Two years after voters narrowly defeated a measure that would have made it harder to amend the Colorado Constitution by initiative petition, a large bipartisan swath of lawmakers are lining up behind a similar proposal.
The new proposal survived its first test today, passing the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee after hours of testimony from supporters and opponents.
This time, supporters of the idea hope they will have the backing of the business community on their side. Referendum O failed in 2008 in no small part because there was little money put up behind it as business groups that year were occupied with ballot measures dealing with labor issues.
But after the defeat last November of Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101, three initiated measures that would have slashed billions in state and local taxes, business groups began bemoaning the fact that they spent millions of dollars to simply maintain the status quo. Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle started talking again about ballot measure reform.
As of the November elections, the minimum number of valid signatures of registered voters needed to place an initiative petition on the ballot stands at 85,854. And constitutional as well as statutory measures need only a simple majority to pass: 50 percent plus one.
Under Senate Concurrent Resolution 1, which would have to be approved by a two-thirds vote in each chamber, voters in 2012 would be asked to raise the threshold to amend the constitution from a simple majority of voters to 60 percent. Meanwhile, the measure would require that at least 8,585 signatures for a constitutional initiative be gathered from each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts.
Right now, there is no geographic requirement for gathering signatures.
The 60 percent requirement would not apply to ballot measures that would alter or repeal constitutional provisions enacted prior to 2013, meaning those could still be changed or eliminated with a simple majority. And it would not apply to statutory measures, which would still need only a majority to pass.
While it would make it harder to amend the constitution, the measure also would make it more difficult for lawmakers to change statutory measures enacted by initiatives. Lawmakers would have to muster a two-thirds vote in each chamber to change or repeal a citizen-enacted law within three years of its passage by voters.
Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, is sponsoring the referred measure with Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, and five other Senate Republicans and six Senate Democrats.
The measure has even broader bipartisan backing in the House, with Speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, signed on as a co-sponsor.
Shaffer said businesses are tired of the potential uncertainty that comes with perennial ballot issues that can make major changes to the constitution. He said businesses need to “know that there aren’t shifting sands.”
Spence said Colorado has the lowest minimum thresholds to change its constitution among states. She said this often results in well-funded special interest groups using the initiative to get their way.
Supporters who testified Monday included Attorney General John Suthers, a Republican, and officials from groups ranging from AARP to Colorado Farm Bureau.
But opponents included a mix of liberal and conservative groups and ones in between who complained that the measure would only cut off the ability of grassroots organizations who want to change the constitution, while wealthy special interests would still be able to run initiatives under the new requirements.
Marty Neilson, president of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, said the deeper agenda behind the proposal was to go after the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights in the Constitution, which limits state revenue and spending.
“We see this as a complete and direct attack on TABOR,” Neilson said. “The legislature seems to do anything possible to overturn TABOR.”
Despite the measure’s bipartisan support, the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on Monday approved the measure on a 3-2 party line vote, with Republicans Sens. Bill Cadman of Colorado Springs and Kevin Grantham of Collbran voting against. The legislation now goes before the full Senate.
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
