Coloradans must vote down four different ballot measures that expand government authority over people’s lives. Amendment 81 requires greater cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Proposition 132 imposes harsh penalties for fentanyl-related offenses. Proposition 134 restricts transgender youth from participation in sports. Proposition 135 limits healthcare options for transgender youth and their families.
Together, they raise a fundamental question: What kind of Colorado do we want to be?
ACLU of Colorado, COLOR Action Fund, and the Colorado Criminal Justice Coalition have come together to create The People’s No to defend against these attacks on some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and ensure that we limit the power ICE has in our state and protect our due process rights, to protect girls in sports and trans athletes, and to prevent mandatory maximum prison sentences for even minor drug possession.
Amendment 81 would write ICE into Colorado’s Constitution. If passed, it would require police, district attorneys, investigators, and correctional officers to report people charged with certain crimes to ICE if their lawful status cannot be determined within 72 hours. That is a serious threat to our due process rights that should alarm every Coloradan. Being charged with a crime is not the same as being found guilty. Yet Amendment 81 would require local authorities to report people to ICE before the criminal legal process has reached a verdict.
If, for example, someone is simply charged with a specific crime and does not happen to have their passport on them when arrested, they could be subjected to ICE’s deplorable interrogation and detention practices under Amendment 81. This amendment further expands the Trump Administration’s dangerous deportation agenda and gives ICE more power in Colorado.
Proposition 132 would dramatically increase prison sentences for fentanyl-related offenses. Under this measure, possessing any amount of fentanyl would become a felony, even for a first offense. Distribution of any amount would subject a person to the same prison sentence as the highest-level drug trafficker – even if no money changed hands or the person didn’t know fentanyl was present.
That means an 18-year-old who shares a pill with a friend at a party, that they didn’t even know contained fentanyl, could face a mandatory eight-to-32-year prison sentence. Even if it was the teen’s first offense. A judge would have no discretion to impose a lesser sentence.
The consequences of passing Proposition 132 could be deadly. A Colorado-specific analysis projects that Proposition 132 could increase overdoses by over 41%, leading to 1,700 additional overdose deaths in the next five years compared to current law.
Colorado consistently ranks near the bottom for mental and behavioral health treatment compared to the need. But Proposition 132 provides no new funding for substance use treatment, recovery services, or overdose prevention. Instead, it would send 900 more people to prison every year, leaving Colorado taxpayers to foot the bill for over half a billion dollars in additional incarceration costs in the first five years.
With Colorado already facing a budget crisis, that’s money that could otherwise go toward education, healthcare, and the substance use treatment services our communities desperately need.
Propositions 134 and 135 aim to rollback rights for transgender youth and athletes and put critical decisions best made by families and medical experts in the hands of the government.
Proposition 134 would deny some youth in grades K-12 and athletes in collegiate sports the ability to participate in sports teams that align with their gender identity. The proposition does not outline how schools and coaches would determine someone’s gender and could subject girls and young women to invasive and humiliating gender checks, including genital inspections, hormone tests, or genetic testing.
Proposition 135 would let the government intrude on medical decisions that are best left to doctors, patients, and their families. This measure prohibits certain medical care for transgender youth and takes deeply personal healthcare decisions away from parents who know what’s best for their children and medical professionals who are the experts assisting these families in making these decisions. This measure may also curtail access to other forms of medical care for youth.
Billionaire-backed organizations Advance Colorado and Protect Kids Colorado are funding and pushing these dangerous ballot measures that would harm and target Colorado families. They don’t get to decide who has civil rights and who doesn’t.
Four different ballot measures. Four consequential decisions. One choice about what kind of Colorado we want to be. Support The People’s No and vote NO on Amendment 81, Proposition 132, and Propositions 134 and 135.
About the author:
Olivia Mendoza is the executive director of the ACLU of Colorado. She joined the organization in February 2026. Olivia has nearly two decades of experience fighting for civil rights and social justice across the nonprofit and government sectors.