A special legislative committee looking at ways to reform the state constitution might examine changes to the initiative petition process.
The six-member panel, headed by Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, met for the first time Tuesday. The committee’s creation follows a series of recommended constitutional reforms made last year by a University of Denver study group.
Critics of the current constitution say it contains a tangle of confusing and conflicting provisions, many approved by voters.
The panel of lawmakers is to present its recommendations to the legislature by March 7.
Tapia said the panel’s job is to consider various existing proposals to reform the Colorado Constitution, not do new research.
“We are not here to go on our own mission, and it’s not my objective to file a report that can go on a bookshelf,” Tapia said, adding that he hoped to find consensus early on at least some issues.
Some on the panel said they wanted to put a reform package before voters by November.
Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, said he liked the recommendations from the DU panel that dealt with voter initiatives.
He pointed to one recommendation that would encourage voters to support initiatives that change state law, not the constitution. The DU panel recommended that lawmakers not be able to change any voter-initiated laws for 10 years and that it take a two-thirds vote of the legislature to do it.
The committee is to meet again Thursday.
