Were Colorado voters duped into passing Propositions LL and MM based on false information? It certainly looks that way based on a recent Joint Budget Committee (JBC) hearing on the Department of Education’s budget request for the coming fiscal year where some enlightening information was revealed about the Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program (the relevant discussion began at the 9:38 am mark).
Background on ‘free’ school lunch
As I previously explained, HSMA, also known as the “free” school lunch program, was created via Proposition FF in 2022 and was quickly recognized as financially unsustainable in just its first year of operation.
The legislature responded by asking voters to save the program by de-TABORing the program and further raising taxes on the wealthy via Propositions LL and MM, which passed easily in the November election.
Many voters were led to believe that needy kids would no longer receive free lunches if Props LL and MM failed. Actually, kids who required state aid for lunches were going to continue receiving free lunches from the state due to the legislature’s contingency measure, Senate Bill 25-214.
What shortfall?
Now, according to JBC analyst Amanda Bickel, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) actually resolved a major source of revenue uncertainty for the program when Congress passed it in July 2025.
Meaning, in fiscal year 2024-25, the HSMA’s $128.4 million in expenses were suddenly within the program budget. Moreover, those costs were still projected to be within the program’s budget regardless of LL’s and MM’s passage.
So, the legislature could have used this information during the special session to consider rescinding Props LL and MM, since there was no longer a “free” lunch shortfall.
Instead, expecting the program to be flush with cash, they decided to amend Prop MM to allow additional HSMA funds to be directed to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps, as other changes from OBBBA would increase the state’s SNAP costs.
In other words, voters were led to believe that without Props LL and MM, kids would go hungry because HSMA was under budget, neither of which was true.
Although voters approved Prop MM, which allows for the diversion of HSMA funds to SNAP, that was not where the average voter was led to believe the money would go.
With the passage of MM, the state receives an annual $95 million windfall from wealthy Coloradans, much of which will likely be used to pay for something that appeared essentially as a footnote in the ballot language.
It is not unreasonable to assume that some voters may have been more hesitant had they known the HSMA program’s actual fiscal state, that children from low-income families would still be fed regardless of whether LL and MM passed, and that much of the new revenue would be diverted to another program altogether.
Looking forward
According to Ms. Bickel, because Propositions LL and MM passed, the state will be able to fully fund HSMA and its associated administration and grants, repay the State Education Fund (funds used to shore up the fiscal year 2023-24 shortfall), fund SNAP administration costs, and distribute more than 50 percent of the additional MM revenue to SNAP benefits on a continual basis, all within the new budget.
Meanwhile, the wheels have been greased for the progressive-dominated legislature to continue chipping away at both the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR and Colorado’s fair, flat tax.
Nash Herman is a fiscal policy analyst at Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver.
