Opinion ID: 1175967
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Jurisdiction of the Title Board

Text: In In re Proposed Initiative #26 Concerning School Impact Fees, 954 P.2d 586, 591 (Colo.1998), we held that the Board has jurisdiction under section 1-40-106(1), 1 C.R.S. (1997), to meet between June and a November election to act on proposed initiatives which will not be considered for the ballot in that same year. That statutory provision contains two bars, neither of which is applicable here. The first bar of section 1-40-106(1) prevents the Board from meeting between a November election and the first Wednesday in December: The first meeting of the title Board shall be held no sooner than the first Wednesday in December after an election. With regard to a measure which could qualify for that same year's ballot, the second bar provides that the Board cannot meet, except for rehearing petitions heard within forty-eight hours, after the third Wednesday in May in the year in which the measure is to be voted on. § 1-40-106(1), 1 C.R.S. (1997) (emphasis added). Although tax, debt, and spending measures are eligible for placement on odd or even year ballots, see School Impact Fees, 954 P.2d at 590, there is no contention and no possibility in the case before us that Initiative # 30 could have qualified for the November 1997 election. The secretary of state's office received Initiative # 30 on August 1, 1997. To be considered by the Board at one of its regularly scheduled meetings, a proposed initiative must be submitted no less than twelve days prior to that meeting. See § 1-40-106(1). Accordingly, the Board met on August 20, 1997, that being the third Wednesday of August and the first regular meeting after the required twelve days had passed. The requisite number of signatures for a valid petition requesting placement of an initiative on the ballot must be filed with the secretary of state at least three months prior to the election in which the initiative is to be voted on. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(2); School Impact Fees, 954 P.2d at 589. To place Initiative # 30 on the 1997 ballot, the needed signatures would have had to be filed with the secretary of state in the first week of August. Since the Board's title setting action did not occur until the third week in August, Initiative # 30 could not have qualified for the November 1997 election. The first election for which this initiative could be eligible is the 1998 general election. Consequently, under the statute, the Board could meet to consider Initiative # 30 before the third Wednesday in May of 1998, including during the summer of 1997, except that it could not have met between the November 1997 election and the first Wednesday in December of 1997. Thus, we hold that the Board complied with the provisions of section 1-40-106(1) and had jurisdiction to meet and act on Initiative # 30 in August of 1997. See School Impact Fees, 954 P.2d at 590-591.