In re the Title, Ballot Title & Submission Clause, & Summary Approved February 12, 1992

830 P.2d 963, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 904, 1992 Colo. LEXIS 459, 1992 WL 109652
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedMay 26, 1992
DocketNo. 92SA96
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 830 P.2d 963 (In re the Title, Ballot Title & Submission Clause, & Summary Approved February 12, 1992) 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
In re the Title, Ballot Title & Submission Clause, & Summary Approved February 12, 1992, 830 P.2d 963, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 904, 1992 Colo. LEXIS 459, 1992 WL 109652 (Colo. 1992).

Opinion

Justice KIRSHBAUM

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Petitioners, James E. Klodzinski, Charles R. Sarner and Wendell Upright, have filed this statutory challenge to the title, ballot title and submission clause and summary prepared by the Initiative Title Setting Review Board (the Board) for a proposed initiative to amend the Colorado Constitution with respect to limited gaming.1 Klodzin-ski and Sarner assert that the Board had no authority to prepare the documents. Upright contends that the title, ballot title and submission clause and summary are misleading and fail to express clearly the true meaning of the proposed amendment. We conclude that the Board lacked authority to fix the title, ballot title and submission clause and summary to the proposal in the circumstances of this case and that those documents are impermissibly mis[965]*965leading. We therefore reverse and remand the matter to the Board with directions.

I

As proposed, the amendment, which pertains to limited gaming, will add a new section consisting of three subsections to article XVIII of the Colorado Constitution.2 The first subsection authorizes limited gaming in the city of Idaho Springs, Colorado, as of January 1, 1993. The second subsection specifies regulations governing the limited gaming authorized by the amendment and establishes a program to tax gross proceeds of licensees for the benefit of various city of Idaho Springs and Clear Creek County programs. The third subsection states as follows:

3) This section shall be deemed not to have been adopted contemporaneously with any amendment to any other section of this article which permits limited gaming, and, except for subsection 2(a), this section shall not affect, nor shall it be affected by, any other such section.

The title prepared by the Board states as follows:

AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE XVIII OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION TO PERMIT LIMITED GAMING IN THE CITY OF IDAHO SPRINGS; TO ALLOW THE LIMITED GAMING CONTROL COMMISSION TO APPROVE, STATEWIDE, ANY CASINO GAMES AND TO ESTABLISH A STATEWIDE MAXIMUM WAGER OF AT LEAST FIVE DOLLARS; AND TO SET FORTH CERTAIN BUILDING RESTRICTIONS AND TO ADD TAX REVENUE ALLOCATIONS FOR LIMITED GAMING IN IDAHO SPRINGS AND CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.

The ballot title and submission clause prepared by the Board states as follows:

SHALL THERE BE AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE XVIII OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION TO PERMIT LIMITED GAMING IN THE CITY OF IDAHO SPRINGS; TO ALLOW THE LIMITED GAMING CONTROL COMMISSION TO APPROVE, STATEWIDE, ANY CASINO GAMES AND TO ESTABLISH A STATEWIDE MAXIMUM WAGER OF AT LEAST FIVE DOLLARS; AND TO SET FORTH CERTAIN BUILDING RESTRICTIONS AND TO ADD TAX REVENUE ALLOCATIONS FOR LIMITED GAMING IN IDAHO SPRINGS AND CLEAR CREEK COUNTY?

The summary prepared by the Board states in pertinent part as follows:

This measure authorizes limited gaming in Idaho Springs as of January 1, 1993, without local approval or ordinances. The limited gaming control commission is allowed to approve, statewide, any casino games and to establish a statewide maximum wager of at least five dollars. Floor-area specifications on buildings licensed for limited gaming and a presumption of good moral character on the part of certain applicants for gaming licenses differ from the existing constitutional limitations on gaming in Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek. The measure also specifies how tax revenues from limited gaming in Idaho Springs shall be spent, with the city of Idaho Springs and Clear Creek County receiving distributions from the existing limited gaming fund in the same manner and proportion as are made for other limited gaming communities plus an additional 1⅝% to Clear Creek County and 1¾% to Idaho Springs from a newly created local limited gaming fund financed by additional taxes on licensees....3

II

On January 7, 1992, the proponents of the proposed amendment, Art Rosean and Kelly Seymour, filed an initial draft version thereof with the Office of Legislative Legal Services and the Legislative Council (herein termed the legislative offices), pursuant to section 1-40-101(1), IB C.R.S. (1991 Supp.). [966]*966The initial draft was amended on January 13, 1992, and the amended document (the January 13 document) was the subject of a public meeting conducted on January 16, 1992, pursuant to section 1-40-101(1),4 during which representatives of the legislative offices commented upon the proposal.

On January 28, 1992, the proponents filed the proposed amendment with the Colorado Secretary of State (the Secretary), pursuant to section 1-40-101(2), IB C.R.S. (1991 Supp.), and requested the Board to fix the title thereto. The contents of the proposed amendment differ in several respects from the contents of the January 13 document. At a public meeting conducted on February 12, 1992, pursuant to section 1-40-101(2), the Board prepared the title, ballot title and submission clause and summary for the proposed amendment. Although the record indicates that the Board had prepared draft proposals of the ballot title documents prior to the February 12 meeting, the record on appeal does not contain copies of those draft proposals.

Petitioners Klodzinski and Sarner timely filed motions for rehearing pursuant to section l-40-102(3)(a), IB C.R.S. (1991 Supp.), alleging that the proposed amendment in effect constituted a new proposal that must be submitted to the legislative offices for review and comment before the Board was authorized to fix the title thereto. Petitioner Upright also filed a motion for rehearing, asserting that the title, ballot title and submission clause and summary fixed by the Board did not reflect the true meaning of the proposed amendment. On February 28, 1992, after conducting a hearing pursuant to section l-40-102(3)(a), the Secretary denied the motions.

Ill

Several basic principles govern our review of final determinations of the Board. This court's primary function is to ensure that the documents prepared by the Board fairly, accurately and concisely reflect the central features of the initiated measure. In re Title, Ballot Title and Submission Clause Approved Sept. 4, 1991, 826 P.2d 1241, 1245 (Colo.1992), (hereinafter In re Limited Gaming in Manitou Springs, et al.)] In re Proposed Initiated Constitutional Amendment on Education, 682 P.2d 480, 482 (Colo.1984). We may not consider the merits of the proposed amendment, Bauch v. Anderson, 178 Colo. 308, 310, 497 P.2d 698, 699 (1972), and must indulge every legitimate presumption in favor of the Board’s action. Id.; see also In re Limited Gaming in Manitou Springs, et al., 826 P.2d at 1245. However, in fixing titles the Board must consider “the public confusion that might be caused by misleading titles” and, “whenever practicable, avoid titles for which the general understanding of the effect of a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote will be unclear.” § 1-40-101(2), IB C.R.S. (1991 Supp.).

IV

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830 P.2d 963, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 904, 1992 Colo. LEXIS 459, 1992 WL 109652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-title-ballot-title-submission-clause-summary-approved-colo-1992.