Colorado Ballot Initiative Reform

Colorado Ballot Initiative Reform

We, the undersigned, support Senate Concurrent Resolution 11-001, and believe it serves the best interests of Colorado residents.

SCR 11-001 is a measure that asks the voters to decide whether they want to protect the Colorado Constitution by requiring more votes for constitutional changes made through the initiative process.

We affirm the citizen initiative is a proper and legitimate way to change statutes. But it should be harder for a citizen initiative to change the Colorado constitution, our fundamental governing document. Easily changing the Constitution forces inflexible mandates on citizens, diverts attention from higher state priorities and scares outside investors who want predictability.

Under SCR 11-001, voters will be asked if they want to adopt a measure that:

-Increasing the number of votes needed to pass a constitutional amendment from a majority to at least 60\% of the votes cast. (Does not affect the simple majority voting requirement for initiated statutory changes)
-Requires proponents of citizen-initiated constitutional changes to gather signatures from voters who reside in each congressional district. (Does not affect the signature requirements for citizen-initiated statutory changes)
-Allows current constitutional amendments to be repealed with the same simple-majority by which they were voted in (Requires a 60\% super majority vote to repeal constitutional amendments passed after 2012)
-Protects approved citizen-initiated statutory changes by requiring 2/3s of each house to approve any change during the first three years after adoption

Its time to move beyond patchwork government to the kind of fundamental reform that will help ensure Colorados future economic viability.