Opinion ID: 2595483
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Fiscal Impact Statement

Text: The final issue we must address is whether the fiscal impact information in the Board's summary is adequate. Petitioner Wagoner and petitioners Armstrong and Collins claim that it is not. They all assert that the Board erred when it stated that some costs were indeterminate, rather than obtaining specific fiscal information from the OSPB and the DOLA. The challenged part of the fiscal impact statement in the summary states: In addition to these costs, it is likely that there would be state and local costs for law enforcement and incarceration, but the amount of such costs is indeterminate. We described the purposes of the fiscal impact statement in In re Petition on School Finance, 875 P.2d 207, 211-12 (Colo. 1994): The purpose of including a fiscal impact statement in the summary is to inform the electorate of the fiscal implications of the proposed measure. The Board has discretion in exercising its judgment regarding how to best communicate that a proposed measure will have a fiscal impact on government without creating prejudice for or against the proposed measure. A separate explanation of the fiscal impact of a measure is not required when the fiscal impact cannot be determined due to the variables involved. (citations omitted); see also In re Proposed Initiated Constitutional Amend. Concerning Unsafe Workplace Env't, 830 P.2d 1031, 1035 (Colo.1992) ([A] definitive fiscal impact statement is not required where, due to the variables or uncertainties inherent in the particular issue, the fiscal impact cannot reasonably be determined from the materials submitted to the Board.). In this case, the petitioners did not provide any fiscal data to the Board indicating how many violations of the Initiative could be expected, or an estimate of law enforcement costs associated with the Initiative, other than an estimate of the daily cost of housing an offender. On the other hand, Wagoner himself introduced evidence at the hearing that the costs of law enforcement would be indeterminate. He presented The State Conditional Fiscal Impact for S.C.R. 00-009 (which he asserts was substantially similar to the Initiative) to the Board. This document was prepared by the Legislative Council Staff, and it states at page 3: If approved by the voters, the bill will create a class 1 misdemeanor and would have a fiscal impact on local government due to the possible increase in county court filings for misdemeanor offenses and the associated county jail sentences. According to a 1993 report from the State Auditor's Office, the average daily cost to house an offender in a county jail is $54. Because the sentencing court has the discretion to impose a fine, a jail sentence, or both, the impact upon local governments is unknown at this time. (emphasis added.) Thus, Wagoner's own evidence established that the Board was well within its discretion to conclude that the law enforcement costs of the Initiative were indeterminate. The Board is not limited by the estimates provided by the OSPB and the DOLA; it can look at all of the evidence of costs before it. See In re No. 25A Concerning Housing Unit Constr. Limits, 954 P.2d 1063, 1066 (Colo.1998) (However, section 1-40-106(3)(a) does not limit the Board to information submitted by the department of local affairs or the office of state planning and budgeting in formulating a fiscal impact statement.). We conclude that the Board properly found law enforcement costs were indeterminate because of the variables and uncertainties involved. See In re Casino Gaming Initiative, 649 P.2d 303, 307 (Colo. 1982) (declining to require the Board to request cost estimates from local officials, including law enforcement officials, on the costs of gaming in certain counties since responses from county officials would not eliminate the variables which made the fiscal impact indeterminate.). [7] Wagoner also states that the Legislative Council Staff's cost estimates for S.C.R. 00-009 were different from the OSPB's estimates. In response, the Board took the information in relation to a web-based computer site and added it to the OSPB's estimates. Wagoner claims that the Board should have either listed the two alternative estimates or requested more analysis from OSPB to reconcile the differences. First, the Board is not required to accept at face value the information provided to it. See In re Proposed Initiative 1997-98 # 10, 943 P.2d 897, 900 (Colo.1997). Second, the Board could have properly concluded there would be no point in asking the OSPB to reconcile the two estimates because the OSPB had already compared the two projections, and the deputy director of the OSPB stated at the April 19 rehearing that its cost estimates would not be revised even given the Legislative Council's estimate. Finally, Armstrong and Collins complain about information submitted for the first time at the rehearing from the deputy director of the OSPB and a representative of the department of public safety. But the Board may take evidence at the hearing from any interested party, not just the objectors. There was no error. We conclude that the fiscal impact statement contained in the Board's summary was adequate.