Time is running out on the much ballyhooed compromise for fixing Amendment 41.
Friday is the deadline for filing 2007 ballot proposals, and leaders of a coalition of people who both supported and opposed the ethics-in-government measure say they stand ready to put the issue back to voters in the form of a lobbyist tax if the Senate doesn’t get moving.
At issue is House Joint Resolution 1029, which was pushed through the House quickly after leaders from both houses and both parties announced agreement on how to narrow the amendment’s broad reach.
The resolution asks the state Supreme Court for guidance in determining the gift ban’s scope – including whether it affects inheritances, scholarships and gifts for rank-and-file government workers.
The resolution passed out of the House the day after it was introduced on April 2. But it was not introduced in the Senate until Tuesday. It was then referred to the Senate state affairs committee, which has not scheduled a hearing.
Senate President pro tem Peter Groff, who chairs the panel, said he thinks the committee will hear the bill Wednesday. House Minority Leader Mike May has accused the Senate of stalling, and Speaker Andrew Romanoff questioned why a committee hearing was even necessary.
Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany said he believes there will be some amendments in committee. And any changes could further delay getting the resolution out of the statehouse.
“We are having a hard time figuring out what it is that is taking them so long,” said Eric Sondermann, spokesman for the coalition.
With the legislature set to adjourn on May 9, he says, “They are just getting so tight against the deadline to give the court any meaningful time to do anything.”
The resolution is the second of three parts of the compromise. The first calls for passage of a bill establishing a commission to oversee complaints that are filed under the law, which prohibits lawmakers from taking anything from lobbyists and bans all elected officials and government workers from taking gifts of $50 or more.
The third part calls for lawmakers to consider drafting a “constitutional repair” on the November 2008 ballot that would clarify and narrow the amendment’s language.
Legislative leaders – who had been split on whether the legislature should tinker with a voter-approved measure – agreed to the deal after the coalition being funded largely by Amendment 41 backer Jared Polis began running ads accusing Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald of blocking a fix. Polis and Fitz-Gerald are expected to run against each other in 2008 for the 2nd Congressional District.
The coalition also turned up the heat by threatening to put the clarifying language on the 2007 ballot as part of an amendment to impose yearly taxes on lobbyists to fund the ethics commission.
Without Senate action this week, Sondermann said, the coalition stands ready to proceed.
“We are committed to getting this resolved,” he said. “Obviously a ballot initiative in the ’07 cycle is not preferred, but it’s an option.”
Capitol Bureau chief Jeri Clausing writes Sundays. She can be reached at 303-954-1555 or jclausing@denverpost.com.
