Realtors Oppose Amendment 38, the Petition Rights Amendment
The Colorado Association of REALTORS®, in partnership with this local board and boards all over the state, strongly opposes Amendment 38, the Petition Rights Amendment.
This proposal primarily does three things:
Amendment 38 extends initiative and referendum (I&R) to all 2,500+ units of government in Colorado. Currently in Colorado, initiatives and referenda are confined to the state, three home rule counties and 256 cities and towns. Amendment 38 extends I&R coverage to all 64 counties, 178 school districts and 2,000+ special districts (fire, water, library, etc.)
Amendment 38 makes it easier to get issues onto the ballot by relaxing the current standards and criteria for qualifying an initiative or referenda petition. Amendment 38 provides for the reduction of signatures to qualify a measure; relaxes or eliminates altogether the requirement that petitions may only address one subject at a time; and relaxes the stringent tests for verifying the accuracy of petition signers and circulators. Amendment 38 removes the government’s current practice of verifying signatures once a petition is submitted; under the new law, the government counts every completed signature line as a valid signature unless challenged within ten days by a private citizen.
Amendment 38 requires taxpayers to subsidize the costs of petition campaigns. Under current law, petitioners have to print their own petitions. Under Amdt. 38, the government has to print up the petitions, and must deliver them within seven days of a request. They can recover only $1 for each petition; delivery is paid for by taxpayers. The government must also mail to every voter, at taxpayer expense, an un-edited 1,000 commercial provide by the proponents.
How does Amendment 38 effect Colorado Association of Realtors?
Most of the battles that Realtors have to fight in Colorado are confined to lobbying efforts directed at the state legislature or the largest of city councils. Under Amendment 38, CAR’s opponents can now decentralize their anti-Realtor efforts by initiating growth moratoriums, restrictions to signage and marketing tactics, and instituting taxes or creating taxing districts that effect transactions, effectively “cherry-picking” the most susceptible counties, municipalities, school districts or larger special districts where such issues may be vulnerable. This is in addition to making it substantially easier to now qualify anti-Realtor issues for the ballot on a statewide basis. What may cost only $60,000 to place an issue on the ballot will wind up costing CAR $3 million to negate.
We strongly urge you to vote NO on Amendment 38 on November 7th or whenever you cast your ballot!