Amendment 82Constitutional amendment · Citizen initiative
Natural gas access right
Explain it like I'm 5
People and businesses would have a constitutional right to buy natural gas for cooking and heating. It is like putting the right to choose one kind of stove or heater into the state’s main rulebook.
Yes vote
The state constitution protects consumers’ right to buy natural gas and distributors’ and utilities’ right to sell it for cooking and heating.
No vote
Existing laws and local rules continue to govern natural gas use and sales.
The question to ask yourself
Should access to natural gas be protected in the constitution, even if energy policy changes later?
The case for
- Protects consumer choice for heating and cooking.
- Could prevent rules that force property owners to replace gas appliances with electric ones.
- Gives utilities and consumers more certainty about future gas access.
Backed by: Advance Colorado, Republican Party of Colorado, Independence Institute, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
The case against
- A constitutional protection could limit future climate, air-quality, and building-energy policies.
- It may create legal uncertainty about local building rules and utility regulation.
- Natural gas is already legal and widely available, so opponents view the amendment as unnecessary.
Opposed by: Conservation Colorado, Sierra Club Colorado, League of Women Voters of Colorado, Democratic Party of Colorado, The Bell Policy Center
- Money
- No direct tax increase is proposed, and the sources reviewed did not provide a reliable cost estimate.
- Don't be misled
- It is misleading to say the amendment guarantees cheap gas or eliminates all safety rules, because it protects access and sales, not prices, and does not expressly remove regulation.