Face the State

Today marked the deadline for initiative campaigns to submit signatures to the Secretary of State for the November general election. Six waited to the last day, but all insist they will have garnered enough valid signatures to make the ballot.

More below the slideshow.



Here's a rundown of the petitions delivered to the Secretary of State today:

1. Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, dropped off 137,000 signatures for his severance tax initiative, which if passed, is expected to raise more than $300 million annually in new taxes. It is touted by a campaign called "A Smarter Colorado"--a motto hooked on the promise that some of the new money would fund college scholarships, Skeptics include public university presidents; millions of dollars in opposition money from energy producers are expected to pour in by the time voters head to their polling places.

2. Protect Colorado's Future, a coalition of unions opposed to a right-to-work measure already on the ballot, submitted 130,000 signatures for its "just cause" initiative that, if passed, would require employers to have a government-approved reason for firing an employee.

3 & 4. Two other union measures, Initiatives 92 and 93, were also submitted by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Initiative 92 submitted 174,000 signatures and if passed, would mandate that businesses with 20 or more employees provide health insurance for its employees and their dependents. While unions love this idea because it would save them the trouble of negotiating health insurance benefits for members, critics say it would increase the marginal cost of hiring a 21st employee so much that it would create a disincentive for businesses to grow, consequently hurting job creation state-wide. Similarly, Initiative 93, which turned in 155,000 signatures, would place further regulations and financial burdens on Colorado employers by allowing employees hurt on the job to seek compensation beyond what is already federally mandated under workman's compensation laws.

5. Initiative 82 proponents came in on the low end of the recommended "safe" amount of signatures needed to access the ballot, saying them dropped off 114,000 signatures. Political consultants generally recommend having at least 125,000 signatures on hand to guarantee 76,047 valid signatures after the Secretary of State's random sample of about 6,000 signatures. This measure is a counter to Amendment 46, dubbed a "poison pill" by 46's supporters, who say that it does nothing but maintain the status quo. Amendment 46, the first ballot initiative certified for this November's ballot (initiatives are renamed and renumbered for the ballot as amendments once they are certified), would prohibit race and gender preferences in government hiring, contracting, and education. Initiative 82, meanwhile, would allow for preferences in all three of these areas.

6. Coming in just shy of the 3 p.m. buzzer was Andrew Romanoff, the term-limited speaker of the House, whose Initiative 126 campaign showed up at 2:30 p.m. While Romanoff didn't make the drop off (according to supporters, he's in Aspen for a conference) his campaign shocked onlookers by delivering 164,000 signatures. As of now, there is not yet an organized campaign against this measure, which is being labeled a permanent repeal of Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights. While few people believed Romanoff could rally the troops in time to garner enough signatures, opponents, including Independence Institute President Jon Caldara, predict a bruising battle to the finish line on this one.

Thus far only four initiatives, including Amendment 46, have been certified for the November ballot. In addition, four referred measures have come out of the state legislature, for a total of eight ballot items. With the initiatives submitted Monday, together with those submitted in recent weeks, seeking certification, voters could see a total of 19 ballot questions.