What Does Amendment 82 Mean for Douglas County? A Constitutional Right to Natural Gas, in a County Building Homes by the Thousand

Amendment 82 is the shortest measure on the ballot and one of the hardest to pin down. It adds two sentences to the state constitution. What those sentences would do depends on who sues whom afterward.

What it would do

Directly, it would prevent a Colorado city or county from banning natural gas service to homes and businesses, the way Crested Butte, Boulder and, for some buildings, Denver have. Whether it does more is the argument. Opponents say the sentences are broad enough to be used in court against state air-quality and building-efficiency rules that make gas more expensive or harder to install, including the state's Model Electric Ready and Solar Ready Code, which binds a community only once its local government updates its own building code after July 1, 2023. Katie Farnan of the Bighorn Company called the wording "intentionally misleading" for that reason. Advance Colorado says it is about consumer choice and energy bills. CPR's guide notes that no definitive list exists of what the amendment would or would not override; that would be settled by litigation. The Blue Book's own analysis says only that the measure "may limit the ability for state or local governments to enforce existing or future regulations related to natural gas," and it points to one such rule already on the books: in December 2025 the Public Utilities Commission required investor-owned gas utilities to submit plans for a 41 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 against 2015 levels.

What it would change in Douglas County

Today, nothing. No Douglas County municipality has restricted gas hookups. Castle Rock, Parker, Lone Tree, Castle Pines and the county all permit gas in new construction, and the builders in Sterling Ranch, Dawson Trails, the Canyons and eastern Parker install it as standard.

What it would change is the future. A Douglas County council that wanted to follow Boulder could not. And a state rule that pushed builders here toward heat pumps by making gas costlier to permit could be challenged under the new constitutional right. If you think the county's growth should stay on gas, that is the point; if you think the county should keep the option of choosing otherwise, that is the objection.

There is also a bill angle. The county's new homes are among the most gas-dependent in the metro simply because they are large and new. Advance Colorado argues that phasing out gas would raise energy bills; opponents argue that all-electric homes are cheaper to run over time. Neither side's number applies cleanly to a 3,500-square-foot house at 6,200 feet, and the honest answer is that it depends on the electricity rate you get.

Who is behind it

Advance Colorado, which does not disclose its donors, is the proponent. Its umbrella committee, A Brighter Colorado, is registered on 81, 82, 132 and 136 and had raised about $311,000 as of the September 21 filings, money Colorado Politics describes as backing 81 and 132. A second supporting committee, Energy Freedom Alliance of the Rockies, registered the week of September 21 with a Lone Tree address and had reported no money yet. The opposition is better funded on this measure: No Pollution in the Constitution, the committee for the coalition of environmental groups, had raised about $317,000 through September 21.

The arguments

For: people should be able to choose how they heat their homes and cook their food, gas is cheaper for many households, and a constitutional right is the only thing that stops the next council or commission from taking the choice away.

Against: the constitution is not the place for a fuel preference, no Douglas County government is trying to take gas away, and two vague sentences hand the gas industry a weapon against rules the public has not seen yet.

The Douglas County frame

This is a measure written for Boulder and Denver that Douglas County will vote on. It costs nothing here and changes nothing here on the day it passes. It removes an option no local government has shown any interest in using, and it may reach state rules in ways nobody can predict. A yes is insurance against a future you may or may not fear; a no keeps the constitution out of your furnace room.

More: all 14 statewide measures for Douglas County, every race and measure on your ballot and the full November ballot guide. We do not tell you how to vote on measures; we tell you what they do here.