Opinion ID: 660290
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Colo.Rev.Stat. Secs. 1-40-101 and 1-40-102

Text: 17 The statutory scheme adopted by the Colorado legislature to effect ballot initiatives implements the rights granted by the state constitution. The statutory procedure for placing a measure on the ballot in Colorado protects the right of initiative proponents to have a full opportunity to make certain that the measure, as phrased on the ballot, accurately reflects the meaning intended by the proponents. 18 Section 1-40-101 provides that the proponents of an initiative submit a draft to the legislative council and drafting office. Then the directors of the legislative council and drafting offices review the proposed initiative and provide the proponents with their suggestions and comments. Sec. 1-40-101(1). The proponents may take these suggestions and amend the draft if they wish. Id. The proponents then submit the draft to the secretary of state who schedules a hearing before the Title Board which proceeds to fix a proper fair title, a submission clause, and a clear, concise summary of the proposed amendment. Sec. 1-40-101(2). The summary must be a true and impartial statement as to the intent of the proposed amendment. Id. The title of the proposed initiative must correctly and fairly express the true intent and meaning of the initiative. Id. Upon completion of the title, submission clause and summary, the Title Board returns the draft of the initiative to the proponents. Id. Then if the proponents feel the Title Board has not clearly and fairly stated the true meaning and intent of the initiative, within forty-eight hours, they may move for a Title Board rehearing and, if overruled, may seek review in the Colorado Supreme Court. Sec. 1-40-101(3). 19 Section 1-40-101 calls for initiative proponents to seek advice and comment from the legislative council and legislative drafting office. This statutory process permits proponents of initiatives to benefit from the experience of independent experts in the important process of drafting language that may become part of this state's constitutional or statutory jurisprudence. In re Proposed Initiated Constitutional Amendment Concerning Ltd. Gaming in the Town of Idaho Springs, 830 P.2d 963, 966 (Colo.1992) (emphasis added). The complex statutory process is designed to help both the experienced ballot initiative organizations and the inexperienced organizations draft clear and concise language for the initiative. See Kent L. Singer, Ballot Initiatives in Colorado, The Colorado Lawyer, 1849, 1850 (Sept. 1992). The statute requires proponents to allow the Title Board to fix the components of the initiative and provides explicit instructions to the Title Board on how the title, submission clause and summary are to be completed. Sec. 1-40-101. This Court has held that the procedures enumerated in the Colorado ballot initiative scheme--the Title Board's drafting of a title, submission clause and summary--are designed primarily to make the initiative process fair and impartial. Montero, 861 F.2d at 609-10. Thus, the state developed Sec. 1-40-101 to benefit the proponents of ballot initiatives. Together with Article V, Sec. 1 of the Colorado Constitution, Sec. 1-40-101 creates a right in the people of Colorado to bring initiatives before the Colorado electorate. Section 1-40-101 does not create in the plaintiffs any legitimate entitlement to participate in the framing of the language of the ballot initiative. 20 Unlike the broad rights created for proponents in Sec. 1-40-101, Sec. 1-40-102 provides to qualified electors a limited and narrowly-construed procedural opportunity for Title Board rehearing and supreme court review separate from the rights granted to proponents. Section 1-40-102(3) provides in pertinent part: [a]ny qualified elector ... who is not satisfied with the titles, summary, and submission clause thus provided and claims them to be unfair or that they do not clearly express the true meaning and intent of the proposed law or constitutional amendment, within thirty days ... may file a motion with the secretary of state for a rehearing, and if overruled, may seek review in the Colorado Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of Colorado has intimated that this right in qualified electors is very narrow, never addresses the merits of an amendment, and presumes the validity of the Title Board decision. See In re Proposed Initiative Concerning Drinking Age in Colorado, 691 P.2d 1127, 1130 (Colo.1984). 21 Any rights created by the Colorado statutes in qualified electors are rights in a narrowly-circumscribed procedural review of the actions of the Title Board in carrying out its responsibility to make sure that the title, submission clause and summary are fairly worded and reflect the intent of the proponents. No special rights are created in any subgroups within the Colorado qualified electorate. The statutory procedures were fully carried out in this case. Plaintiffs argue, in effect, that they had a right to actual notice of the time limitations for filing a petition for rehearing on Title Board determinations or for Colorado Supreme Court review. Plaintiffs here have no rights beyond those granted to qualified electors to be heard within the procedural framework of the narrow right of review of Title Board actions allowed to all qualified electors. The State may choose to require procedures for reasons other than protection against deprivation of substantive rights.... [B]ut in making that choice the State does not create an independent substantive right. Wakinekona, 461 U.S. at 250-51, 103 S.Ct. at 1748. The Colorado statutes do not require actual notice or notice by newspaper publication of Title Board hearings. The fact that the state has chosen to provide notice to the qualified electors in a more limited way than we might have chosen in no way transforms a limited statutory procedural right into a federal constitutional entitlement. Shango, 681 F.2d at 1101. To the contrary, a liberty interest created by state law is by definition circumscribed by the law creating it. In this case the statutory procedures granted to qualified electors were completely carried out. No claim to the contrary is made in this case. 22 To suggest that the procedures for proposing initiatives in Colorado somehow carry with them an entitlement of constitutional dimension allowing all subgroups with an interest in the issue which may vary from the proponents' interest or viewpoint to receive particularized notice or an opportunity to be heard is to jeopardize and even diminish the proponents' entitlements that are created by the state constitution and statutes. Section 1-40-102 does not create in plaintiffs a legitimate claim of entitlement to participate in the Title Board hearing, to obtain a rehearing or to seek review in the Colorado Supreme Court. The plaintiffs' mere unilateral expectation of rights associated with the Title Board procedural process does not amount to a constitutional entitlement sufficient to trigger due process protections. Absent such an entitlement, the fact that the interests of the plaintiffs in the initiative process were foreclosed does not merit constitutional protection.