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2006 Legislative Wrap-Up

Here are some highlights from the 2006 Legislative Session:

Ethics and Lobby Reforms

In 2006, Common Cause worked with key Legislators to pass important reforms.  While we succeeded in curtailing the use of office accounts and increased disclosures for lobbyists – we still have a long way to go toward ethics reforms.

Office Accounts
During the general Legislative session, Common Cause worked successfully to pass a bill to ban cash gifts to so-called “office accounts.”  Used to sidestep campaign finance laws, office accounts allowed legislators to receive unlimited contributions to from anyone at any time (including from a lobbyist during the legislative session).  This was a hard fought battle, as many legislators were resistant to imposing additional limits to their ability to receive contrapositions.  While we acknowledge that legislators need funds to hire part time staff to communicate with constituents – we believe those expenses should be paid by the state and not by special interests.  Senator Ron Tupa and Representative Paul Weissmann sponsored SB06-51. This was the third year this bill came before the legislature.  SB 51  passed and was signed into law by the governor.
 

Lobbyist Disclosure

Representative Morgan Carroll with Senator Ron Tupa successfully passed HB06-1149 which expands lobbyist disclosure requirements.  As introduced, the bill would have  required a oneyear cooling-off period before former legislators may lobby the general assembly. That provision was amended out in its first committee.  The cooling-off period is now two years, thanks to the passage of Amendment 41!

Elections and Special Session
This session Colorado Common Cause worked to improve our elections by helping to pass SB06-170, sponsored by Senator Ken Gordon which addresses several election related issues, most notably funding for elections and revising our voter registration drive law.  SB170 increased funding for elections by increasing the Secretary of State reimbursement to counties from $.35 to $.70.  The bill also sought to loosen the penalties around voter registration drives.  In 2005, a new law passed which requires voter registration groups to register with the state and follow strict guidelines.  Failure to comply imposed strict penalties –which could have a ‘chilling effect’ on groups working on voter registration.  We are working with other non profits to change this law next session so that no group is afraid to conduct voter registration drives which are a critical way for voters to get registered.
 
Citizenship and Voting

The issue of illegal immigration was in focus for much of the regular and all of the special session in 2006.  This matters to Colorado Common Cause particularly as it relates to voting.  Several bills were introduced and defeated that would have required voters to prove their citizenship. Because the forms of proof that were to be acceptable would be a photo copy of a person’s birth certificate, passport, or naturalization documentation, we opposed because of the impact it would have on all voters.  These onerous requirements only serve to disenfranchise voters.

We will continue to work to ensure that every eligible voter has the right to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted accurately.

2005 Legislative Wrap-Up

Here are some of the highlights from our work from the 2005 legislative session.
Bills that passed both house and made it to the Governor's desk:

Election Reform

Senate Bill 198 and Senate Bill 206 are the election reform bills that await the Governor's signature. 

Senate Bill 94 relates to the voter information guide commonly referred to as the Blue Book that explains the pros and cons of various ballot issues for the upcoming election.  This bill, which awaits the Governors signature, would make it harder for legislators to alter the book written by the non-partisan legislative staff.

Money in Politics

Senate Bill 40 which would have limited cash gifts to legislators for their so called "office accounts."  While this bill was amended heavily and ultimately passed in a modest form, unfortunately the Governor still chose to veto it.  We will continue to work on this issue in the future.

House Bill 1332 further defines and limits corporations in their ability to make campaign contributions. This bill has not yet been signed into law we are hopeful it will be.

Budget

House Bill 1194 and 1333, now known as Referendums C and D, addresses the state's fiscal crisis.  This is the most pressing issue facing our state this year.  Colorado voters will have the opportunity to approve Referendum C this November.  

2004 Legislative Wrap Up

As always, Colorado Common Cause had an active lobbying presence at the state capitol during the 2004 legislative session.  Although many pundits and observers predicted this would be an especially bitter and acrimonious session, it turned out to be less contentious in many ways than the 2003 session.

Some of the highlights of our work include:

Civil Service Reform -

We worked in coalition with a number of labor and other organizations to oppose civil service changes as introduced in HCR 04-1005.  The measure paved the way for the reintroduction of the political spoils system into Colorado by allowing for a marked increase in the number and scope of political appointments.  While measure was significantly improved during the course of the session, we still believe that it opens the door too far to political patronage.  HCR 04-1005 is a constitutional amendment so it was referred to the voters for a vote this fall.  Colorado Common Cause urges a NO vote on the civil service referred measure on the ballot this fall.  Feel free to call or e-mail us with questions or for more information.

Money in Politics -

We worked with a bipartisan coalition of legislators in an attempt to shut down so-called "office accounts".  Office accounts are a cynical attempt by some sitting legislators to circumvent the contribution limits approved by the voters via Amendment 27 in the fall of 2002.  Unfortunately, both SB 04-174 and HB 04-1301 died in the House State Veterans and Military Affairs committee.  That committee is notorious for being a "kill" committee for any and all pro-democracy reform measures.  We will monitor the extent of the use of office accounts when they are disclosed in January of 2005 and again work to close them down during the 2005 legislative session.

Update on Redistricting -

 As we have reported in recent newsletters, we have been leading a coalition effort to change the way we draw political boundaries in Colorado.  In the wake of the "midnight gerrymander" at the end of the 2003 legislative session, we helped to bring together a coalition of groups and began drafting a potential ballot initiative to bring to the voters.  Instead of letting partisan legislators draw congressional district lines, we would instead charge an independent commission with drawing the lines.  In addition to equal population and other constitutional criteria, the commission would have to strive to create as many competitive districts as possible.  Nationally, it is unfortunately the case that there are only a handful of truly competitive congressional races in 2004.  We want to buck that trend in Colorado by ensuring that at least some minimum number of seats would be up for grabs for candidates from both political parties.  

We submitted our language to the state Title Board and had a title approved to circulate petitions.  However, we decided to not qualify the initiative this fall for two reasons - 1) we felt that it would be a very crowded ballot with a number of critical issues on it and we did not want to detract from any of the energy and money that needs to flow to those issues (see the letter from the Chair on pg 2 for more on one of these critical efforts); and 2) we have continued to work with Democratic and Republican leaders in the legislature to see if we can pass a redistricting reform measure through the capitol. 

While we are not overly optimistic that we will succeed legislatively, we thought it best to attempt to pass a reform through the legislature in 2005 and, failing that, develop a plan to bring an initiative to the voters in the fall of 2006.  Stay tuned as we continue to work on this important issue.

2003 Legislative Wrap Up

The 2003 Legislative Session will likely go down in history as one of the most rancorous in recent memory. Despite the bitter tenor of much of the 120 day session, Colorado Common Cause was active at the capitol fighting to both protect hard won good government victories and to win additional reforms.

Money in Politics

Our biggest success was defensive in nature. In November of 2002, Coloradans by a two to one margin supported Amendment 27, a comprehensive campaign finance reform initiative that limits campaign contributions and spending in legislative and statewide races and creates a system of full disclosure of the money behind our elections. Despite this overwhelmingly strong endorsement of campaign finance reform, powerful members of the legislature waged a full-scale assault on the law and very nearly succeeded in passing provisions that would have done great damage to this citizen initiative.

As introduced, HB 03-1132 (Rep. Fairbank, R-Jeffco and Sen. Hillman, R-Burlington) would have created “office accounts”, an obvious and cynical attempt to end run the contribution and spending limits in Amendment 27. In addition, the bill included a wildly permissive definition of “newspaper” which would have allowed secretive campaign committees to continue hiding the true source of the money behind their attack mailers and TV ads.

Working in coalition with the League of Women Voters and others, Common Cause led the effort to strip the bill of these anti-reform provisions. Newspapers across the state, including the Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post and Grand Junction Sentinel, among others, editorialized against the bill. After an intense grassroots, lobbying and media campaign, the offending provisions of the bill were deleted in the final days of the session.

Redistricting

The final three days of the legislative session saw the Republican leadership ram a congressional redistricting bill through the chamber in near-record time. While Colorado Common Cause did not lobby on the merits, or demerits, of the redistricting bill itself, we were strongly opposed to vast abuse of process, at the expense of nearly all citizen participation, that accompanied the bill. The legislative leadership trampled on the Sunshine and GAVEL laws in their zeal to create safe Republican seats in the Congress.

In coalition with the Colorado Environmental Coalition and the League of Women Voters, we organized a rally on the steps of the capitol on the final day of the session attacking this high-handed and anti-participatory bill. 

Other Common Cause Issues

In addition to defending Amendment 27 and speaking out against the redistricting power grab, we were active in working on bills related to the federal Help America Vote Act and in protecting the ability of groups to utilize the citizen initiative process.

2002 Legislative Wrap Up

The Colorado General Assembly, or state legislature, consists of a House of 65 members and a Senate of 35 members. The members are elected from legislative districts drawn every ten years. The Colorado Constitution specifies that the annual legislative session last no longer than 120 days. The legislature meets each year from early January to early May. A significant portion of Colorado Common Cause's work involves working with legislators on bills in the House and Senate that promote improved government practices and better representation of all citizens, such as campaign finance, ethics, open meetings, and fair access in elections. CCC also works to oppose bills that undermine these core democratic principles.

The 2002 legislative session concluded in early May. Colorado Common Cause supported a number of bills to make our government more open, honest and accountable and worked in coalition to oppose legislation that would have made it harder for citizens to use the initiative process. Below are a few highlights from the session. 

Campaign Finance Reform

Senate Bill 02-154 (Sen. Gordon, D-Denver and Rep. Rippy, R-Glenwood Springs) would have demanded disclosure of the funding behind the misnamed "educational committees" that run ads attacking or praising candidates. These groups operate in the dark of night with absolutely no disclosure of how much money they are spending or who is financing the ads. SB 02-154 passed the full Senate but was killed by the House State Affairs committee on a party line vote with all Republicans voting "no". While this is frustrating, it is not unexpected. The good news is that our campaign finance reform initiative includes a provision that will force these shadowy groups to fully disclose their donors and their spending.

Protecting the Initiative Process

As has been the norm for the last five years, a late bill was introduced in the legislature that would have made passing citizen initiatives much more difficult. House Concurrent Resolution 02-1005 (Rep. Dean, R-Colo. Springs and Sen. Matsunaka, D-Loveland) would have demanded that virtually every initiative proposed by citizens increase taxes to pay for even routine costs associated with the measure. Even something such as our campaign finance reform initiative, which will cost the state virtually nothing, would have been required to identify a "new revenue source", i.e. a tax increase, before it could be placed on the ballot. The practical effect of HCR 02-1005 would have been to make it significantly harder, if not impossible, to pass an initiative in Colorado. HCR 02-1005 passed the full House but working in coalition we succeeded in killing it in a Senate committee days before the end of the session.

Citizen Participation

For the second year in a row, CCC worked with a broad coalition of groups to attempt to pass an anti-SLAPP bill (House Bill 02-1192, Rep. Sinclair, R-Colo. Springs and Sen. Linkhart, D-Denver). SLAPP suits are Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation that developers and corporations file against citizens to scare them away from opposing a development or publicly criticizing a corporation. Although many states have passed laws to stop these inherently anti-participatory SLAPP suits, HB 02-1192 was defeated in a Senate committee after passing the full House. We are hopeful that the coalition of organizations supporting this important measure will try once again to pass a bill next year.