DENVER, CO — State Senator Jordan Carter (D-Denver), Minority Leader of the National State Legislature, issued the following statement today announcing opposition to the Northern Virginia Stadium Act:

"This is a hard no from me, and I won't be whipping National State Legislature Democrats to support it.

"This bill was filed under the small business issue. It doesn't protect small businesses. A two-season ticket-price cap protects a fan buying a seat — it does nothing for the small businesses that will operate in that stadium's shadow for the next thirty years. No contracting guarantees. No local vendor rights. No accountability if the promised benefits never show up.

"We've set a standard in this Legislature for what a stadium bill looks like when small business protection is real: contracting set-asides, local vendor right of first refusal, clawback enforcement, public reporting. That standard held up here. This bill doesn't meet it, and I'm not going to ask Democrats to lower the bar because a governor wants a stadium.

"Taxpayers are being asked to finance a privately owned facility. If the bill can't guarantee that the small businesses next door actually benefit, Democrats shouldn't be asked to take it on faith. That's where I stand, and that's where I'm keeping this caucus."

Carter represents Colorado's Capitol Hill district in the State Senate.