Today the Colorado Supreme Court denied a request from lawmakers to help clear up confusion over the state’s new ethics-in-government law.
The House and Senate asked the court last week whether it was constitutional for the legislature to clarify the scope of the law for a five-member commission tasked with hearing Amendment 41 ethics complaints.
The panel is set up through Senate Bill 210, which is awaiting Gov. Bill Ritter’s signature.
The legislation attempts to clarify confusion over whether Amendment 41 bans such things as scholarships, inheritances and personal gifts to government workers. Its says ethics complaints that do not involve a “breach of public trust for private gain” are frivolous.
The House and Senate had requested the court determine whether it was legal for lawmakers to clarify the scope of the ethics law.
The court’s refusal to step in could make it more likely that lawmakers put a “constitutional repair” on the 2008 ballot so voters can clear up confusion over the law.
Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany said he hopes the legislature will consider his 2008 ballot measure this session, which ends May 9.
But House Speaker Andrew Romanoff prefers to wait until next year to decide whether to push for another public vote.
“I still think there is considerable ambiguity in the real world,” he said. “We did our best to remove it.”
Romanoff said he believes the court denied lawmakers’ request because Senate Bill 210 was no longer pending and the court normally weighs in only on legislation that is unsettled.
House leaders have accused the Senate of stalling on passage of an Amendment 41 fix. Senate Bill 210 was held up for weeks before senators passed the request to the Supreme Court.
But Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, said the court likely rejected the request because there is a lawsuit pending over Amendment 41.
The court’s decision will “empower the commission to dismiss or take cases in front of them,” she said.
“I don’t think it’s a stumbling block at all,” said Fitz-Gerald, who has maintained that court advice was not necessary to implement the ethics law.
Amendment 41, passed by voters in November, prohibits lawmakers from taking anything from lobbyists or receiving gifts worth more than $50, except on special occasions.
The 2008 ballot proposal from McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, and Senate President pro tem Peter Groff, D-Denver, would repeal and re-enact Amendment 41.
The constitutional rewrite would clarify that the ban on gifts applies only to public officials.
The proposal has not been scheduled for a committee hearing.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
