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

Heading: Interest Created by Colorado Law

Text: 9 The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that state statutes may create liberty interests that are entitled to the procedural protections of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Vitek v. Jones, 445 U.S. 480, 488, 100 S.Ct. 1254, 1261, 63 L.Ed.2d 552 (1980). [T]o determine whether due process requirements apply in the first place, we must look not to the 'weight' but to the nature of the interest at stake. Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 570-71, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2705-06, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). In O'Bannon v. Town Court Nursing Center, 447 U.S. 773, 100 S.Ct. 2467, 65 L.Ed.2d 506 (1980), the Court stated: 10 When governmental action affects more than a few individuals, concerns beyond economy, efficiency, and expedition tip the balance against finding that due process attaches. We may expect that as the sweep of governmental action broadens, so too does the power of the affected group to protect its interests outside rigid constitutionally imposed procedures. 11 Id. at 800, 100 S.Ct. at 2483 (Blackmun, J. concurring). Moreover, although [a] liberty interest is of course a substantive interest of an individual, it cannot be the right to demand needless formality. Shango v. Jurich, 681 F.2d 1091, 1100-01 (7th Cir.1982). Thus, in Bi-Metallic Inv. Co. v. State Bd. of Equalization, 239 U.S. 441, 445, 36 S.Ct. 141, 142, 60 L.Ed. 372 (1915), the Supreme Court noted: 12 Where a rule of conduct applies to more than a few people, it is impracticable that everyone should have a direct voice in its adoption. The Constitution does not require all public acts to be done in town meeting or an assembly of the whole ... There must be a limit to individual argument in such matters if government is to go on. 13 The Supreme Court has further narrowed the analysis of when a liberty interest attaches. To have a [liberty] interest in a benefit, a person clearly must have more than an abstract need or desire for it. He must have more than a unilateral expectation of it. He must, instead, have a legitimate claim of entitlement to it. Roth, 408 U.S. at 577, 92 S.Ct. at 2709 (emphasis added). Some examples are instructive. When a state creates in its citizens the right to operate a vehicle on the highway by issuing driving licences, it also creates in the driver a legitimate expectation to continue to operate the vehicle and the state may not withdraw this right from an individual without giving him due process. Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535, 91 S.Ct. 1586, 29 L.Ed.2d 90 (1971). Similarly, if a state gives a parolee the right to be at liberty as long as he complies with the requirements of his parole, the state has created in the individual a legitimate right to his freedom and the state may not withdraw the conditions of his parole without affording him procedural due process. Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972). The Supreme Court also has found that the involuntary transfer of a prisoner to a mental hospital implicates a protected liberty interest when the state statutes at issue give rise to a legitimate entitlement on the part of the prisoner to be kept in normal prison facilities and not to be transferred to a mental hospital without procedural due process. Vitek, 445 U.S. at 489-90, 100 S.Ct. at 1262. In these cases a legitimate right to an entitlement created by state law was terminated by state action. It is this termination of a right previously afforded by the state and in which there is a legitimate claim of entitlement which invokes the procedural guarantees contained in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 14 The Court has also held that certain procedural requirements, which provided no significant restrictions on decision-makers or no articulable standards to guide their discretion, do not establish Fourteenth Amendment property or liberty interests. Meachum v. Fano, 427 U.S. 215, 225, 96 S.Ct. 2532, 2538-39, 49 L.Ed.2d 451 (1976) (no liberty interest in intrastate prison transfer because transfers were completely discretionary and prisoner did not have any right or justifiable expectation that he would not be transferred); Wakinekona, 461 U.S. at 248, 103 S.Ct. at 1747 (same); see also Siu v. Johnson, 748 F.2d 238, 243 n. 11 (4th Cir.1984) (established procedures relating to tenure review created only unilateral expectation not entitlement because professor remained employee-at-will); Shango 681 F.2d at 1101 (state-created procedural right held not to constitute Fourteenth Amendment liberty interest because procedures did not create in the prisoner any legitimate entitlement to remain in one particular prison). The fact which distinguishes why certain state statutes have been found to create liberty interests entitled to due process protection while others have not is based on the language of the statutes themselves. Kentucky Dep't of Corrections v. Thompson, 490 U.S. 454, 461, 109 S.Ct. 1904, 1908-09, 104 L.Ed.2d 506 (1989). Simply stated, a state creates a protected liberty interest by placing substantive limitations on official discretion. Id. (quoting Wakinekona, 461 U.S. at 249, 103 S.Ct. at 1747). These substantive limitations work to create the legitimate claim of entitlement giving rise to a constitutional right. Roth, 408 U.S. at 577, 92 S.Ct. at 2709. Thus, we must examine the relevant Colorado constitutional and statutory provisions to determine whether the plaintiffs have any legitimate claim of entitlement to participate in Title Board hearing, to obtain a rehearing or to seek review in the Colorado Supreme Court.
15 We look first to the state constitution to determine what, if any, liberty interest is created by the state of Colorado in the amendment process. Article V, section 1 of the Colorado Constitution provides in pertinent part: the people reserve to themselves the power to propose laws and amendments to the constitution and to enact or reject the same at the polls.... Thus, the constitution created two rights: (1) the right in the proponents to propose laws and amendments, and (2) the right in all voters to vote on the proposition. Colo. Const. art. V, Sec. 1. The Colorado Constitution does not anticipate any debate on an initiative proposal during the process of placing a matter on the ballot. Indeed, such a debate would dilute significantly the right to propose that inheres in the people of Colorado. The Colorado Constitution creates no legitimate entitlement in the plaintiffs to participate in the process of placing an amendment on the ballot. 16
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.