence or sexual assault, in keeping with Division of Justice information.
Once we spoke final month, Roshan Kalantar, government director of Violence Free Colorado, the statewide home violence coalition, informed me that not less than two packages within the state have been on the verge of closing due to funding cuts. Now, because of the passage of Prop KK, they’ve a lifeline that will assist maintain them open, she mentioned. However the earliest the funds can be disbursed to eligible packages can be January 2026, in keeping with a spokesperson on the Colorado Division of Legal Justice. Within the meantime, “there might be a niche and will probably be tough,” Kalantar mentioned, including that extra federal funding cuts are anticipated. “We’re hopeful that packages can climate this yr with minimal affect.”
Democratic state Rep. Monica Duran, who launched the invoice that might change into the poll measure within the legislature earlier this yr and who’s a survivor of home violence herself, mentioned in an announcement late Tuesday: “Tonight actually is a full circle second for me; with out the help from crime sufferer providers as a younger single mom trapped in an abusive relationship, there isn’t any means I’d be right here at this time celebrating the passage of Prop KK.”
“As federal {dollars} dwindle, Coloradans made the fitting alternative this night to step up and assist fill the funding gaps in crime sufferer providers,” Duran continued. “From navigating the difficult judicial system to serving to safe baby care, crime sufferer providers play a significant function in uplifting survivors by offering them the assets they should begin anew.”
Home violence advocates I spoke to mentioned they see the brand new tax as significantly acceptable, contemplating the function firearms play in home violence homicides. Final yr, there have been 58 home violence fatalities in Colorado, greater than three-quarters of which have been brought on by weapons, in keeping with state information. As Kalantar put it after we final spoke: “It feels very acceptable that folks making a living off the sale of weapons in Colorado ought to take part within the therapeutic” of survivors.
The poll measure confronted strenuous opposition from the gun foyer, which alleged the tax—which won’t apply to firearms distributors that make lower than $20,000 yearly, regulation enforcement companies, or active-duty army personnel—is unconstitutional. It might additionally face authorized challenges, just like the one California faces after the state enacted an identical measure earlier this yr.