How many veto referendums have there been in Colorado?
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Question: How many veto referendums have there been in Colorado?
Answer: Since the first Colorado veto referendum in 1912, Colorado voters have decided 14 statewide veto referendum measures.
Details and context: A veto referendum is a type of citizen-initiated ballot measure that asks voters whether to uphold or repeal a law passed by the state legislature. Opponents of the law collect signatures for the veto referendum petition hoping that voters will repeal it at the ballot. The last Colorado veto referendum was on the ballot in 2020. Coloradans voted on six veto referendums in 1912, five in 1914, one in 1916, and one in 1932. In Colorado, voters have upheld the targeted legislation in three cases and repealed it in 10. Beginning in the mid-1930s, most legislative bills were drafted to automatically include a safety clause declaring the bill "necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety," which made the bill immune to referendum petition efforts. In 1997, the Executive Committee of Legislative Council directed the Office of Legislative Legal Services to only include a safety clause in bills if directed to do so by the requesting legislator.[1]
| Number of Colorado veto referendums | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total veto referendums | Laws upheld | Laws repealed | Year of last measure |
| 14 | 4 | 10 | 2020 |
The veto referendum ballot measure is also known as a popular referendum, people's veto, or citizen's veto. There are 23 states that have a process for veto referendums. Colorado voters approved the constitutional amendment that enacted processes for ballot initiative and veto referendum in 1910.
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