128 initiatives aim to alter state law

DENVER - A proposed ballot measure that would make it harder to change the state constitution couldn't have come at a more appropriate time.

State residents have submitted 128 initiatives for the November ballot that would either amend the constitution or rewrite state law.

If all of them were to qualify - the vast majority will either be disqualified or fail to gather sufficient signatures to make the ballot - voters would face a paralyzing choice on Election Day.

Six have already made the ballot, but among the proposals are some that can only be described as absurd.

Those include the handiwork of Arapahoe County resident Page Penk:

Penk would have voters decide on constitutional amendments to create a U.S. Department of Peace; impeach Bill and Hillary Clinton, although it's unclear what office the former president would have to give up; and establish an annual day when women would refuse to have sex as a way to promote peace.

Last year, Penk talked about changing the constitution to include the words "Peace is possible," but decided later it would make a better license plate.

There are also groups and individuals who take the process more seriously.

Among them are lawschool student Kristi Burton of Peyton, who is collecting signatures for her Personhood Amendment, which would define life as beginning at fertilization and could outlaw abortions.

Another would bar racebased preferences programs and is being financed by a California businessman who has led efforts in other states to eliminate affirmative action.

Other citizen groups want to increase taxes to benefit affordable housing or services for the developmentally disabled. The casino industry wants the state's three gambling towns to be able to raise betting limits and stay open around the clock if they want.

One Arvada resident, Daniel Hayes, filed 14 initiatives that would make it harder to continue building new homes in the state or would put fees on any new development. He later withdrew all but one.

Gov. Bill Ritter will lead the push for an initiative to end tax breaks given to oil and gas companies and put the majority of the $200 million annual new revenue to college scholarships.

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, will attempt to gather enough signatures on an amendment that repeals both state government spending limits and mandated educationfunding increases that are in the constitution.

One of the reasons the ballot could be crowded is that Colorado's constitution is one of the easiest in the nation to change.

To get on the ballot, an initiative's backers have to collect 76,047 signatures on petitions - just 5 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the most recent election of a minor state official, the secretary of state.

Many petitioners withdraw initiatives quickly, while others never mount an effort to get onto the ballot.

Still, one of the questions that has been placed on the ballot by lawmakers is a plan to make it harder for residents to get initiatives. It would require more signatures for proposed constitutional amendments.

"With a ballot that is constantly cluttered with lots and lots of initiatives and puts a significant learning burden on the voters, I think the voters might say, ‘Yeah, this is too much,'" Colorado State University political science professor John Straayer said.

It is so easy to propose an initiative now that some of those filed with Secretary of State Mike Coffman are retaliation for other proposals.

After union opponents filed a "right-to-work" initiative, labor groups filed five initiatives considered antibusiness. After a proposal considered a shot at trial lawyers was turned in last month, the Trial Lawyers Association filed - and later withdrew - nine ballot proposals that would have aided attorneys. All petitions intended for the November ballot must be turned in by Aug. 4.

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