In 2008, the General Assembly asked Colorado voters to increase the requirements for qualifying a proposed constitutional amendment for the states ballot.
The voters said no, which means that the 2012 ballot may again include a long list of proposed constitutional amendments that range from worthy questions to political grandstanding and manipulation by outsiders. In addition, voters will face questions on statutory changes.
This years ballot may include another shot at raising the bar for proposed amendments. It will probably include a personhood amendment aimed at restricting or outlawing abortion, and it may feature an initiative, sponsored by Focus on the Family, prohibiting the state government from interfering in the religious freedom of individuals or organizations.
Another proposal would require each applicant for a Colorado drivers license to provide proof of lawful presence. There may be an initiative to institute Colorado Peace Day on Sept. 21, the same day as International Peace Day. Since Colorado has handled medical marijuana so well, at least one marijuana question likely will make the ballot. There could be a proposal to allow 21-year-olds to carry concealed firearms without a permit.
Three separate proposals would require a three-fourths vote of the General Assembly to amend or repeal statutory initiatives in other words, for legislators to overrule voters, which sounds like a no-brainer until one analyzes how badly wrong some initiatives, or combinations of initiatives, can go.
And Initiative 77 would eliminate property taxes by 2017. That may seem like a good idea to a lot of voters, except for the two most likely consequences: Complete destruction in the funding system for counties and special districts, including schools, or a scramble to find different funding mechanisms in other words, taxes.
According to the Denver Post, if, by the end of 2016, voters didnt approve different taxes to offset the elimination of property tax revenue, there would have to be equivalent cuts in spending that shall not affect primary and secondary education, local law enforcement agencies or fire protection all services citizens dont want to go without, and which, together, would mean that a big percentage of property tax revenue would be replaced mandatorily.
Voters arent dumb, but many of them are discouraged by the actions of the government and want a louder voice in decisions than they believe they get by contacting their state legislators. Some are angry enough to want to throw out all elected officials and start over, assuming, perhaps, that everyone on the outside of government is more responsible, more sensible, better informed and even more moral than those on the inside.
Thats not a rational impulse, and when its connected with the impulse to ink in one oval and cut taxes, its also not one that produces positive results. Even when intentions are noble, competing initiatives and referenda can create huge, complicated messes for example, the interactions between Amendment 23 (a school funding constitutional amendment), the Gallagher Amendment and the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The end result of those actions has been less control and less choice, not better government.
State ballots are growing into long documents with small print and convoluted language. To create government of, by and for the people is a laudable goal, but it must be done without turning every single decision into a two-year campaign financed by donors whose identity and motivations may never be known, and by voters too alienated to care about the broad picture.