Davidson v. Sandstrom

83 P.3d 648, 2004 Colo. LEXIS 49, 2004 WL 111652
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedJanuary 26, 2004
Docket03SC287
StatusPublished
Cited by60 cases

This text of 83 P.3d 648 (Davidson v. Sandstrom) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davidson v. Sandstrom, 83 P.3d 648, 2004 Colo. LEXIS 49, 2004 WL 111652 (Colo. 2004).

Opinions

Justice RICE

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

I. Introduction

In 1994, the voters of Colorado enacted a constitutional amendment which imposed a two-term limit1 on any “nonjudicial elected official of any county, city and county, city, town, school district, service authority, or any other political subdivision of the State of Colorado.” Colo. Const, art. XVIII, § 11(1) (“section 11”). However, the amendment permitted voters of the enumerated entities to “lengthen, shorten or eliminate” term limits for any particular office. Id. at § 11(2).

In 2001, the Board of County Commissioners of Pueblo County (“the Board”) referred a measure to the voters of the Tenth Judicial District which sought to exempt the district attorney for that district from term limits. The Tenth Judicial District has the same boundaries as Pueblo County and has no voters other than those registered to vote in Pueblo County. Donetta Davidson, the Colorado Secretary of State (“the Secretary”), instructed Chris Munoz, the Clerk and Recorder for Pueblo County, to remove the term limit question from the ballot, based on the Secretary’s belief that the Board did not possess the authority to refer the measure to the voters of the district. Munoz did not follow the Secretary’s instructions, and the question was submitted to the voters, who chose to eliminate term limits for the District Attorney for the Tenth Judicial District.

G.F. Sandstrom is the duly elected District Attorney for the Tenth Judicial District, and has served in that capacity for over twenty years. The Secretary has informed Sand-strom, Munoz, and the Board that she will not certify Sandstrom’s name to the ballot in 2004 if he is nominated to run for another term as district attorney. The Secretary contends that the Board lacked authority to refer a measure to the voters of the Tenth Judicial District. Hence, the Secretary asserts that the referred measure is void and the results of the vote on the measure may not be recognized by the Secretary. Thus, in the Secretary’s view, Sandstrom is not eligible to run for reelection.

Sandstrom, Munoz, the Board, and two Pueblo County voters filed a complaint against the Secretary in Pueblo District Court. They sought a declaratory judgment that district attorneys are not subject to the limits of section 11. In the alternative, they sought a judgment that the Board had legal authority to refer the measure to the voters of the Tenth Judicial District and the Secretary must therefore recognize the results of the vote on the measure.

The district court ruled that district attorneys are subject to term limits under section 11. However, the court found that in enacting section 11, voters of the state intended to create a means for political subdivisions to change the terms of office imposed by section 11. Because the voters of the Tenth Judicial District are the same as the voters of Pueblo County, the court held that the Board possessed the legal authority to refer the mea[652]*652sure to the voters of the Tenth Judicial District.

Both parties appealed, and filed a joint petition for writ of certiorari to this court pursuant to C.A.R. 50. Because of the importance of the issues raised, we exercised our discretion to hear this case. We now affirm the ruling of the district court.

We find that district attorneys are “nonjudicial elected officials” within the meaning of section 11, and are therefore subject to the term limits of section 11. We further hold that the provision of section 11 which allows the voters to modify or eliminate term limits for a particular office is self-executing, requiring no further action by the legislature for implementation. Thus, because the boundaries of the Tenth Judicial District and Pueblo County are coextensive, with identical electors, we find that the Board validly referred the measure to the voters of the Tenth Judicial District regarding the elimination of term limits for their district attorney. Although the legislature may replace the procedure that we sanction today with one of its own choosing,2 section 11 remains self-executing without any further legislative action.

II. Background

A. Recent History of Term Limits in Colorado

In 1990, Colorado voters passed an amendment to the Colorado Constitution which imposed term limits on the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and state treasurer, .Colo. Const, art. IV, § 1(2), and all state representatives and state senators. Colo. Const, art. V, § 3(2). In 1994, voters of Colorado passed Amendment 17, the provision under consideration today, which extended term limits to many other officials:

[N]o nonjudicial elected official of any county, city and county, city, town, school district, service authority, or any other political subdivision of the State of Colorado, no member of the state board of education, and no elected member of the governing board of a state institution of higher education shall serve more than two consecutive terms in office.

Colo. Const, art. XVIII, § 11(1). The voters also attempted to impose term limits on Colorado’s congressional delegation, see Colo. Const, art. XVIII, § 9a(l), but this provision proved unconstitutional. See U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779, 783, 115 S.Ct. 1842, 131 L.Ed.2d 881 (1995) (overturning a similar Arkansas provision). Nevertheless, the voters explicitly declared their support for nationwide term limits. Colo. Const, art. XVIII, § 9a(2) (“The people of Colorado hereby state their support for a nationwide limit....”).

In 1996, the voters of Colorado again returned to the term limits issue, passing Amendment 12 which instructed Colorado’s state legislators to apply for a constitutional convention in order to propose a term-limits amendment to the United States Constitution. Amendment 12 further instructed Colorado’s congressional delegation to vote to approve the proposed amendment. Amendment 12 also contained provisions for displaying on the ballot a particular candidate’s stand on term limits. Amendment 12, however, was declared unconstitutional in Morrissey v. State, 951 P.2d 911, 917 (Colo.1998).

Undeterred, the voters of Colorado approved another term limits amendment in 1998. This amendment permitted, but did not require, candidates for the United States Congress to file a “Term Limits Declaration” with the Secretary indicating their intent to voluntarily limit their term in office if elected. Colo. Const, art. XVIII, § 12a(l). Such a declaration would then appear on the ballot as well as voter education materials, thereby informing voters of the candidate’s position on term limits. Id. at § 12a(5).

More recently, the General Assembly referred an amendment to the voters of Colorado for the November 2002 ballot which would have exempted all district attorneys from term limits. Voter education materials (“the [653]*653Bluebook”) published by the Legislative Council of the Colorado General Assembly and distributed to the electorate noted that the Colorado Attorney General, in response to a request from the Secretary, had issued a formal opinion indicating his belief that district attorneys were subject to term limits under section ll.3

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
83 P.3d 648, 2004 Colo. LEXIS 49, 2004 WL 111652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davidson-v-sandstrom-colo-2004.