DENVER—State lawmakers, warning that Colorado’s initiative system is rife with evidence of fraud in past elections, approved a bill that would require that groups and companies that hire people to circulate initiative petitions be licensed.
The bill also would allow the secretary of state to reject whole pages of petition signatures if the state finds evidence that state laws were violated, and to take action against companies or individuals who give voters false information about the petitions they are signing.
The bill was approved Tuesday by the House State Affairs Committee and now goes to Appropriations.
House Speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, who sponsored the legislation, said concerns were raised in recent elections about the use of paid petition circulators, some from out of state, who could not be located to answer questions after the election.
Carroll displayed pictures of false addresses given by petition gatherers in past elections, including vacant lots and storefronts listed as home addresses.
In a blurry videotape shown to members of the House State Affairs Committee, a 14-year-old girl claimed she was told by her boss to lie about her age and was told to give false information to people who signed her petition for Amendment 49, a proposal on the November ballot that would have barred governments from deducting union dues from paychecks. The amendment was defeated.
“Paid petitioning is ripe for abuse, and we must stop that abuse. We have seen numerous examples of fraud, from underaged petitioners to fake addresses to misleading explanations. I am proud that we have found a bipartisan solution to restoring integrity to citizen petition efforts,” Carroll said.
Secretary of State Bernie Buescher backed the bill, saying “we should not accept that Colorado law is for sale.”
The bill would require companies and groups that hire paid petitioner gatherers to be licensed in Colorado. It would also require that circulators be trained so they can comply with petition laws.
Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, said the bill raises significant constitutional questions, including a plan to charge companies that pay petition solicitors for training, saying it could be interpreted as a poll tax designed to prevent voters from exercising their right to petition their government.
Carroll said any charges would be minimal and would not bar voter participation.
