State legislature mulls reform of initiative process

State legislature mulls reform of initiative process

Mar. 13, 2001

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

A common complaint voiced by opponents of the numerous initiatives on the November ballot was the ease with which those initiatives got to the voters.

In the future, however, bypassing the Colorado General Assembly and changing the state constitution may not be so easy, if several current bills are passed by the legislature.

On Wednesday, the Colorado House will likely vote on a concurrent resolution by Rep. Mark Larson (R-Colo.) and Rep. Joe Stengel (R-Littleton) to modify the state’s constitution and require a geographical distribution of signatures on a ballot-initiative petition. Under the bill, a proportional number of the signers would have to be gathered from each of the state’s congressional districts. If passed, the bill will go to Colorado voters for final approval.

"Any of the constitutional amendments that we have seen come about, even Amendment 23, 24, and obviously 25, some groups might have thought it was just too darn easy to get something on the ballot that would unfairly commit all of the state with only signatures from downtown Denver. They also thought that the test of changing of the constitution, the law of the state, should be a little more rigorous," explained Larson.

"Ballot-initiative reform is taking on added urgency with the rash of initiatives targeted toward the agriculture industry," commented Alan Foutz, president of the Colorado Farm Bureau. "We are not alone in our concern, as many civic leaders and organizations are becoming increasingly alarmed at the ease with which proposed constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot, and the vast resources expended on issues which fall far short of constitutional magnitude."

Another bill that reforms the ballot-initiative process is being sponsored by Sen. Jim Dyer (D-Durango). It addresses concerns that petitions for initiatives are being circulated by out-of-state special-interest groups. Dyer’s bill, HB 1198, originally required petition circulators to reside within the district where they gather signatures. However, the bill was amended in committee to only require that circulators be U.S. citizens and 18 or older. In addition, the bill requires circulators to wear a badge that identifies them as paid or volunteer.

The House passed HB 1198, sponsored by Speaker of the House Doug Dean (R-Colorado Springs), but it has not been scheduled for its first committee hearing in the Senate.

Earl Rohrbaugh, chairman of the Montezuma County Democratic Party, agrees there is a need for some reform. "I think I reacted like most people did last year, just sort of amazed and a little overwhelmed at the number of initiatives and the nature of some of them, and having been approached in a couple of different places by people who were really hitting conventions, public spaces, any place to get a massive amount of signatures," said Rohrbaugh.

"We’re always faced with the idea of well-financed major interests getting their way, whether they buy it through the legislature or now end-run the legislature and go through the initiative process, and this provides some curves or limitations on that."

Currently, the secretary of state does not regulate how signatures are gathered, other than ensuring that they are valid and equal in number to at least 5 percent of the total votes cast for secretary of state in the last election.

Rohrbaugh said that although he thinks reform is needed, he opposes Larson’s bill because it might be a "death warrant" for most initiatives. "Very few of them would be that broad in scope to affect every judicial district or congressional district equally," said Rohrbaugh.

Residents who sign a petition will have the chance to remove their name if legislation introduced by Sen. Gigi Dennis (R-Pueblo West) and Rep. Joyce Lawrence (R-Pueblo) passes. The bill also stipulates a certain format for how initiatives submitted to legislative counsel and the Office of Legislative Legal Services are drafted.

The Senate Government, Veterans and Military Relations, and Transportation Committee amended the bill and added a $200 filing fee for ballot initiatives; a 125-word limit on the title, and a requirement that the signatures gathered must be from each judicial district in the state.

The amended bill has passed out of the Senate committee and will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee next.

Larson said he was concerned that Dennis’s bill required signatures from judicial districts which aren’t "necessarily a political entity" and may be "confusing for the county clerks."

Of the 114 ballot initiatives voted on since 1964, 67 have been passed by Colorado voters.