Face The State Staff Report
Despite fears by Democrat legislators that the citizen initiative process had run amok, so far only three initiatives have been approved for the November statewide ballot.
“People who thinks it’s easy [to get something on the ballot] are people who have never tried to get anything on the ballot,” said Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, a free-market think tank in Golden.
The 14-step approval process can be complicated and expensive. A campaign needs at least 76,000 valid signatures from registered voters in order for an initiative to be certified for the ballot, but signature gathering cannot begin until the Title Board has approved the proposal and any legal challenges of that decision have been settled. In order to be safe, the Secretary of State recommends that a group gather about 120,000 signatures to compensate for any incomplete petitions, fake names, false information or ineligible writing.
Gathering signatures is not cheap. According to Caldara, it can cost $4 to $5 per signature to get an issue onto the statewide ballot. Additionally, once an initiative is certified for the ballot sponsors still have to organize and fund a campaign, with some campaigns, including the successful effort to pass Referendum C's 2005 $6 billion tax increase costing more than $10 million.
As of June 4, the SoS listed 5 initiatives with approved petition forms. Since then, six more have hit the pavement, bringing the total number of initiatives currently eligible to gather signatures to eleven. In order to have enough signatures by the August 4 submission deadline, sponsors will need to gather more than 10,000 signatures a week.
Lack of time and public support has already left Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter's severance tax hike, Initiative 113, in dire straights.
Caldara is backing two initiatives as part of his Clean Government campaign, with both now in the signature gathering phase. The first, Initiative 59, would restrict campaign contributions from government sole-source contractors. The second, Initiative 53, would prohibit public payroll systems from being used to deduct fees or dues for private organizations, including unions.
Out of the 128 initiatives that were submitted for review so far only three have made it onto the ballot. Caldara predicts that number will up to "about six or so" by November.
Approved for 2008 ballot (Total: 3)
Initiative 31 - Prohibition of Discrimination and Preferential Treatment by Colorado Governments
Initiative 36 – Definition of Personhood
Initiative 41 - Prohibition on Certain Condition of Employment (Right to Work)
Petition form approved (Total: 11)
Initiative 53 - Limitation on Public Payroll Deductions (Caldara)
Initiative 59 - Restrictions on Campaign Contributions from Government Sole-Source Contractors (Caldara)
Initiative 74 - Liability of Business Entities and Their Executive Officials - Criminal Liabilities
Initiative 76 - Just Cause for Employee Discharge or Suspension
Initiative 82 - Discrimination/Preferential Treatment by Colorado Governments
Initiative 85 - Consumer Protection - Complementary and Alternative Health Care
Initiative 103 - Colorado Housing Investment Fund
Initiative 113 - Severance Tax (Ritter's)
Initiative 120 - Severance Tax - Transportation (Penry, McNulty, Gardner)
Initiative 121 - Limited Gaming
Initiative 128 - State Sales Tax for Services for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities