Colorado Prohibit Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from Making Certain Rules Less Stringent Initiative (2020)
| Prohibit Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from Making Certain Rules Less Stringent Initiative | |
|---|---|
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| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Natural resources | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Prohibit Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from Making Certain Rules Less Stringent Initiative (#312) was not on the ballot in Colorado as a initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.
The initiative would have prohibited the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from amending or repealing certain rules— including those regarding safety, aesthetics and noise control, reporting, and emissions— in order to make them less stringent than they were as of January 1, 2020.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title would have been as follows:
Initiative 312:
| “ |
Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution prohibiting the oil and gas conservation commission from repealing or amending to make less stringent: 1) specified oil and gas conservation commission rules related to oil and gas safety, aesthetic and noise control, spills, reclamation, and flowlines, and, 2) if otherwise given such authority, specified air quality control commission rules related to air emission reductions and inventory? [2] |
” |
Full text
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Colorado, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 5 percent of the total number of votes cast for the office of Colorado secretary of state in the preceding general election. For initiated constitutional amendments, signature gathering must be distributed to include signatures equal to 2 percent of the registered voters who live in each of the state's 35 senate districts.
State law provides that petitioners have six months to collect signatures after the ballot language and title are finalized. State statutes require a completed signature petition to be filed three months and three weeks before the election at which the measure would appear on the ballot. The Constitution, however, states that the petition must be filed three months before the election at which the measure would appear. The secretary of state generally lists a date that is three months before the election as the filing deadline.
Constitutional amendments in Colorado require a 55% supermajority vote to be ratified and added to the state constitution. This requirement was added by Amendment 71 of 2016.
The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2020 ballot:
- Signatures: 124,632 valid signatures
- Deadline: August 3, 2020[3]
The secretary of state is responsible for signature verification. Verification is conducted through a review of petitions regarding correct form and then a 5 percent random sampling verification. If the sampling projects between 90 percent and 110 percent of required valid signatures, a full check of all signatures is required. If the sampling projects more than 110 percent of the required signatures, the initiative is certified. If less than 90 percent, the initiative fails.
Details about this initiative
- Diane Marie Schwenke and David Davia filed the different versions of the initiative (#312-313) on April 3, 2020. Ballot titles were issued for them on April 15, 2020. Initiative #312 was cleared for signature gathering on June 11, 2020.[1]
- The initiative was withdrawn as of July 24, 2020.[1]
See also
External links
- Colorado Secretary of State: Initiative Filings, Agendas & Results
- Initiatives filed with the Legislative Council Staff
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Colorado Secretary of State, "2019-2020 Initiative Filings, Agendas & Results," accessed April 17, 2020
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ On May 17, 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) signed Executive Order D 2020 065, which temporarily suspended the state law requiring signatures to be submitted six months after ballot language finalization. Under the order, signatures for 2020 Colorado initiatives were due by August 3, 2020.
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