Opinion ID: 1152518
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Proposed Initiative on PETITIONS

Text: The title as designated and fixed by the Board is as follows: AN AMENDMENT TO THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION CONCERNING PETITIONS, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, CHANGING INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM RIGHTS AND PROCEDURES; EXTENDING PETITION POWERS TO REGISTERED VOTERS OF ALL LOCAL GOVERNMENTS; LIMITING INITIATIVE BALLOT TITLES TO 100 WORDS; LIMITING THE ANNUAL NUMBER OF NEWLY ENACTED LAWS THAT GOVERNMENTS MAY EXCLUDE FROM POSSIBLE REFERENDUM PETITIONS; ESTABLISHING STANDARDS FOR REVIEW OF FILED PETITIONS; REQUIRING VOTER APPROVAL FOR FUTURE PETITION LAWS AND RULES AND FOR CHANGES TO CERTAIN FUTURE VOTER-APPROVED PETITIONS; AND AUTHORIZING LAWSUITS TO ENFORCE THE AMENDMENT. The ballot title and submission clause as designated and fixed by the Board is as follows: SHALL THERE BE AN AMENDMENT TO THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION CONCERNING PETITIONS, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, CHANGING INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM RIGHTS AND PROCEDURES; EXTENDING PETITION POWERS TO REGISTERED VOTERS OF ALL LOCAL GOVERNMENTS; LIMITING INITIATIVE BALLOT TITLES TO 100 WORDS; LIMITING THE ANNUAL NUMBER OF NEWLY ENACTED LAWS THAT GOVERNMENTS MAY EXCLUDE FROM POSSIBLE REFERENDUM PETITIONS; ESTABLISHING STANDARDS FOR REVIEW OF FILED PETITIONS; REQUIRING VOTER APPROVAL FOR FUTURE PETITION LAWS AND RULES AND FOR CHANGES TO CERTAIN FUTURE VOTER-APPROVED PETITIONS; AND AUTHORIZING LAWSUITS TO ENFORCE THE AMENDMENT? The summary prepared by the Board is as follows: This measure extends the petition powers to the registered voters of all local governments and prohibits infringing the right to petition peaceably on public property. The measure specifies the maximum number of required signatures for petitions. Initiative ballot titles are limited to 100 words, must beset within 7 days, and shall no longer include a summary or fiscal note. A ballot title may also be set by a state district court. Ballot title and single-subject challenges to initiatives must be filed with the supreme court within 5 days of title setting, and a decision must be rendered within 21 days of the appeal. State and local governments are required to print and deliver requested petition forms, but may charge up to $1.00 per 100-entry petition form. Except for petition form charges, no petition process fee, card, badge, bond, licensing, or training is required for petition agents or circulators. The measure limits state and local governments to 9 newly enacted laws each year that can be excepted from possible referendum petitions, and requires a ¾ths vote of all members of the local board or of each house of the general assembly for such exception. State measures that are subject to possible referendum by petition may take effect no sooner than 91 days after adjournment of the general assembly, and local measures no sooner than 91 days after final publication. Referendum petitions are excluded from title-setting procedures or any single-subject challenge, and the wording of referendum petition ballot titles is specified. The measure requires that petitions be initially filed within 9 months of petition form delivery, and specifies that valid petitions that are filed less than 3 months before an election shall be voted on at the next election. Any person signing a petition that is later notarized or verified is presumed to be a registered elector whose entry is valid until disproven beyond a reasonable doubt. Technical defects and minor variations are broadly construed to aid petitions. A person signing a petition is no longer required to list his or her county of residence. Protest hearings are public, are limited to reasons itemized in the protest, are conducted using judicial rules of evidence and procedure, and shall end within 14 days of protest filing. The results of any random sampling or machine reading of petition entries are inadmissible. The measure imposes a schedule to resolve protests and appeals and to allow petitioners to file corrections and new petition entries. When initially filed, petitions will receive a ballot number and ballot placement that remain during all such procedures and appeals. The measure requires that all local petitions must be Article X, Section 20(3) ballot issues, and all state petitions must be voted on at any state ballot issue election. The comments filed by state petition proponents are limited to 500 words for ballot information booklets, and the summary of opponents' comments may not exceed the length of the proponents' comments. Booklet analysis of such petitions is limited to written comments filed by 45 days before the election and other information required by Article X, Section 20(3)(b), which information applies to all petitions. The measure specifies that a petition shall be approved by a simple majority of those voting on the issue. The measure requires, with exceptions, voter approval to amend a voter-approved initiative and voter approval for certain future state or local petition laws, rules, or regulations. The measure authorizes lawsuits to enforce the amendment, and allows attorney fees and costs to successful plaintiffs but to defendants only if the action is deemed frivolous. The requirement that a district pay all costs associated with legal actions brought by successful plaintiffs enforcing petitions could result in a negative fiscal impact on governmental entities depending on the number of actions filed and the number of decisions in favor of plaintiffs. For example, the Office of State Planning and Budgeting estimates that two title board cases and two signature verification cases successfully litigated by plaintiffs would cost the state $38,000. The elimination of a fiscal note and a summary on initiatives would result in savings of $15,000 to the state. The measure would result in additional cost to the state and local districts for printing and delivering the requested petition forms, although the cost may be offset by allowing the district to charge up to $1 for every 100-entry petition form. If the current random sample verification of petition signatures is eliminated in response to the measure, it could result in an estimated additional cost of $10,000 to the state for each petition. The measure provides easier access to the ballot through both the initiative and referendum process, which could result in additional ballot proposals at an estimated cost of $25,000 for each measure.