Coloradans can amend their state constitution as easily as they can pass a statute, and that parity is a problem.
Citizens who should be content with passing a law at the ballot often insist on trying to embed complex measures into the constitution where they can’t be adjusted no matter how flawed they turn out to be.
That’s why we’ve long favored raising the bar somewhat for changing the constitution while protecting the basic right.
Two years ago the legislature considered a measure that would have asked voters to double the number of signatures needed to put an amendment on the ballot. That effort foundered, as did an earlier one to raise the needed vote for a constitutional amendment from 50 percent to 60 percent.
Coloradans treasure their right to the ballot initiative. For any reform to pass, it can’t appear punitive, as those arguably did.
Now comes the Building a Better Colorado coalition with its own ideas for how to strengthen requirements for amendments. The bipartisan group has filed five possible ballot measures for this fall, four of which would hike the required vote margin from 50 percent to 55 percent. Several also require petitions include the signatures of 2 percent of registered voters in each state Senate district.
Let’s dispense with the second plan first. It’s too clever by half and adds layers of complexity to the process — there are 35 Senate districts, after all — that are simply unwarranted. It also gives the advantage to petition drives funded by the rich, since they’ll be able to deploy signature collectors far and wide in compliance with the measure.
A 55 percent rule is more straightforward, however, and voters should be given a chance to rule on it. We’ll want to examine more closely how it would have affected ballot measures over Colorado’s history before reaching a definitive opinion, but 55 percent is certainly not an impossible barrier.
Even Amendment 64 in 2012, legalizing marijuana and its retail sale, passed by slightly more than 55 percent.
But some major amendments would not have passed the 55 percent barrier, including the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and Amendment 23, which cemented a funding formula for schools into the constitution.
Citizens in most states can’t amend their constitutions through popular vote, but it’s a valuable right that is perfectly suited to addressing cases when the political and civic elite are out of step with the popular mood. Such was true in the drive to stop the Winter Olympics in 1972 (59 percent of voters said “no”) and Colorado’s first term-limit measure in 1990 (71 percent approval).
Imagine waiting for politicians to limit their own terms.
In other words, the process of amending the constitution needs to be protected. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be a little harder to do than it is today.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.
