Citizens in Charge

If you’re in Colorado May 26th, head over to the University Club in Denver to check out a great transpartisan discussion on recent attempts by Colorado politicians to destroy the state initiative process. Come find out what’s going on and how you can help stop it.

For a PDF of the event flyer click here.

 

 

 

UPDATE: The Durango Herald reports today that SCR 1 failed to make it out of the legislature before the end of the session. So the good news for the time being is that politicians have not succeeded in making it more difficult for Colorado citizens to amend their state constitution. There is still the possibility that supporters of SCR 1 will try and get the measure on the ballot through the petition process, however.

Yesterday on a party-line vote, Democrats in the California Senate passed SB 448, a bill that will force petition circulators to wear huge badges on their chest while collecting signatures. You can read more about that here. The bill now moves on to the state assembly, where hopefully it will be voted down.

From San Jose Mercury News:

If you haven’t already make sure to check out our quick video of Nebraska citizen activist Kent Bernbeck receiving the April 2011 Lilburne Award from Citizens in Charge Foundation President Paul Jacob.

It seems the excitement in the UK never ends. Last week? Royal wedding. This week? Their first national referendum vote in nearly 4 decades.

The big referendum will determine what style of elections they use to elect members of parliament. From The Independent:

Forty million people will get the chance to support an historic change to the British voting system today.

The Massachusetts General Court [the state legislature] Joint Committee on the Judiciary recommended Monday that two bills aimed at doubling the signature requirements for ballot initiatives ought not to pass. H 1830, sponsored by Rep. Denise Provost, was heard by the committee on March 13; and S 13, sponsored by Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, was heard April 14.

Citizens in Charge President Paul Jacob has a piece up today on Fox & Hounds, a California political blog, discussing recent legislation that would force petition signers to wear a badge while gathering signatures, a First Amendment right:

Anti-voter Florida legislators just won’t quit: Senate Bill 2086, which we told you about last week, is moving ever closer to becoming law. Another new version of the bill came out over the weekend containing the same restriction on the right to petition. If passed, Florida voters will have only half as much time to petition their government as they do now.