Coloradans for Equal Opportunity

Initiative 82 is the homegrown alternative to California millionaire Ward Connerly's Amendment 46 - it is a reasonable solution that doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Amendment 46 seeks to ban all equal opportunity and affirmative action programs.  Initiative 82 simply clarifies Colorado law to ban quotas and preferential treatment, but leaves valuable equal opportunity programs intact.  

Initiative 82 makes it clear that Coloradans won't tolerate quotas or point systems in public education or contracting, but preserves important programs like mentoring for freshman college women, fitness programs for young girls, recruitment programs for male nurses and teachers and leadership training for minority high school students.   

Initiative 82 would prevent the avalanche of lawsuits that would follow the passage of Amendment 46.  Because Amendment 46 does not define preferential treatment, any law that uses gender or race as a criteria is open to lawsuit.

Initiative 82 is being championed by the campaign Coloradans for Equal Opportunity and has been endorsed by the Colorado Springs NAACP, the ACLU, Colorado Unity, the Latina Initiative, the Colorado Progressive Coalition, and LARASA.