Ballot Title Setting Board
2013-2014

The title as designated and fixed by the Board is as follows:

An amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning public ownership of natural and environmental resources, and, in connection therewith, creating a public trust in those resources, which include clean air, clean water, and the preservation of the environment and natural resources; requiring the state, as trustee, to conserve and maintain public trust resources by using the best science available to protect them against any substantial impairment, regardless of any prior federal, state, or local approval; seeking natural resource damages from anyone who substantially impairs them, and using damages obtained to remediate the impairment; allowing Colorado citizens to file enforcement actions in court; requiring anyone who is proposing an action or policy that might substantially impair public trust resources to prove that the action or policy is not harmful; and criminalizing the manipulation of data, reports, or scientific information in an attempt to use public trust resources for private profit.

The ballot title and submission clause as designated and fixed by the Board is as follows:

Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning public ownership of natural and environmental resources, and, in connection therewith, creating a public trust in those resources, which include clean air, clean water, and the preservation of the environment and natural resources; requiring the state, as trustee, to conserve and maintain public trust resources by using the best science available to protect them against any substantial impairment, regardless of any prior federal, state, or local approval; seeking natural resource damages from anyone who substantially impairs them, and using damages obtained to remediate the impairment; allowing Colorado citizens to file enforcement actions in court; requiring anyone who is proposing an action or policy that might substantially impair public trust resources to prove that the action or policy is not harmful; and criminalizing the manipulation of data, reports, or scientific information in an attempt to use public trust resources for private profit?

Hearing April 16, 2014

Single subject approved; staff draft amended; title set.
Hearing adjourned 4:12 PM.

Hearing April 25, 2014

Motion for Rehearing denied except to the extent that the Board made changes to the titles.
Hearing adjourned 10:57 AM.

Supreme Court action June 30, 2014

Title setting denied.

* Unofficially captioned “Public Trust Resources” by legislative staff for tracking purposes. This caption is not part of the titles set by the Board.