Tim Milbrodt
Blog Post 3
There are two ways in which citizens in Colorado might directly contribute to the lawmaking process. While Article V, Section One of the Colorado Constitution states that the people have the authority to initiate statutes and amendments through the initiative process; another method is for citizens to propose ideas for new bills to legislators who may then introduce these bills into their chamber of the General Assembly for consideration (Straayer 13). The former of these two seeks to circumvent the legislature, while the latter involves citizens working directly with members of the General Assembly. In this post I will explore how each of these processes of citizen lawmaking might differ and how each affects the behavior of lawmakers and interest groups.
Changing Colorado law through a ballot initiative requires following a lengthy process which can require as many as fourteen different steps. To start the process a proposal must be submitted in written form to the Legislative Council Staff. After a public meeting to review the proposal and hear comments from concerned citizens, the proposal is then either revised or sent to the Secretary of State, who schedules the proposal for title setting. Once the measure passes the title process, proponents must then gather signatures. The requirement for ballot initiatives is set at “...at least five percent of the total votes cast for all candidates for the Office of Secretary of State at the previous general election”, making the current threshold 124,632 signatures (Colorado.gov 2019). In addition to this, if the intended initiative is an amendment to the Colorado Constitution, it will also require “...signatures of at least 2 percent of the total registered electors in each of the 35 Colorado state senate districts” (Colorado.gov 2019). The petition for initiative is then returned to the Secretary of State for signature verification, once this is accomplished the initiative can then be placed on the ballot. Initiatives must adhere to the state’s campaign finance laws as well as statutes governing petition circulation. Once passed the legislature may change or repeal the initiative (Ballotpedia 2019).
The initiative process in Colorado has resulted in members of the General Assembly attempting to constrain the ability of citizens to change laws through the initiative process, with these restrictions being struck down by federal courts (Ballotpedia 2019a). The initiative process also seems to alter the behavior of corporate lobbying groups at the state level. While Adler, Jenkins and Shipan find that at the national level “...labor unions frequently engage in outside lobbying efforts, but corporations rarely do” (Adler et al. 5072), The Colorado Independent reported that corporations spent millions and in one case, tens of millions in outside lobbying supporting or opposing ballot initiatives during the 2018 election cycle, which is depicted in the attached table. (Herrick & Mullane 2018). Thus, it would seem that in Colorado the initiative process causes corporate lobbying groups to spend more time and resources directly appealing to voters.
Because ballot initiatives involve a lengthy process of public meetings, signature gathering, building public support, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations it is unlikely that individual citizens will have the requisite expertise to successfully change Colorado law using this method; not too mention the monetary resources as the median cost of an initiative campaign is over half a million dollars (Hitt 2019). Based on the necessary expertise and resources, the initiative process seems to be more of an appropriate avenue for interest groups, as they would be more likely to possess the means to carry out a successful initiative campaign. How does this compare to changing the law by proposing an idea through a legislator?
In an article for The Colorado Sun, Moe Clark details the process of proposing a bill idea to a member of the legislature, and talks to several current and former members of the Colorado General Assembly to gain some inside tips to improve one’s chances of getting a new law passed. As Clark lays out “...the process to suggest an idea is relatively simple”, all a citizen must do is contact a legislator and schedule a meeting in order to present their proposal (Clark 2019). If the legislator likes the idea, they can decide to sponsor a bill and can contact the Legislative Counsel’s office in order to draft the legislation. While the initiative process seeks to largely circumvent members of the General Assembly, proposing a law to an individual member seeks to utilize them as a delegate, in that legislators who sponsor citizens bills are are attempting to enact the will or preferences of their constituents (Adler et al. 52). Another key difference in the two processes is that while the initiative largely makes use of private resources, proposing a bill to a legislator utilizes the resources of the General Assembly once a legislator decides to sponsor a citizens bill. While the process sounds relatively simple, one might ask whether or not actual laws result from citizen proposals?
Senator Rhonda Fields states that many of the bills she has introduced to the General Assembly originated as citizen proposals, and points to Senate Bill 195 as a law which was proposed to her by a citizen and subsequently passed into law (Clark 2019). Of the current and former legislators interviewed by Clark, all stated a desire to receive input from constituents regarding which laws they wanted passed. One legislator even went so far as to comment that if ordinary citizens do not let members of the General Assembly know which laws they want passed “...the only people who will have a seat at the table are lobbyists...” (Clark 2019). In offering tips to improve one’s chances of having their idea become a new law, the legislators advise getting ideas into legislators early, being organized and concise in presenting the idea, and reaching out to representatives in multiple districts, and across party lines (Clark 2019). Another strategy which can be employed to improve one’s chances of getting a law passed is proposing the idea to lawmakers from the majority party of each respective chamber. Because Article V of the Colorado Constitution allows each chamber to make and enforce its own rules (Straayer 13), the majority party of a chamber can often grant exceptions to rules such as extending deadlines in order to accomodate a bill (Clark 2019).
In conclusion, both processes have relative strengths and weaknesses. In addition to the considerations I have previously mentioned, the initiative process might be considered by citizens when the change they would like to see doesn’t have broad enough support to pass the General Assembly, especially when those citizens can organize or work with an advocacy or interest group. By contrast, if an individual citizen feels that members of the legislature might support their desired change in the law, and especially if that citizen lacks the support of an advocacy group, gaining sponsorship from a member of the General Assembly would be the more practical approach.
Sources Cited
Adler, Scott E., Jenkins, Jeffery A., and Shipan, Charles R. The United States Congress, first ed.
W.W. Norton & Co. 2019. Ebook. Kindle.
Ballotpedia. “Laws Governing the Initiative Process in Colorado”. Ballotpedia.org. Accessed 16
Clark, Moe. “Do you have a good idea for a new state law? Here’s how to get it drafted by
Colorado lawmakers”. The Colorado Sun. 19 Nov 2019.
Colorado.gov. “How To File Initiatives”. Colorado General Assembly. Accessed 16 Nov 2019.
Hitt, Mathew. “Legislative Politics in Colorado: Background”. Lecture. Colorado State University.
18 Nov 2019.
Herrick, John; Mullane, Shannon. “Key Colorado ballot initiatives have corporations spending tens
of millions for your vote”. The Colorado Independent. 11 Sep 2018.
Straayer, John A. “The Colorado General Assembly”. University Press of Colorado. 2000.
Canvas.
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