Face the State

Face The State Staff Report

After his fellow lawmakers declined to back his latest tax increase proposal, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff is resorting to the citizen's initiative process to see his plan onto this November's ballot. It's an ironic move, according to petition rights advocates, because Romanoff has been one of the most outspoken opponents of petition rights in the past.

"It's hypocritical that one who is working so hard to injure and weaken the petition process - now frustrated with the legislative process - is turning to a [a citizen's initiative]," said Dennis Polhill, a lead backer of 2006's ill-fated Amendment 38, known as the Petition Rights Amendment. Polhill is a co-founder of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California.

At a Sunday press conference, Romanoff told reporters, "I think to try to get it through the Legislature would be and exercise in futility. Our plan is to bypass the Legislature and just take our plan directly to the voters by initiative. We want the people to vote."

If Romanoff's plan makes it to the November ballot, it would ask voters to allow the state to keep all surplus tax revenue. Under Colorado's current Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, known as TABOR, the state must refund all surpluses under a formula that allows for funding increases only for inflation and population growth. TABOR also requires the state to go to voters to approve any change in law that results in an increase of revenue to government.

Romanoff says his plan would also create a state "rainy day" fund, long sought by leading fiscal conservatives, including Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita. The additional funds, Romanoff maintains, would go directly into the state's education fund. Penry is opposed to Romanoff's plan, having advocated for his own alternative, killed recently by Democrats. That "Plus 1 plan" would have allowed voters to keep their tax surplus refunds and would have redirected constitutionally mandated one percent annual education funding increases into a rainy day fund once the mandate expires two years from now.

On Monday morning, news that Romanoff would push his plan as a citizen's initiative - instead of a referendum - attracted national media attention. Under Colorado law, constitutional amendments can be pursued through the legislature, and upon receiving two-thirds support in both houses, can appear on a general election ballot as a referred measure. Alternatively, amendments can be pursued through a citizen's initiative, a process that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain the 76,000 valid voter signatures to make it to the ballot.

Romanoff spent much of the last several weeks attempting to persuade fellow lawmakers to support his proposal as a referred measure. Late last week, however, it became clear that he fell short in his effort to convince key Republicans to sign on. On Monday, Romanoff asked the House State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee to kill the bill by postponing it indefinitely. The 2008 legislative session ends tomorrow.

A change in heart for Romanoff?

Over the last few years, Romanoff has been a vocal opponent of the initiative process. In 2006, in a televised 9News debate, he publicly condemned the ill-fated Amendment 38, the Petition Rights Amendment, arguing that the measure was unnecessary because it was already too easy under state law for citizens to amend the Colorado constitution.

Last summer, Romanoff initiated a "listening tour," where he held a series of three meetings across the state to discuss opportunities to restrict the current ability of citizens to amend the constitution. "The Colorado constitution [has] been amended more times in the last 25 years than the U.S. constitution has ever been amended: 47 amendments to the Colorado constitution since Ronald Reagan was elected President and 27 amendments to the US constitution since George Washington was elected President," Romanoff told participants in one meeting. "It’s hard to argue that the Colorado constitution is superior as a result."

Polhill argues that Romanoff's focus on limiting the right of citizens to petition government is misguided "because simple facts undermined the whole foundation when two-thirds of the state's amendments come from the legislature. [Legislators] don't want to look in the mirror. They want to blame somebody else."

In January, after the University of Denver's "Colorado Constitution Panel," recommended a series of reforms making it more difficult for citizens to pursue changes to the state constitution, the legislature took up the idea in what would become Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, which is currently being considered in the House.

According to Polhill, the DU panel "was an empty process because [panelists] predominantly interviewed people they agreed with - people who were opposed or skeptical of the process." Polhill says he had to lobby to even get five minutes of testimony before the panel, chaired by Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, and comprised of former and current legislators.

In its original form, SCR 3 raises the number of signatures required for an initiative to make it onto the ballot and also requires campaigns to gather signatures for each of Colorado's seven congressional districts. The resolution has cleared the Senate, and is currently being considered in the House. If the measure fails to get necessary House support by the close of the session Wednesday, backers have not indicated whether they would pursue the resolution as a citizen's initiative.