Campaign finance requirements for Colorado ballot measures
 in Colorado |
Groups and individuals involved in ballot measure campaigns in Colorado must adhere to the state's campaign finance laws. These laws regulate the amounts and sources of money given or received for political purposes; in addition, campaign finance laws stipulate disclosure requirements for political contributions and expenditures.
Proponents of more stringent regulations and disclosure requirements, such as the Brennan Center for Justice, claim that current laws do not go far enough to mitigate corruption and the influence of undisclosed special interests. Others, such as the Institute for Free Speech, argue that strict disclosure requirements and contribution limits impinge upon the rights to privacy and free expression.[1][2]
| In Colorado, groups that support or oppose ballot measures must register with the state as issue committees. Issue committees in Colorado are generally not required to adhere to specific contribution limits, though certain entities are legally prohibited from contributing to issue committees. |
The laws and regulations that apply to ballot measure campaigns may differ from those that apply to candidates for political office. To learn more about campaign finance requirements for candidates, see this article.
Colorado ballot measures
- See also: Ballot measure
A ballot measure is any question or issue that appears on an election ballot to be approved or rejected by voters. In 26 states, plus Washington, D.C., citizens may use the initiative and referendum process, which permits citizens to petition to place measures on the ballot and usually involves a signature collection process of some kind. Even in states without initiative and referendum processes, however, ballot measures exist. In all states, citizens may be asked to approve legislatively referred constitutional amendments, state statutes, bond issues or tax proposals.
In Colorado, ballot measures come in the following forms: initiated constitutional amendments, legislatively referred state statutes, legislatively referred constitutional amendments, initiated state statutes, veto referenda, and legislatively referred bond questions.
Organizational requirements
In Colorado, any group that supports or opposes a ballot issue or ballot question is considered an issue committee. A group must register as an issue committee within 10 days of meeting one of the following criteria:[3]
- The committee has "accepted or made contributions or expenditures of $200 or more to support or oppose" a ballot measure
- The committee has "printed more than 200 petition sections or more than 200 petition sections have been accepted."
The committee must files its registration using the state's online campaign finance disclosure system. That system, called TRACER, can be accessed here.[3]
Contribution limits
In Colorado, the following entities may may unlimited contributions to issue committees:[4][5]
- Natural persons
- Political parties
- Issue committees
- Business entities
- Corporations and labor unions
- Federal political action committees
- Federal 527 organizations
The following entities cannot contribute to issue committees: political committees, small donor committees, candidate committees and independent expenditure committees.
Reporting requirements
Issue committees in Colorado must file regular disclosure reports. These reports "must contain the name and address of the contributor for all contributions of $20 or more, and the contributor's employer and occupation for all contributions of $100 or more if the contributor is a natural person." Similarly, committees must itemize all expenditures exceeding $20. During a year in which the ballot measure supported or opposed by the committee is on the ballot, the committee must adhere to a "frequent filing" schedule. For statewide ballot measure committees, reports must be filed with the Colorado Secretary of State.[4][6]
- A report must be filed "on the first Monday in May and on each Monday every two weeks thereafter before the primary election."
- A report must be filed "on the first day of each month beginning the sixth full month before the major election; except that no monthly report shall be required on the first day of the month in which the major election is held."
- A report must be filed "on the first Monday in September and on each Monday every two weeks thereafter before the major election."
- A report must be filed 30 days following the election.
In addition, if a contribution of $1,000 or more is made within 30 days of a primary or general election, that contribution must be reported within 24 hours of receipt. Once a committee has an account balance of $0 and no outstanding debts, the committee may file a termination report in order to disband.[4]
Year-specific reporting dates
2021
The table below lists relevant campaign finance report filing deadlines in Colorado in 2021.
| Campaign finance reporting deadlines in Colorado, 2021 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Reporting period | Filing deadline | |
| June 27, 2021 - July 28, 2021 | August 2, 2021 | |
| July 29, 2021 - September 1, 2021 | September 7, 2021 | |
| September 2, 2021 - September 15, 2021 | September 20, 2021 | |
| September 16, 2021 - September 29, 2021 | October 5, 2021 | |
| September 30, 2021 - October 13, 2021 | October 18, 2021 | |
| October 14, 2021 - October 27, 2021 | November 1, 2021 | |
| October 28, 2021 - November 30, 2021 | December 2, 2021 | |
| Source: Colorado Secretary of State, "2021 State Frequent Filing Calendar," accessed July 9, 2021 | ||
2015
The table below lists relevant campaign finance report filing deadlines in Colorado in 2015.
| Campaign finance reporting deadlines in Colorado, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Reporting period | Filing deadline | |
| January 1, 2015 - April 26, 2015 | May 1, 2015 | |
| April 27, 2015 - May 27, 2015 | June 1, 2015 | |
| May 28, 2015 - June 26, 2015 | July 1, 2015 | |
| June 27, 2015 - July 27, 2015 | August 3, 2015 | |
| July 28, 2015 - September 2, 2015 | September 8, 2015 | |
| September 3, 2015 - September 16, 2015 | September 21, 2015 | |
| September 17, 2015 - September 30, 2015 | October 5, 2015 | |
| October 1, 2015 - October 14, 2015 | October 19, 2015 | |
| October 15, 2015 - October 28, 2015 | November 2, 2015 | |
| October 29, 2015 - November 30, 2015 | December 3, 2015 | |
| Source: Colorado Secretary of State, "2015 State Frequent Filing Calendar," accessed December 1, 2015 | ||
State agencies
- See also: Campaign finance agencies in Colorado
In Colorado, there is one primary agency involved in campaign finance regulation: the Colorado Secretary of State. The secretary of state oversees reporting processes for state-level candidates and political committees. In addition, the secretary of state has the authority to set campaign finance reporting rules and to impose civil penalties upon violators of Colorado's campaign finance laws.[7]
- Colorado Secretary of State, Elections Division
- 1700 Broadway, Suite 200
- Denver, Colorado 80290
- Telephone: 303-894-2200; 303-894-2200 (Campaign Finance Office)
- Email: elections@sos.state.co.us, cpfhelp@sos.state.co.us (Campaign Finance Office)
Campaign finance legislation
The following is a list of recent campaign finance bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Colorado state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.
Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.
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Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Colorado campaign finance. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Campaign finance requirements in Colorado
- Campaign finance agencies in Colorado
- List of Colorado ballot measures
External links
Additional reading
Footnotes
- ↑ Institute for Free Speech, "Money in Politics," accessed September 4, 2017
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Money in Politics," accessed September 4, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Colorado Secretary of State, "Issue Committees," accessed December 1, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Colorado Secretary of State, "Colorado Campaign and Political Finance Manual," revised July 2015
- ↑ Colorado Constitution, "Article XXVIII, Section 3," accessed December 1, 2015
- ↑ Colorado Revised Statutes, "Section 1-45-108," accessed December 1, 2015
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance," accessed July 23, 2015
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