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HomeProposition LL: Stance

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2025 BALLOT MEASURES

The LWVCO Action & Advocacy Team has taken a close look at this year’s statewide ballot measures through careful study and consensus.

On this page, you’ll find the League’s position and stance, along with a summary, background, fiscal notes, the rationale behind our stance, and additional resources to help you fully understand the issue at hand.

PROPOSITION LL SUMMARY (RETENTION MEASURE)

HB25-1274 Healthy School Meals for All Program passed the Colorado General Assembly in early May 2025 and was signed into law by Governor Polis on June 3, 2025.

This Act refers two ballot measures to voters in November 2025 that are meant to secure funding necessary to maintain the Healthy School Meals for All Program, which was approved by voters in 2022. The Healthy School Meals for All Program aims to provide free breakfast and lunch for all K-12 students in Colorado public schools by reimbursing participating school districts for all meals provided to students free of charge.

• One ballot measure, Proposition LL, is a request to retain and spend collected revenue.
• The other ballot measure, Proposition MM, is an “expansion measure” that would increase revenue to adequately fund all that the Healthy School Meals for All Program sets out to do.

The summary below addresses the first of the two referred ballot measures (i.e., the retention measure).

Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights, TABOR, requires voters to approve tax changes that increase revenue.

This ballot measure, a “retention measure” (TABOR override measure), asks voters to allow the state to retain $12.4 million in excess revenue collected under provisions of the 2022 Proposition FF (Healthy School Meals for All) and to allow the state to keep the caps on tax deductions where they are for taxpayers reporting annual income of $300,000 or more, without making any adjustment to eliminate future excess revenue. If voters do not approve the retention measure, Proposition FF thresholds for capping tax deductions must be adjusted to reduce anticipated revenue to the level projected in Proposition FF and $12.4 million must be returned to taxpayers in FY 2025-2026, using a method that will be determined by the Department of Revenue. Recipients of refunded tax dollars must include taxpayers with reported incomes of $300,000 or more, who paid the Proposition FF taxes.

If at least one of the ballot measures passes, the local school food purchasing program will be extended past FY 2025-2026.

If the retention measure passes and the expansion measure fails, the Healthy School Meals for All Program will be changed in a number of ways, including directing that $1 million annually be spent on the local school food technical assistance and education grant program, which supports the use of locally produced products in meals served at schools.

B A C K G R O U N D

In 2022 voters approved Proposition FF, which created a revenue stream to fund school meals for all students, regardless of need, by capping tax deductions for higher-income taxpayers. The revenue collected during the 2023-2024 fiscal year surpassed the projection defined in the ballot measure that was approved.

Therefore, according to TABOR law, the excess must be returned to taxpayers unless voters authorize the override via a new ballot measure. However, even if voters authorize these overrides, in light of rising costs and other factors, funding would not be sufficient to sustain the Program and fully implement it. So a second ballot measure is being referred to the ballot to ask voters to authorize an increase in revenue collected to fund the Healthy School Meals for All Program.

Regardless of whether the retention measure passes, if the expansion measure is approved by voters, the bill directs changes to details on how the Healthy School Meals for All Program works, tweaking rules for food-purchasing arrangements, duties of advisory committees, and changing how funds are distributed for purposes such as increasing wages and paying stipends.

If the expansion measure is not approved by the voters,provisions of another new law passed in SB25-214 Healthy School Meals for All Program will be triggered, so that the state will only be required to reimburse local school food authorities in school districts with the highest concentrations of poverty.

If neither ballot measure passes, the local school food purchasing program will be repealed at the end of FY 2025-2026, the $12.4 million of excess revenue collected will be refunded to taxpayers, Proposition FF thresholds for capping tax deductions will be adjusted for tax year 2026 so that, had they been at those levels in tax years 2023 and 2024, the amount of revenue collected would have yielded the amount projected in the 2022 Blue Book, and school meals will be underfunded.

LINK TO FISCAL NOTE

CLICK HERE

If both the retention and expansion ballot measures are approved, expenditures in the Healthy School Meals for All Program may increase to $64.1 million for FY 2025-2026 and $116.9 million in FY 2026-2027.

If this retention measure passes (and not the expansion measure), expenditures in the school meals program may increase as much as $17.2 million in FY 2025-2026 and as much as $9.6 million in FY 2026-2027. The new law directs $1 million per year be spent on technical assistance and education grants supporting local food sources.

LEAGUE POSITION

The League supports systems for raising revenue which incorporate social, environmental, and economic goals; a progressive state income tax, individual and corporate; and a raise in taxes and/or elimination, reduction, or shift of funding from other programs when revenues are insufficient to finance a League-supported program.

(LWVCO 2025-2026 Positions for Action, p. 34).

In evaluating specific tax preferences, the League will use the following criteria: whether the tax preference promotes equity and progressivity; whether the tax preference effectively furthers League of Women Voters program goals; whether the tax preference is the most efficient means of achieving its purpose (LWVUS 2024-2026 Issues for Action, p. 155) The League supports measures which help families prepare students to meet academic standards. The League believes in equalizing educational opportunity; equity for students, taxpayers, and school districts; and programs for students with special needs.

(LWVCO 2025-2026 Positions for Action, p. 67)

RATIONALE FOR STANCE

Hungry, malnourished children can’t focus on learning.
Providing free breakfast and lunch for all K-12 students in public schools eliminates need-related stigma and stress and their adverse effects on children.
The free school meals program ensures all school children have access to healthy food, improves student focus and well-being, creates conditions for academic success, helps reduce malnutrition, and is a major component of the state’s strategy for ending child hunger.
The program prioritizes locally produced foods and provides technical support and education to develop and promote local food sources, thereby supporting Colorado farmers and ranchers and reducing environmental impacts of long-haul transportation.

H A V E Y O U E V E R W O N D E R E D . . .
How the League Takes a Stance?

LWVCO: Programs of Study and Action
LWVUS: IMPACT ON ISSUES

These two publications are designed to help League members use LWVUS and LWVCO public policy positions effectively at the state and local levels.

NOTE: For information on how to take action that the League supports or opposes, please visit our Take Action page.

LWVCO 2025 Positions for Action
LWVUS 2024-2026 Impact on Issues

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