Senate OKs proposal to limit ballot measures
DENVER — Debate on a proposed ballot question to make it harder to alter the Colorado Constitution is headed to the House after the Senate gave its final nod to the idea Monday.
On a bipartisan vote, the Senate approved the measure that requires a 60 percent majority of voters to approve future ballot questions to alter the Constitution.
The proposed ballot question also would require that signatures on petitions to get a citizens’ initiative on the ballot come from all seven congressional districts in the state.
Current law allows them to come from anywhere.
Because the measure would refer the question to the 2012 ballot, it required a two-thirds vote in the Senate. That’s 24 votes. It passed 25–9.
It requires a similar two-thirds majority, or 44 votes, in the House, which it is expected to get easily. The bill has 46 co-sponsors, including House Speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch.
“It is important that we protect our Constitution,” McNulty said soon after the Senate approved the measure. “The state Constitution (deserves) the same level of dignity and respect that our U.S. Constitution has, and (the ballot measure) allows us to do that.”