This week, Colorado state representatives gathered at the capitol for an emergency effort to slash state property taxes by hundreds of millions of dollars, cutting government funding for public schools, health care, and other essential services.

This wasn’t a Republican-led endeavor: Colorado’s Democratic governor called the special session of the Democratic-controlled legislature. Nor was it a matter of out-of-control state taxes, as the state already boasts an extremely low property tax rate, and legislation passed this May further reduced taxes by $1.3 billion.

Instead, lawmakers say they were forced to cut property taxes further to keep measures introduced by a dark money group and a Colorado tycoon off of the November ballot. If enacted, these measures would lead to far deeper property tax cuts of more than $2 billion per year.