Final
BILL SUMMARY for
HB05-1147
HOUSE
COMMITTEE ON
STATE, VETERANS, & MILITARY AFFAIRS
Votes:
Action Taken:
Moved to refer HB05-1147, unamended, to the Commit
PASS
03:07 PM -- House Bill 05-1147
Representative Weissmann, prime sponsor, introduced House Bill 05-1147 which eliminates the requirement that a circulator of a candidate, recall, initiative, or referendum petition be a registered voter. The bill would require the circulator of these petitions to be a state resident, a U.S. citizen, and at least 18 years of age. He responded to committee questions. Representative Weissmann believes it is economically prudent to enact this bill.
03:09 PM
Representative Carroll explained that he had a conflict of interest and would not be voting on the bill. Committee discussion continued. Representative Weissmann stated that he thought the initiative process had been taken over by financial interests.
The following people testified:
03:24 PM --
Bill Compton, representing the Secretary of State's Office, spoke in support of the bill. He explained that this bill does not weaken the current statutes in the area of the initiatives. He indicated that this bill is a clean-up measure to comply with federal law, removing existing unconstitutional law from the statutes. He responded to committee questions, with Representative Weissmann.
03:38 PM --
Cathryn L. Hazouri, representing the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado, spoke in opposition to this bill. She indicated that there are two issues in the bill that the ACLU opposes. One is the citizenship circulator of petitions, and that by having the requirements in the bill, you limit the people who can earn a certain income. Also, requiring a legal resident to be a circulator would preclude legal aliens to learn more about this process.
Representative Weissmann made his concluding remarks.
BILL:
HB05-1147
TIME:
03:41:52 PM
MOVED:
Weissmann
MOTION:
Moved to refer HB05-1147, unamended, to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation. The motion passed on a 7-3-1 vote.
SECONDED:
Ragsdale
VOTE
Cadman
No
Carroll T.
Excused
Coleman
No
Crane
Yes
Gallegos
Yes
Liston
No
Lundberg
Yes
Schultheis
Yes
Todd
Yes
Ragsdale
Yes
Weissmann
Yes
Final
YES:
7
NO:
3
EXC:
1
ABS:
0
FINAL ACTION:
PASS