Laws governing ballot measures in Colorado

Laws governing ballot measures
State
• Laws governing state initiative processes
• Laws governing state recall processes
• Changes to ballot measure law in 2025
• Difficulty analysis of changes to laws governing ballot measures
• Analysis of 2025 changes to laws governing ballot measures
Local
• Laws governing local ballot measures
Learn about Ballotpedia's election legislation tracker.
2026 » « 2024

This page provides an overview of resources addressing the laws and procedures that govern statewide and local ballot measures in Colorado, including the initiative and referendum process, constitutional amendments, signature requirements, recall procedures, and campaign finance regulations.

Explore the links below for more information:

• Types of ballot measures in Colorado
• Laws governing the initiative process in Colorado
• Amending the Colorado Constitution
• Laws governing local ballot measures in Colorado
• Signature requirements for ballot measures in Colorado
• Laws governing recall in Colorado
• Laws governing state constitutional conventions in Colorado
• Campaign finance requirements for Colorado ballot measures
• Changes to laws governing ballot measures in Colorado

Laws governing ballot measures in Colorado

Types of ballot measures in Colorado

• Colorado has four types of citizen-initiated ballot measures: initiated constitutional amendments, initiated state statutes, combined initiated constitutional amendments and state statutes, and veto referendums.

• In Colorado, the legislature can refer constitutional amendments, state statutes, bond measures, and constitutional convention questions to the ballot.

Laws governing the initiative process in Colorado

• In Colorado, citizens have the power to initiate state statutes or constitutional amendments, as well as the power to repeal legislation through veto referendums.

• Colorado adopted the initiative and referendum process in 1910, with voter approval of Referendum 3.

Amending the Colorado Constitution

• Colorado became a state in 1876. The current state constitution was ratified in 1876.

• The Colorado Constitution can be amended in three ways:
  • Legislatively referred constitutional amendment: The state Legislature can refer constitutional amendments to the ballot, with a two-thirds vote in each legislative chamber.
  • Initiated constitutional amendment: Citizens can initiate constitutional amendments in Colorado.
  • Convention-referred constitutional amendment: A state constitutional convention can vote to refer constitutional changes to the ballot.
• Amendments require approval from 55% of voters, unless the amendment only removes language from the constitution.

Laws governing local ballot measures in Colorado

• Article 5, Section 9 of the Colorado Constitution provides for initiative and referendum at the local level, including counties, cities, towns, and municipalities.

Signature requirements for ballot measures in Colorado

• In Colorado, the number of signatures required for ballot initiatives 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.

Laws governing recall in Colorado

• Colorado adopted a recall process in 1912, when voters approved Measure 9.

• Article 21, Sections 1-4 of the Colorado Constitution provides for the constitutional rules governing the recall process for state and local officials.

Laws governing state constitutional conventions in Colorado

• A two-thirds vote (66.67%) of both chambers of the Colorado State Legislature is required to place a constitutional convention question on the ballot.

• Approval of the constitutional convention question requires a simple majority vote.

Campaign finance requirements for Colorado ballot measures

• PACs that support or oppose ballot measures in Colorado must register and report campaign finance.

Changes to laws governing ballot measures in Colorado

See also: Changes to laws governing ballot measures

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

See also: Changes in 2025 to laws governing ballot measures

• House Bill 1327: The bill changed how initiative drafts are submitted and how the Colorado Title Board sets titles and hearings, require fiscal summaries for tax-related measures to include maximum revenue estimates, and add signature-gathering reporting requirements.

HB 1327 Vote	Senate			House
	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	22	12	1	42	19	4
Democratic (D)	22	0	1	42	0	1
Republican (R)	0	12	0	0	19	3

See also: Changes in 2024 to laws governing ballot measures

• Amendment K: The amendment would have changed deadlines for filing initiative and referendum petition signatures and judicial retention notice deadlines to remove one week in order to allow one extra week for the secretary of state to certify ballot order and content and election officials' deadline to transmit ballots. Voters rejected Amendment K on November 5, 2024

SCR 2 Vote	Senate			House
	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	34	0	1	61	1	3
Democratic (D)	23	0	0	45	0	1
Republican (R)	11	0	1	16	1	2

See also: Changes in 2023 to laws governing ballot measures

• House Bill 1003: The bill required the property task force to evaluate proposed initiatives concerning property taxes that qualified for the 2024 ballot.

HB 1003 Vote	Senate			House
	Yes	No	NV	Yes	No	NV
Total	20	15	0	43	17	5
Democratic (D)	20	3	0	43	0	3
Republican (R)	0	12	0	0	17	2

See also: Changes in 2022 to laws governing ballot measures

• Proposition GG: The legislation required the ballot titles and fiscal impact summaries for initiatives that affect income taxes to include information on how the change would affect income taxes for different categories of income.

• Senate Bill 237: The legislation changed the definition used to determine whether an organization, such as a nonprofit, must report spending to support or oppose ballot measures with the state.

See also: Changes in 2021 to laws governing ballot measures

• House Bill 1321: The legislation required certain language, including a list of public programs that could be affected, to be used for the ballot titles of ballot initiatives increasing or reducing tax revenue.

• Senate Bill 250: The legislation enacted several changes to election policies in Colorado, including requiring circulators of recall petitions to have identification badges that state either "Volunteer Circulator" or "Paid Circulator", depending on whether the signature gatherer is paid or not; providing election officials 28 days, rather than 15 business days, to verify signatures for recall petitions; and requiring that a recall election for local and school officials be held at the same time as a general election if there is one within 120 days. The legislation also repealed the signature cure period for ballot initiatives.

See also: Changes in 2020 to laws governing ballot measures

• House Bill 1416: The legislation required a fiscal impact statement, rather than a shorter abstract of this information, to be included on ballot initiative petitions.

• Senate Bill 209: The legislation modified the effective dates for bills passed in 2020 that are subject to veto referendum petitions.

See also: Changes in 2019 to laws governing ballot measures

The Colorado State Legislature did not pass legislation concerning ballot measures in 2019.

See also: Changes in 2018 to laws governing ballot measures

• House Bill 1145: The legislation was designed to repeal state ballot initiative laws that courts ruled to be invalid. The repealed laws restricted payment of signature gatherers according to the number of signatures collected to 20 percent of their total compensation and required signature gatherers to be state residents.

• House Bill 1268: The legislation was designed to repeal state ballot initiative laws that courts ruled to be invalid. The legislation established a process and procedures for recall elections against special district directors.

See also

• Laws governing ballot measures

Footnotes

Laws governing ballot measures in the United States

Laws governing ballot measures

Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming

Changes to laws governing ballot measures

Types of ballot measures

Citizen-initiated ballot measures • Legislatively referred ballot measures • Automatically referred ballot measures • Commission-referred ballot measures • Convention-referred constitutional amendments

Ballot measure policy terms

Glossary of ballot measure policy terms