Pettersen joins Reps. Joe Neguse and Jason Crow, Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Phil Weiser, and Governor Jared Polis in opposing Amendment 83

For immediate release: Oct. 16, 2026

COLORADO — U.S. Representative Brittany Pettersen (CO-07) has come out against Amendment 83, joining fellow Colorado Representatives Joe Neguse (CO-02) and Jason Crow (CO-06), Colorado Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Phil Weiser, and Governor Jared Polis in urging voters to reject the proposed constitutional amendment.

Amendment 83 would establish hunting and fishing as Colorado’s “preferred means” of managing wildlife populations and enshrine the use of “traditional methods” in the state constitution. Opponents warn that its vague language could invite legal challenges to wildlife management decisions and jeopardize existing protections for wildlife, pets and public safety.

Pettersen specifically raised concerns about the amendment’s implications for wildlife-management authority and Colorado’s restrictions on steel-jawed traps and snares:

Hunting and fishing are already legal and protected in Colorado. Amendment 83 goes beyond protecting those activities by elevating them above all other uses of public lands in the state constitution, potentially complicating future efforts to adapt wildlife-management policies to the wide spread of wildlife values across the state as well as changing conditions due to climate change, emerging threats like diseases and public-safety needs.