A ballot measure to create a new position to work in animal shelters and veterinary clinics appears to be passing, based on preliminary results Tuesday night.
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, Proposition 129 was winning with 52 percent supporting to 48 percent opposed. The position would be the first of its kind in the nation.
Currently, veterinary practices in Colorado are staffed by veterinarians, who have at least eight years of education, and veterinary technicians, who have a two-year associate’s degree.
The measure would create a new mid-level position between those two called a veterinary professional associate, or VPA. The position would require a master’s degree in veterinary clinical care and would be allowed to diagnose animals, perform routine surgeries, and order and perform tests and procedures under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian.
Under current Colorado law, only veterinarians can perform those tasks.
The measure divided veterinarians and stymied many voters when it came time to mark their ballots.
“I was thinking about the medical professions … We have physicians’ assistants, we have nurse practitioners that are kind of the middle ground between physicians and nurses, so I felt like that made sense for veterinarians and vet techs too,” said a Denver voter named Angela, who declined to give her last name for privacy reasons.
Other voters said the position felt duplicative.
“They (veterinarians and vet techs) are already professionals. Why add another layer to the onion? To me that just didn’t make sense,” said voter Jack Stevens.
A coalition of animal welfare organizations and some veterinarians argued the measure would ease Colorado’s severe veterinary shortage and lower the cost of vet care. Opponents, including the professional associations representing veterinarians and veterinary technicians, warned VPAs would be allowed to do more than their training merited.
“There has been no evidence that the VPA role will decrease costs of veterinary care,” said Dr. Jennifer Bolser, a veterinarian. “Instead, pet owners will pay the same for a lesser trained individual trying to make a diaganosis and performing surgery…We do not want animals to suffer with substandard care.”
Proponents argued the vet shortage has an especially large impact on animal shelters, rescues and nonprofit vet clinics. A Colorado State University survey of veterinarians found that 70 percent turn away animals because of staffing shortages. Proponents said 20 percent of Coloradans live in a “vet care desert.”
“Animals across the state are suffering due to a lack of veterinary resources, especially in rural and disadvantaged communities,” said Dr. Apryl Steele, CEO of the Dumb Friends League.
The issue was Colorado’s fifth most expensive ballot measure this year. The measure’s backers, All Pets Deserve Vet Care, raised nearly $1.5 million, spending $1.3 million through Oct. 28, with their top donations from the Dumb Friends League and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Gov. Jared Polis contributed $2,500 to the campaign.
The coalition opposing the measure, Keep Our Pets Safe, raised and spent about $1.5 million, with the American Veterinary Medical Association as the top donor.
If the measure passes, what’s next?
The Associated Press had not officially called Prop. 129 as of late Tuesday night, but its lead looks fairly insurmountable.
The proposition would set up a new state license for this intermediate position in the veterinary field. The state’s Board of Veterinary Medicine would pass rules around the specific qualifications and testing required.
Colorado State University is already in the process of setting up a master’s in veterinary clinical care program. It plans to graduate the first class of veterinary professional associates in 2027, regardless of whether the initiative takes effect.
The program is designed for both vet techs who want to further their education and for those who qualified for vet school but weren’t accepted by a program, as well as for immigrants who were licensed veterinarians in their home country.
It would require five semesters of specialized training specifically on cats and dogs and concludes with an internship delivering routine veterinary care in a practice under the close supervision of a veterinarian. The program requires a similar number of preclinical surgical training hours as veterinarians and three times the training hours in dentistry surgical training, according to CSU.
The measure would set up a nationally recognized veterinary professional associates credentialing organization to issue certifications once they pass a national exam.
