Republican state senators sent a letter Friday to Colorado Governor Jared Polis thanking him for not calling the legislature to a special session to discuss options for rebalancing the state’s budget. A recent forecast shows state revenue will be greater than expected for both the most recent and current fiscal years.

Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert and Assistant Minority Leader John B. Cooke state in the letter that neither Republicans nor Democrats have enough votes to pass any of the options proposed by party members.

Among the options under consideration are reductions to the state income tax rate, currently at 4.63 percent. At the same time, proposals are on the November ballot to alter or exceed revenue limits imposed by the Taxpayers Bill of Rights. The TABOR amendment, as it is popularly known, imposes limits on state revenue growth, and can trigger refunds if caps are exceeded. Voters must authorize tax increases or allowing the state to retain and spend excess revenue.

Proposition CC will ask voters to allow the state to keep all revenue collected and use it to fund education and transportation projects, while Proposition DD asks for a tax increase of $29 million per year through a 10 percent tax on proceeds from sports betting. Those funds would be used for water projects and to regulate sports betting though casinos licensed for sports gambling. During the 2019 legislative session, both questions were sent to voters for consideration in November.

A network of groups is undertaking other efforts to reduce the role of TABOR by coordinating to repeal the amendment. They recently won a Colorado Supreme Court victory that allows the amendment to be repealed with a single vote.

In arguing against a special session prior to the election, Holbert and Cooke state that such a session is likely to result in a partisan outcome, or no result at all.

Colorado House Republicans have issued a similar letter to Governor Polis this week asking to avoid a special session.

In mid-June, the Joint Budget Committee received a quarterly budget forecast predicting an increase in revenue for the state which would exceed limits allowed by TABOR. The higher revenue could prompt a refund to taxpayers.  For fiscal year 2018-19, revenue is expected to be nearly $296 million above the cap, while the fiscal year 2019-20 excess is projected to be $412 million.