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Colorado Treatment of Animals Initiative (2022)
| Colorado Treatment of Animals Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2022 | |
| Topic Treatment of animals | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The Colorado Treatment of Animals Initiative (#16) was not on the ballot in Colorado as an initiated state statute on November 8, 2022.
Proponents referred to the measure as the PAUSE (Protect Animals from Unnecessary Suffering and Exploitation) initiative.[1]
Measure design
The initiative would have done the following:[2]
- amend state law regarding the treatment of animals;
- add fish to the definition of livestock;
- amend the definition of sexual act with an animal; and
- define the natural lifespan for certain animals in state law.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Initiative #16 would have been as follows:[2]
| “ | Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning expanding prohibitions against cruelty to animals, and, in connection therewith, expanding the definition of “livestock” to include fish; expanding the definition of “sexual act with an animal” to include intrusion or penetration into an animal’s anus or genitals with an object or part of a person’s body and allowing an exception only for care to improve the animal’s health and eliminating the existing exception for animal husbandry practices; defining the “natural lifespan” for certain species of livestock and providing that slaughtering those animals is not animal cruelty if done according to acceptable animal husbandry practices after the animal has lived 1/4 of the natural lifespan; removing several exceptions to the animal cruelty statutes, including exceptions for animal husbandry; and providing that, in case of a conflict, the cruelty to animals statutes supersede statutes concerning animal care?[3] | ” |
Full text
Support
Colorado Pause sponsored the initiative.[4]
Opposition
Opponents
- Coloradans for Animal Care[5][6]
- Colorado Farm Bureau[5]
- Colorado Egg Producers[6]
- Colorado Horse Council[6]
- Livestock Marketing Association[6]
- Rocky Mountain Farmers Union[6]
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Colorado, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated state statute 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. 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.
The requirements to get an initiated state statute certified for the 2022 ballot:
- Signatures: 124,632 valid signatures
- Deadline: August 8, 2022
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
- Alexander Sage and Brent Johannes filed the initiative on February 2, 2021. A ballot title was set for it on March 17, 2021.[2]
- Signatures for the initiative were due on October 18, 2021.[2]
- The Colorado Supreme Court unanimously ruled on June 21, 2021, that the measure violates Colorado's single-subject rule. Opponents of the initiative, Coloradans for Animal Care, had filed a motion with the Colorado Supreme Court in which it alleged that the initiative's ballot language is misleading and incomplete and that the initiative violates the state's single-subject rule that requires initiatives to include one subject. [7]
Ballot language lawsuit
| Lawsuit overview | |
| Issue: Whether the ballot language is misleading; whether the measure adheres to the state's single-subject rule | |
| Court: Colorado Supreme Court | |
| Ruling: Ruled in favor of plaintiffs | |
| Plaintiff(s): Coloradans for Animal Care, opponents of the initiative | Defendant(s): The Colorado Title Board |
| Plaintiff argument: The ballot language is misleading and incomplete; the initiative includes multiple subjects | Defendant argument: Unknown |
Source: The Fence Post
Opponents of the initiative, Coloradans for Animal Care, filed a motion with the Colorado Supreme Court alleging that the initiative's ballot language is misleading and incomplete and that the initiative violates the state's single-subject rule that requires initiatives to include one subject. Carlyle Currier, president of the Colorado Farm Bureau, said, "We’re confident that the court will agree that this amalgamation of ideas called Initiative 16 deals with multiple subjects and find that the title contains inflammatory language designed by the proponents to tip the scales and sway votes. Both are a failure of the title board to uphold the legal standards set forth in the Constitution and state statute."[6]
On June 21, 2021, the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the measure violate's Colorado's single-subject rule because the initiative's expansion of the definition of sexual act with an animal "would criminalize additional conduct regardless of whether that conduct is directed at livestock or other animals."[7]
See also
External links
- Colorado Secretary of State: Initiative Filings, Agendas & Results
- Initiatives filed with the Legislative Council Staff
- Initiative #16 full text
Footnotes
- ↑ Animal Welfare Council, "Livestock coalition marshals forces against extreme animal rights initiative," accessed April 19, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Colorado Secretary of State, "2021-2022 Initiative Filings, Agendas & Results," accessed March 18, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Colorado Pause, "Home," accessed April 19, 2021
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Coloradans for Animal Care, "Home," accessed April 21, 2021
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 The Fence Post, "Coloradans for Animal Care expands coalition, petitions State Supreme Court for review of Initiative 16," accessed April 19, 2021
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Colorado Supreme Court, "2021 CO 55 – 21SA125, In the Matter of the Title, Ballot Title and Submission Clause for 2021–2022 #16," accessed June 21, 2021
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