Colorado Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Act, Ballot Language

COLORADO FOOD, RESOURCE, AND COMMODITY ASSURANCE ACT

                          Scarcity is a Policy Choice

Filed with the Colorado Secretary of State Prepared for the Title Board of the State of Colorado

Signature Requirement: 124,238 valid signatures (Five percent of total votes cast for all candidates for the office of Secretary of State at the November 8, 2022 general election, which totaled 2,484,758. Colorado Secretary of State, Initiative Signature Requirements.)

BALLOT TITLE

SHALL THE STATE OF COLORADO ESTABLISH THE COLORADO FOOD, RESOURCE, AND COMMODITY ASSURANCE ACT, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH:

    (1) CREATING A COLORADO FOOD ASSURANCE PROGRAM OPERATED BY THE
    DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO SELL GROCERY PRODUCTS AT AT-COST
    PRICING TO ALL COLORADO RESIDENTS THROUGH STATE-OPERATED FOOD
    ASSURANCE CENTERS, WITH NOT FEWER THAN FIVE PILOT CENTERS WITHIN
    TWO YEARS AND TWENTY CENTERS STATEWIDE WITHIN FIVE YEARS, MODELED
    ON THE 159-YEAR UNITED STATES MILITARY COMMISSARY PRECEDENT
    CODIFIED AT 10 U.S.C. SECTION 2484;

    (2) PRIORITIZING COLORADO-PRODUCED FOOD: NOT LESS THAN FIFTY
    PERCENT OF FOOD PRODUCTS PURCHASED BY THE PROGRAM SHALL BE FROM
    COLORADO PRODUCERS WITHIN THREE YEARS, INCREASING TO NOT LESS THAN
    SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT BY THE FIFTH YEAR, WITH GUARANTEED PURCHASE
    CONTRACTS PROVIDING STABLE REVENUE FOR COLORADO FARMS AND RANCHES;

    (3) CREATING A COLORADO ESSENTIAL GOODS PROGRAM THROUGH THE OFFICE
    OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE TO PROCURE AND
    DISTRIBUTE BASIC CONSUMER GOODS (CLOTHING, HOUSEHOLD SUPPLIES,
    HYGIENE PRODUCTS, SCHOOL SUPPLIES, BASIC TOOLS) AT BELOW-RETAIL
    PRICING THROUGH FOOD ASSURANCE CENTERS AND DEDICATED DISTRIBUTION
    POINTS, WITH GUARANTEED PURCHASE CONTRACTS WITH COLORADO
    MANUFACTURERS;

    (4) APPROPRIATING SEVENTY MILLION DOLLARS ($70,000,000) FROM THE
    GENERAL FUND AS STARTUP FUNDING, REPRESENTING APPROXIMATELY 0.40
    PERCENT OF COLORADO'S APPROXIMATELY $17.4 BILLION GENERAL FUND FOR
    FISCAL YEAR 2026-27, WITH THE PROGRAM DESIGNED TO ACHIEVE
    OPERATIONAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY THROUGH FACILITY SURCHARGES WITHIN
    SEVEN YEARS?

SUBMISSION CLAUSE

    [ ] YES / FOR THE MEASURE

    [ ] NO / AGAINST THE MEASURE

BALLOT TEXT

This measure amends Titles 24 and 35 of the Colorado Revised Statutes to create the Colorado Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Act, a food and commodity assurance program containing two operative components:

DIVISION I (Section 2 of the Act) -- COLORADO FOOD ASSURANCE PROGRAM

Adds Article 32.5 to Title 35 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, creating:

    - A Colorado Food Assurance Program operated by the Department of
      Agriculture, establishing state-operated food distribution
      centers where all Colorado residents may purchase the full range
      of grocery products at at-cost pricing (production cost plus a
      facility surcharge not exceeding 5%);

    - Not fewer than five pilot centers within two years: two in the
      Denver metropolitan area, one in Colorado Springs, one in
      Northern Colorado (Fort Collins-Loveland-Greeley), and one on
      the Western Slope (Grand Junction, Montrose, or Durango);

    - Expansion to twenty statewide centers within five years, with at
      least one center per congressional district and at least three
      centers serving rural communities;

    - Colorado-first procurement: 50% Colorado-sourced within three
      years, increasing to 65% within five years;

    - Acceptance of all forms of payment including cash, EBT, SNAP,
      and WIC;

    - Operation without profit motive, with all revenue above
      operational costs reinvested in program expansion;

    - Annual reporting to the General Assembly on sales volume,
      customer savings, Colorado producer share, operational costs,
      and SNAP-utilization impact.

THE ESSENTIAL GOODS PROGRAM (Section 3 of the Act)

Adds Part 4 to Article 46 of Title 24 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, creating:

    - A Colorado Essential Goods Program operated by the Office of
      Economic Development and International Trade, distributing
      clothing, household supplies, hygiene products, school supplies,
      basic home furnishings, and basic tools at below-retail pricing
      (production cost plus a surcharge not exceeding 10%) through
      food assurance centers and dedicated distribution points;

    - Guaranteed purchase contracts with Colorado manufacturers to
      produce essential goods at production cost, stimulating the
      state's advanced manufacturing sector through guaranteed demand;

    - Currency continues for luxury, custom, and specialty goods not
      covered by the program. The Act provides a floor. It does not
      replace the market.

EVIDENTIARY BASIS

- The USDA Economic Research Service Food Dollar Series establishes the farm share of the U.S. food dollar at 24.3 cents and the marketing share at 75.7 cents. The U.S. military commissary system, codified at 10 U.S.C. Section 2484, has operated at-cost food distribution for 159 years, delivering 17-44 percent savings below civilian retail to approximately 2.8 million authorized users.

- Colorado's agricultural sector generates approximately $8.95 billion in annual cash receipts (USDA NASS, 2024 Colorado Agricultural Statistics Bulletin), demonstrating output that substantially exceeds the state's food requirements.

- Approximately 796,000 Coloradans (13.5% of households) experience food insecurity (USDA ERS 2023). The state spends approximately $1.44 billion per year on SNAP benefits distributed through commercial retailers, where 75.7 cents of every food dollar pays for markup rather than food. At at-cost routing, approximately 95 cents of every dollar reaches the recipient as food, a 3.9-fold increase in delivered food value per SNAP dollar.

- The Whitehall Studies (Marmot, 1967-present, 10,308 subjects), the Sapolsky baboon studies, the Shively macaque studies, and the Blackburn 2009 Nobel telomere research collectively establish that social hierarchy produces a mortality gradient independent of absolute poverty. Compressing the gradient at the point of daily caloric access is a measurable public-health intervention.

- Federal H.R. 1 (2025) shifted SNAP administrative costs onto the states effective October 1, 2026, imposing a new obligation on Colorado without a corresponding benefit increase. The 3.9-fold efficiency increase from at-cost routing independently offsets the federal cost-shift.

PROPONENT STATEMENT

THE PROBLEM

Colorado produces $8.95 billion in agricultural output annually, yet approximately 796,000 Coloradans cannot consistently feed themselves. The USDA documents that 75.7 cents of every food dollar pays for markup, not food. The U.S. military commissary has distributed food at cost for 159 years to military families. The taxpayers who fund it through the $1.3 billion annual federal appropriation are denied access.

Federal H.R. 1 (2025) shifted SNAP administrative costs onto the states effective October 1, 2026. Colorado now faces a federal mandate without a corresponding benefit increase, on top of an existing expenditure of approximately $1.44 billion per year routed through the commercial retailer markup.

THE SOLUTION

This Act creates a Colorado state version of the proven 159-year commissary model, codified at 10 U.S.C. Section 2484, and extends it to all Coloradans who fund it through their taxes:

    1. FOOD AT COST. State-operated food assurance centers selling
       grocery products at production cost plus a 5 percent facility
       surcharge. Not charity. Engineering. The Defense Commissary
       Agency has operated this exact model for 159 years across 236
       stores serving 2.8 million authorized users at $1.3 billion in
       annual federal appropriation.

    2. COLORADO FIRST. Guaranteed purchase contracts with Colorado
       farms, ranches, and cooperatives. Stable revenue for producers,
       not commodity-market volatility. Fifty percent Colorado-sourced
       within three years, 65 percent within five years.

    3. ESSENTIAL GOODS AT COST. Procurement contracts with Colorado
       manufacturers for clothing, household supplies, hygiene
       products, school supplies, basic tools. Below-retail pricing
       through food assurance centers and dedicated distribution
       points. Stimulates Colorado advanced manufacturing through
       guaranteed demand.

THE COST

Seventy million dollars startup, approximately 0.40 percent of Colorado's $17.4 billion General Fund for fiscal year 2026-27 (HB 26-1410 Long Bill, signed Polis April 2026).

The Division I food program scales over seven years toward an annual operating target of approximately $1.858 billion per year (at $309 per resident per year at the commissary at-cost methodology, applied to Colorado's verified population of 6,012,561 per U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025). The target represents approximately 10.7 percent of the General Fund.

Colorado currently spends approximately $1.44 billion per year on SNAP benefits routed through commercial retailers. At-cost pricing delivers approximately 3.9 times the food value per benefit dollar. The arithmetic says ending the gap costs single-digit percentage of the markup the state already pays. The operational template has run for 159 years inside the same federal apparatus the state already funds. Colorado is not asked to attempt something untested. Colorado is asked to deliver to its own residents what its veterans have received since 1867.

TABOR (Colorado Constitution Article X Section 20) constrains revenue but does not constrain the redirection of existing state expenditure toward a more efficient distribution model. This Act does not raise taxes. This Act redirects existing SNAP expenditure plus a startup allocation through a distribution channel that delivers nearly four times the food value per dollar. Denial is no longer neutral.

ORIGINALLY PROPOSED

Originally drafted 2015-2016 by Imran Stanton Cooper through the Sassafras and Maple Research Foundation (SMRF), the first nonpartisan civic education trade school in the United States, registered with the Colorado Department of Higher Education Division of Private Occupational Schools. Version 2 (2026) incorporates the Historical Apoplexy series (Cooper, Papers I-X, 2025-2026) as the evidentiary foundation. A companion Education bill (Lane 3) is in preparation and is not part of this measure.

FISCAL IMPACT SUMMARY

(Prepared pursuant to C.R.S. Section 1-40-105.5)

INITIAL APPROPRIATION: $70,000,000 from the general fund for FY 2027-28

PERCENTAGE OF GENERAL FUND: Approximately 0.40 percent of $17.4 billion (HB 26-1410 enacted FY2026-27)

BREAKDOWN:

    Food Assurance Program (Department of Agriculture):  $50,000,000
    Essential Goods Program (OEDIT):                     $20,000,000
    TOTAL STARTUP:                                       $70,000,000

PROJECTED ONGOING COSTS

The food assurance program is designed to scale over seven years toward an annual operating target of approximately $1.858 billion per year (Table 2 per-capita target of $309 multiplied by Colorado's 6,012,561 residents per U.S. Census Vintage 2025). The target represents approximately 10.7 percent of the FY2026-27 General Fund of $17.4 billion (HB 26-1410). The program is designed to achieve operational self-sufficiency through facility surcharges within seven years, with surcharge revenue continuously appropriated to the program under the Colorado Food Assurance Fund.

The Essential Goods Program is designed to operate at production cost plus a 10 percent surcharge, with surcharge revenue offsetting operational costs.

PROJECTED SAVINGS

SNAP efficiency: At-cost pricing delivers approximately 3.9 times the food value per SNAP dollar (USDA ERS Food Dollar Series). Colorado's existing $1.44 billion per year in SNAP spending becomes substantially more efficient when routed through Division I distribution.

Healthcare cost reduction: The Whitehall Studies, Sapolsky baboon studies, Shively macaque studies, and Blackburn telomere research collectively document that hierarchy itself produces measurable mortality gradient. Compressing the gradient at the point of daily caloric access is a documented public-health intervention with quantifiable Medicaid cost-reduction potential.

Federal SNAP cost-shift absorption: Federal H.R. 1 (2025) shifted SNAP administrative costs onto the states effective October 1, 2026. The 3.9-fold efficiency increase from at-cost routing independently offsets the federal cost-shift.

CONTEXT

    Colorado's total state budget FY2026-27: $46.8 billion
        (HB 26-1410, signed Polis April 2026)
    Colorado General Fund FY2026-27: $17.4 billion
        (HB 26-1410, signed Polis April 2026)
    Colorado SNAP spending: approximately $1.44 billion per year
    Colorado farm cash receipts: $8.95 billion per year
        (USDA NASS 2024)
    Total startup appropriation as share of GF: 0.40 percent
    Long-term Division I operating target as share of GF: 10.7 percent

SIGNATURE LINES

I, the undersigned registered elector of the State of Colorado, do hereby petition the General Assembly, or, alternatively, do hereby petition the Secretary of State to submit to the registered electors of the State of Colorado an amendment to the Colorado Revised Statutes, concerning the establishment of the Colorado Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Act, as set forth herein:

Print Name: ___________________________________________

Signature: ____________________________________________

Address: ______________________________________________

Date: ___________________

County of Residence: __________________________________

(Repeat as needed, 124,238 valid signatures required)

END OF BALLOT LANGUAGE

COLORADO FOOD, RESOURCE, AND COMMODITY ASSURANCE ACT Citizen Initiative Petition Pursuant to Article V, Section 1, Colorado Constitution

Prepared by: Imran Stanton Cooper, The Amanuensis (theamanuensis.com) Version 2. Originally drafted 2015-2016 (Colorado, SMRF). Updated 2026 (Historical Apoplexy series, Cooper).

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