Law Enforcement Alert Prisons make up about 8 percent of the state budget and under Amendment 423 that would have to be cut considerably. — State Sen. DiAnna Schimek, Lincoln This is not the time to cut funding for police, firefighters and emergency personnel. The meth epidemic is only getting worse, fueling more crime, and tearing apart families and communities. We cannot afford to reduce funding for law enforcement or cripple our crackdown on meth, drugs and crime. — John Francavilla, police officer and president, Nebraska Fraternal Order of Police Initiative 423 is a bad idea. Property taxes would have to be raised if we want to maintain adequate police and fire protection, decent roads and a good quality education for our children. — Mark Gustafson, Mead, NE ...we still have prisoners coming into the system, but we don't have the money to jail them. So we gave the counties the prisoners and said, 'We'll pay you maybe half, you raise the rest through property taxes.' There was a large shift of financial responsibility to the county level. — State Sen. Steve Johnson, assistant Republican minority leader in Colorado, commenting on that state's budget shortfall resulting from TABOR, Colorado's version of Initiative 423 Colorado prisons are so overcrowded that corrections officials will soon have to ship 1,000 inmates out of state so they'll remain behind bars...The dual pressures of the 1992 Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) and get-tough-on-crime legislation have set the stage for a serious prison calamity. TABOR imposed a stranglehold on state revenue and resulted in a de facto prison-building moratorium. At the same time, state legislators passed laws increasing criminal penalties. — 9/25/06 Denver Post editorial on the effects of Colorado's version of Initiative 423