2008 State Ballot Issues – 11 Months On

In 2008 the voters of Colorado only approved 4 state ballot issues (all constitutional changes): Amendments 50 and 54 and Referenda M and N. The approved referenda were housekeeping referenda to deal with obsolete provisions in our overburdened state constitution. Below are some follow-up comments on a few of the 2008 state ballot issues from the perspective of October 2009.

Amendment 50 – approved by voters (59% yes to 41% no)
Limited Gambling in Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek

Seventy-eight percent of the tax revenue increase from this amendment goes toward community colleges. David Skaggs was the Executive Director of CO Department of Higher Ed and lobbied hard for passage of Amendment 50. On Sept 11, 2009 David Skaggs resigned from his position citing an irreconcilable difference with the governor.


Amendment 54 – approved by voters (51% yes to 49% no)
Campaign Contributions from Certain Government Contractors

In June Denver Judge Catherine Lemon temporarily halted implementation of Amendment 54. The Colorado Attorney General appealed the ruling to the State Supreme Court. The case has been fast-tracked and arguments will begin in the fall.

Colorado Independent article on Amendment 54
http://coloradoindependent.com/36511/colorado-supreme-court-fast-tracks-clean-government-amendment-case


Amendment 59 – rejected by voters (45% yes to 55% no)
Education Funding and TABOR Rebates

There are several big constitutional constraints on our state budget. Amendment 59 would have gotten rid of the Amendment 23 and TABOR rebate handcuffs, but voters rejected it. Meanwhile, the state budget situation is even bleaker today than a year ago. To help solve the budget problems, legislators used a loophole in the School Finance Act (SB 256) to delay until January 2010 some of the Amendment 23 funding. In January we will know if the delayed funding is actually available.

A column by Kevin Holst about Amendment 23
http://www.examiner.com/x-9202-Denver-Republican-Examiner~y2009m5d6-Amendment-23-and-the-new-fiscal-crisis-factor


Referendum O – rejected by voters (48% yes to 52% no)
Citizen-Initiated State Laws

Ref O proposed constitutional changes to the initiative process. It was rejected by voters, but since then a new law, HB 1326 (Integrity of Citizen-Initiated Petitions), makes many statutory changes to the initiative process including changing the way that state issues are presented on the ballot. Changes to the constitution will be called amendments and changes to the statutes will be called propositions.

Text of HB 1326
http://www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2009A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/5A4C8A345E184B5487257537001A32E4?Open&file=1326_enr.pdf