Lawmaker crusades to make state constitution harder to change

Holding a copy of the U.S. Constitution that fit in his shirt pocket, Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff called it “a thing of elegance and simplicity and grace.”

Then, muscling up a copy of the Colorado Constitution that would strain the arms of most elementary-schoolers, the Denver Democrat shook his head and called it “a mess.”

The solution, Romanoff told a crowd Monday at the Penrose Library in Colorado Springs, is both simple and ironic: The state constitution must be amended so that it becomes harder to amend.

With that, he kicked off a summerlong statewide tour in which he and local legislators will host town-hall meetings to raise support for a potential 2008 ballot question.

The message landed on a lunchtime crowd of more than 100 people, few of whom disagreed that some sort of fix is needed. The reaction heartened Romanoff and the four legislators who joined him.

“I’m encouraged,” said Rep. Bob Gardner, one of two Colorado Springs Republicans joining three Democrats at the event. “There are probably going to be those who say that any change to how we do the initiative process is wrong, but I simply can’t agree with that.”

As one of 24 states with an initiative process, Colorado allows citizens to enact laws. After 114 amendments in 97 years, including 47 in the past 25 years, the constitution is becoming unwieldy and contradictory, proponents of change say. The U.S. Constitution has been amended just 27 times since it was created in 1787.

Some state amendments deal with how mammals can be trapped or where nuclear weapons can’t be detonated. Others work against each other, such as a pair that limit annual budget growth and also require yearly increases for K-12 education.

Colorado, which requires 5 percent of the number of people who voted in the last secretary of state’s race to sign amendment petitions, has the lowest per capita signature requirement of any state. North Dakota requires just 4 percent — but it’s 4 percent of the number of state residents, not of the number of people who voted for a lesser state office.

So, what’s the solution? Attendees divided into five groups and brainstormed, coming up with a number of similar suggestions.

First, if the state makes it harder to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot, it must give incentives instead to change state laws, some groups said.

That could be done by lowering the number of signatures needed for a statutory ballot item, which is now the same number needed for a constitutional amendment. Or it could happen through curtailing the Legislature’s ability to change enacted petition laws, such as requiring a two-thirds vote of both houses to do so.

Some other attendees suggested a one-year break from the rule that requires all ballot issues to be a single subject. That idea, which Romanoff has mentioned, could let the state remove some complex provisions of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights that limit government spending.

Raising the signature minimum to 10 percent, requiring signatures from across the state and eliminating paid signature collectors were suggested, too.

A few attendees cautioned against radical action. Former legislative candidate Anna Lord noted, for instance, that voters need the chance to remove some provisions of the constitution before it becomes harder to amend.

Affordable-housing advocate Cyndy Kulp also warned the initiative process should not become too difficult, as legislators otherwise wouldn’t touch some topics.

“I would be concerned that issues that are important to low- and moderate-income people would not be able to be addressed or would be hard to get addressed,” Kulp said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (303)837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com

CHANGING CONSTITUTION

The Colorado Constitution has been amended 114 times since the initiative and referendum process became law in 1910. The pace has picked up recently, with 47 amendments becoming law in the past 25 years.

Some amendments, such as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, are widely known and have had a major impact on state government. Here is a look at some lesser-known amendments through the years:

1944: Gives civil service hiring preference to honorably discharged veterans and their widows.

1958: Limits bingo, lotteries and raffles to nonprofit organizations under certain conditions.

1966: Limits the executive department of state government to 20 departments.

1974: Bans the detonation of nuclear explosive devices. 1982: Denies bail to people accused of a capital offense.

1988: Makes English the official language.

1988: Exempts nonproducing, unpatented mining claims from property

taxation.

1994: Denies bail for violent felonies. 1996: Prohibits certain methods of hunting and trapping wildlife.

2002: Allows the Legislature to establish qualifications for the office of coroner.

HOW IT’S DONE

Analysts have said it is easier to change the constitution in Colorado than in any other state. In fact, the procedure is no different from the one for changing statutes, even though constitutional amendments are much harder to reverse. Here’s what is required:

- A state board must certify that an amendment petition has just one subject.

- Petitioners must collect signatures from 5 percent of the number of people who voted in the most recent secretary of state’s race. To get on the 2008 ballot, 67,829 signatures will be required, and they can be collected from anywhere in the state.

- A simple majority of voters must support the proposed amendment in a November election.