STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado General Assembly

Mike Mauer, Director	Dan L. Cartin, Director

Legislative Council Staff	Office of Legislative Legal Services

Colorado Legislative Council	Office Of Legislative Legal Services

029 State Capitol Building	091 State Capitol Building

Denver, Colorado 80203-1784	Denver, Colorado 80203-1782

Telephone (303) 866-3521	Telephone (303) 866-2045

Facsimile (303) 866-3855	Facsimile (303) 866-4157

TDD (303) 866-3472	E-Mail: olls.ga@state.co.us

E-Mail: lcs.ga@state.co.us

MEMORANDUM

March 20, 2012

TO:	David Ottke and John Slota

FROM:	Legislative Council Staff and Office of Legislative Legal Services

SUBJECT:	Proposed initiative measures 2011-2012 #69, concerning the citizen initiative process.

Section 1-40-105 (1), Colorado Revised Statutes, requires the directors of the Colorado Legislative Council and the Office of Legislative Legal Services to "review and comment" on initiative petitions for proposed laws and amendments to the Colorado constitution. We hereby submit our comments to you regarding the appended proposed initiative.

The purpose of this statutory requirement of the Legislative Council and the Office of Legislative Legal Services is to provide comments intended to aid proponents in determining the language of their proposal and to avail the public of knowledge of the contents of the proposal. Our first objective is to be sure we understand your intent and your objective in proposing the amendment. We hope that the statements and questions contained in this memorandum will provide a basis for discussion and understanding of the proposal.

This initiative was submitted with a series of initiatives including proposed initiatives 2011-12 #67 to #69. The comments and questions raised in this memorandum will not include comments and questions that were addressed in the memoranda for proposed initiatives 2011-12 #67 and #68. Substantive questions and comments 2 through 10 addressed in the memorandum for 2011-12 #67 and 1 through 4 in the memorandum for 2011-12 #68 and all of the technical comments in the memorandum for 2011-12 #68 are hereby incorporated by reference in this memorandum.1 The substantive comment and question in this memorandum is new.

Purposes

The major purposes of the proposed amendments to the Colorado constitution appear to be:

1.	To reduce the number of signatures required to propose legislation through the initiative process from an amount equal to at least five percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for the office of secretary of state at the previous general election to three percent.

2.	To require a supermajority vote of the members of each house of the general assembly to amend or repeal any statute ever enacted through the initiative process, unless the initiated statute includes a provision allowing for a majority vote to amend or repeal it.

Substantive Comments and Questions

The substance of the proposed initiative raises the following comments and questions:

1.	It appears that the only difference between proposed initiative 2011-12 #69 and 2011-12 #68 is that the percentage of signatures required is three percent instead of four percent. Are there any other changes between the two initiatives?