BackboneAmerica

There is a drive in Colorado to make constitutional amendment petitions far harder to do, leaving statutory petitions alone. The bill is SCR-3, linked here. It is through the Senate and needs only 4 of 25 Republicans joining Dems to clear the House before May 7 adjournment. I rate it as likely to go to the ballot.

That’s the first part of my answer after a national reporter saw the previous post and asked: “Are there any current attempts in Colorado to restrict the right of initiative? On the judicial term limits petition,did you have any problems with interference or ‘blockers’?” I continued as follows:

Also of note this year is the Mark Hillman initiative proposal for a curb on trial lawyers, to which they seek massive retaliation. See details here.

As far as harassment of signature efforts, the barrage against Ward Connerly’s civil rights effort here in Colorado is Michigan 2006 all over again. Jessica Corry explains here.

Finally, Jon Caldara has a potent measure on ethical standards for public payrolls (similiar but superior to paycheck protection) now gathering signatures. We also expect Armaggeddon on the ballot between Right to Work and Big Labor.

As for the failure of my judicial term limit petition, that simply reflects our big donors from last time having different priorities this year than in 2006. We didn’t mount a serious enough effort to encounter the kind of interference from opponents that’s occurred in other states.