Colorado LegiSource

An informational and educational resource for the Colorado General Assembly by the Office of Legislative Legal Services.

Author: olls

  • The Power of the People – Reservation of the initiative and referendum powers

    by Julie Pelegrin

    As originally adopted, section 1 of article V of the Colorado constitution gave all of the legislative power to the General Assembly. During the Progressive Era, however, a group called the Colorado Direct Legislation League advocated for an amendment to the constitution to reserve to the people the power of initiative and referendum — law-making powers that the voters of Colorado exercise directly rather than through their elected representatives. In a special legislative session in 1910, the General Assembly referred a constitutional amendment to the ballot, which amendment passed in the 1910 general election, establishing the powers of initiative and referendum. (more…)

  • Plenary Power – How Far Can the General Assembly Go?

    by Julie Pelegrin

    You hear it all the time, “The General Assembly has plenary power.”  But what does that mean? Can the General Assembly really enact any law that it thinks is necessary?  Are there limits on what the General Assembly can do? And, if there are, what are those limits and who decides when they’ve been violated? (more…)

  • Is the 1994 Public School Finance Act Constitutional? The Lobato case proceeds with appellate briefs

    by Julie Pelegrin

    Last December, Judge Sheila Rappaport, Denver District Court found the “Public School Finance Act of 1994” (PSFA), article 54 of title 22 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, unconstitutional in the case of Lobato v. Colorado (“Lobato”). In a nutshell, Judge Rappaport found that the school finance system is not rationally related to the General Assembly’s constitutional duty to establish and maintain a thorough and uniform statewide public school system because the PSFA is not based on the actual cost of educating students to achieve statewide standards and the system of funding public schools significantly underfunds those costs. For the OLLS memorandum describing the trial court’s decision, click here. (more…)

  • U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act–The Aftermath

    by Brita Darling

    On June 28, 2012, the United States Supreme Court ruled on objections to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (567 U.S. ___ (2012)), or NFIB v. Sebelius. The majority opinion upheld the ACA, including the provisions relating to the creation of health insurance exchanges and the individual mandate to obtain insurance coverage, as well as the Medicaid expansion provisions. (more…)

  • Who Does What? The Boundaries of Governmental Authority

    by Julie Pelegrin

    During the legislative session, legislators and legislative staff are so busy working with bills and amendments that we sometimes lack the opportunity to step back and see the operations of the legislature in context with the other departments of state government. The specific constitutional authority given to and requirements imposed on each of the departments of state government often get confused and even overlooked in the rush of the legislative session. (more…)

  • What Does OLLS Do in the Interim? A Hint: School’s NOT Out For Summer!

    by Kate Meyer

    Most people associate the Office of Legislative Legal Services with its most visible, and most important, function: serving as the bill drafting office for the Colorado General Assembly. The OLLS is open year-round, though, which causes many people to wonder what staff does to keep busy when the legislature is not in session. (more…)

  • Looking for Answers? There is a Wealth of Policy Resources at Your Disposal

    by Julie Pelegrin

    If you’re starting work on legislation for next year or you just have some questions and are interested in information on specific policy areas, there are several resources available to you during the legislative interim. (more…)

  • “See you in court!” – But Which One?

    by Chuck Brackney

    The press often covers stories that involve the executive branch agencies and what they do, and, during the legislative session, the legislative branch is often in the news. Seldom, however, do we hear much about the judicial branch. We get reports of controversial or high-profile Supreme Court decisions, and we watch the progress of sensational trials, but there’s much more to the judicial branch than messy divorces, gory murder trials, and appeals to the Supreme Court. (more…)

  • Good Morning Sunshine!

    by Jery Payne

    You’re sitting in your office with your cup of joe or grande ristretto caffe latte—depending on your style—reading the newspaper when in walks a lobbyist. As you take a drink, the lobbyist says “I want to talk to you about chick sexing.” After the coffee is wiped up, you manage to ask her what she is talking about. She replies that the chick sexers feel that their occupation needs to be licensed. (more…)

  • A New Look for the Colorado Revised Statutes On-Line

    by Jennifer Gilroy

    Have you ever experienced frustration trying to locate a particular law in the Colorado Revised Statutes or a certain provision of the state’s constitution because you can’t quite seem to navigate these on-line resources as easily as you would like? By the time you read this, the on-line version of the Colorado Revised Statutes and related Colorado legal resources, accessible through the Colorado General Assembly’s home page and hosted by LexisNexis, will be vastly different and greatly improved in intuitive navigability, functionality, and content. (more…)