Amendment 74 represents everything that is wrong about today’s politics. It is a blatant attempt by big out-of-state companies to buy a piece of our state constitution. Special interests already control too much of our state. Amendment 74 will complete the takeover.

Amendment 74 would insert eleven words into the takings clause of the Colorado Constitution to require taxpayer compensation from any reduction of “fair market value” due to any government law or regulation. On the surface this concept sounds reasonable, and that is exactly what the five oil and gas companies financing the campaign want you to think.

But dig just a little bit deeper and you will see the true intent of Amendment 74. By changing well-established laws on zoning, takings and the duties of local governments, it would radically upend any kind of land use policy at every level. You may not mind this effect if you like big box stores next to homes, chemical plants by hospitals, or pot shops close to schools. For most people, however, rational land use planning is essential to their quality of life.

Amendment 74 is purposefully designed to neuter government by subjecting every decision it makes to a lawsuit. Developers, oil and gas companies, and trial lawyers win in this kind of world, but taxpayers and residents of every town lose.

On top of the obviously negative effects of Amendment 74, the process by which we see this ballot measure represents the worst our current electoral system has to offer. The statewide initiative process was designed to account for the grassroots and popular opinion in case the state legislature failed to address an important issue. The campaign for Amendment 74 is the exact opposite of a grassroots movement. It consists of just five oil and gas companies and their front group, the Colorado Farm Bureau.

These oil and gas companies contributed $4 million to pay signature gatherers so the amendment could get on the ballot in the first place. Then, they spent over $5 million on television propaganda that mentions nothing of the oil and gas industry’s involvement. Most campaigns have volunteers walk door-to-door to advocate for it. Amendment 74 has no such organization; instead it has spent $1.3 million on paid door knockers who pretend to be your neighbors.

The list of Amendment 74 supporters may be tiny, but the list of its opponents represents a broad bipartisan cross-section of Colorado. Civic leaders from conservative rural counties and liberal urban counties agree the amendment would have far-reaching negative consequences. A wide variety of educational, business, labor and environmental organizations are opposed. Republican and Democratic elected officials from across the state agree Amendment 74 goes too far.

Unfortunately, the opponents lack one thing possessed in spades by the oil and gas industry: big money and the willingness to spend it. Amendment 74 will show us whether a few big companies or everyday Coloradans can win such a matchup. Vote no on this vague and misleading constitutional amendment to keep special interests from ruining our neighborhoods.

Mike Foote represents House District 12 (Louisville, Lafayette, and southern and eastern Longmont) at the state legislature.