Monthly Archive for Colorado
Colorado Stories Posted in April 2008
Lawmakers Seek to Make State Constitution Amendments More Difficult
Category: Initiative and Referendum · State: Colorado · Source: 9 News
Colorado lawmakers are debating whether to ask voters this fall if it should be harder to change the state's constitution in the future. The Senate Concurrent Resolution has already passed the Senate with two-thirds of the chamber in support and is expected to pass out of a House committee Tuesday afternoon. The resolution was based on many recommendations made by a panel at the University of Denver formed to study Colorado's Constitution. It seeks to require more signatures needed on petitions gathered from all over Colorado to amend the constitution while lowering the number of signatures needed to simply change state law. "What we're trying to do here is basically prevent mutually assured destruction by the ballot box," said Rep. Andy Kerr (D-Lakewood), one of the co-sponsors of the measure in the House. "(Concurrent Resolution 3) will treat the Constitution with the respect it deserves." Colorado's 131-year-old Constitution has been amended more times in the last 25 years than the United States Constitution has been amended in its history. It is currently ten times longer than its federal counterpart as well.
TABOR Reform May Go Straight to the Voters
Category: TABOR · State: Colorado · Source: Durango Herald
Education advocates file for ballot initiative Facing resistance in the Legislature, education advocates may be taking their case for a partial Taxpayer's Bill of Rights repeal directly to the voters. Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff introduced a bill this week to take parts of two sacred cows out of the state constitution - TABOR, which limits how much money the state can collect, and Amendment 23, which requires increased spending on education. But on Friday, minutes before the deadline, education advocates filed a ballot initiative based on Romanoff's plan. The move gives Romanoff and his allies two options - they can continue pursuing a referendum, which needs support from two-thirds of the Legislature, or they can go for an initiative, which can be put on the ballot with citizen signatures. Voters would have the final say over either one this November. "I think we should solve this problem by referendum if possible, by initiative if necessary," said Romanoff, D-Denver.
Right-to-work ballot battle builds
Category: Unions · State: Colorado · Source: Denver Post
Organizers of a ballot initiative to make Colorado a right-to-work state filed signatures Wednesday to put the issue before voters in November despite pleas from Gov. Bill Ritter and others to stand down. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said that he now believed it was too late to stop a showdown between business and labor at the ballot box in November and that he would focus his efforts on urging voters to defeat all the proposals backed by business groups and unions.
Other Monthly Archives for Colorado
- April 2008 (3)