Colorado: The House State Affairs Committee

The House State Affairs Committee killed a bill Tuesday that would have made it illegal to remove a ballot initiative in exchange for compensation of any kind.

Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument, sponsored the legislation in response to a 2008 pre-election deal between business leaders and unions that resulted in the removal of four anti-business initiatives from the statewide ballot in exchange for $3 million to the unions.

In exchange for withdrawing what opponents called four “Poison Pill Amendments,” union backers convinced the business community to fund a multi-million dollar fight against Amendments 47, 49, and 54, three initiatives that cumulatively sought to strengthen government transparency and threaten union power.