Two statewide ballot measures are up for voter approval early next month, the aim of which is to raise additional funds for free school meals program and help pay for the federal food stamp program.

Both Propositions LL and MM are tied to the Healthy School Meals for All program, which voters approved in 2022. That program changed the tax deductions for households with adjusted gross incomes of $300,000 or more.

Specifically, Proposition FF reduced the state income tax deduction from $30,000 to $12,000 for single filers and from $60,000 to $16,000 for joint filers. That applied to about 5% of all tax filers.

It was expected to bring in about $100.7 million in 2023-24 to pay for the free meals for Colorado public school students, regardless of income. But it ran into financial problems from the start. In its first full year, the cost exceeded what was available by about $24 million. The Common Sense Institute predicted last year that the shortfall could reach $50 million by 2030.

The Colorado General Assembly covered the $24 million shortfall in 2023-24 by tapping general fund revenue, which is collected from all taxpayers, both individual and corporate payers, as well as from sales and use taxes.

In 2024-25, the shortfall was predicted to increase to $56 million, with the $46 million again covered by the legislature, which meant all taxpayers paid for it. This meant that everything that was supposed to be funded by the ballot measure wasn’t. That included purchasing Colorado-grown or produced food, boosting pay for school food service workers and offering technical and other assistance for preparing healthy school meals.

That’s where this year’s ballot measures come in.

Lawmakers referred both Propositions LL and MM to the voters.

Proposition LL came out of the 2025 regular session; Proposition MM was from the August special session, although Proposition LL was also revised during the special session.

Proposition LL deals with how the program currently works. Under the measure, as revised in August, a vote in favor would allow the state to keep all the revenue generated by the change in tax deductions for the $300,000 household income group. The program costs are expected to increase by $33 million in 2025-26 and $67 million in 2026-27.

That change will affect about 6% of tax filers in Colorado, according to the Blue Book.

A vote against would require the state to refund revenue collected above the limit to the single and joint filers with incomes of $300,000 or more at about $12.4 million.

Proposition MM allows for any revenue collected for the meals program but not spent to support the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), beginning in 2026-27.

As a result of the federal budget bill signed in July, Colorado is expected to see its share of SNAP costs increase by about $50 million per year, starting in 2026-27. That’s largely for administrative costs, but in outyears the state is expected to cover more of the cost of SNAP benefits, as well.

The Proposition MM expansion came with a change to the deductions: It reduces the single filer deduction from $12,000 to $1,000 and the joint filer deduction from $16,000 to $2,000, which means a tax increase for those filers.

The Blue Book estimates that single filers would pay an additional $297 in taxes each under MM; joint filers would pay $404 more. 

Those in favor of the two ballot measures include Hunger Free Colorado, which has sent $433,000 in cash and non-monetary contributions to an issue committee – Keep Kids Fed Colorado – that is also supported by Stand for Children. The total raised by the committee to date is $762,900.

A second issue committee, Community Change Action-Colorado, has spent about $24,000 to support the ballot measures. The Washington, D.C.-based group is a 501(c)(4), which means it doesn’t disclose its funders.

Influence Watch reported that the group is funded by the Service Employees International Union, which is tied to the Colorado state employee union, Colorado Wins. Community Change Action is also backed by the Democracy Alliance, AFL-CIO and Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

There are no issue committees against the two measures registered with the Secretary of State.

The Independence Institute, through its Fiscal Policy Center, released a white paper on the measure recently. The white paper noted that neither measure is indexed to inflation, so as incomes grow, the number of people whose income exceeds the $300,000 floor will increase. 

The Institute’s Jon Caldara called the ballot measures tax or “bracket creep.”

 “According to the Proposition FF analysis from 2022, the measure would only affect about 5 percent of income tax filers in the state. According to the Prop MM analysis, the measure would affect about 6 percent of income tax filers,” Caldara said in a statement Tuesday.

But due to inflation, Coloradans who earn $300,000 in 2025 will have less buying power than those who earned $300,000 in 2022, he said.

“In fact, those earning $300,000 in 2025 have the same buying power as those making $274,253 in 2022 due to inflation, meaning its tax base is already broader in real terms,” he said, adding that the “bracket creep” will worsen over time. 

Propositions LL and MM have the support of more than 100 nonprofit and other organizations, including teachers unions, the Children’s Hospital, the League of Women Voters, the Colorado Council of Churches, Healthier Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and numerous food project groups. 

In a statement last month announcing the 100 supporting organizations, Erika Cervantes, Hunger Free Colorado’s director of organizing and community partnerships said, “Children shouldn’t have to worry about the cost of lunch, or skip a meal because their family can’t afford it. Organizations from across the state all agree, vote yes on LL and MM so every child in Colorado can continue to get a healthy meal at school.”