Why does this affect me, from another state? Remember, when one state passes and the people ALLOW these bills to remain, the rest of the country pickes it up little by little….and more freedom is destroyed

Most restrictions on petitioning and initiative rights have some type of chilling effect on actual usage of the petition process. In Colorado, one provision of a malicious 2009 law, House Bill 1326, has resulted in such a deep freeze that it may put an end to the state’s citizen initiative process entirely. Already two victims of HB 1326 are faced with losing their homes to pay for their defense against false and ridiculous allegations of ‘fraud.’

For fear of sharing their fate, who would dare sign up as the sponsor of an initiative?

We’ve been talking for some time about the federal court challenge to nearly every part of this 24-page bill, including the fact that last summer a federal judge barred the state from enforcing the bill’s ban on nonresident signature collectors and its restriction on paying workers by the signature. But the court has yet to decide on the part of 1326 that allows initiative proponents to be sued and personally held liable for wrongdoing committed by others working on the effort.

The slow-moving federal court case and a poorly rewritten definition of ‘fraud’ have entrapped activists Jon Caldara and Linda Gorman in a storm of litigation that could leave each of them in bankruptcy, despite the fact that (1) they personally are not alleged to have done anything wrong, and (2) the measure has already been voted on and failed.

Was this law written to shut down petition activity in Colorado? Beware: similar laws could be coming to YOUR STATE.

There’s more: one of the same legislators, whose support of HB 1326 may have annihilated Colorado’s initiative, now wants to drive another nail in the coffin.

Read the details on the war for Colorado’s petition rights here.