Getting right with the Constitution

Astate Senate committee took the first step Monday toward bringing Colorado campaign finance laws into compliance with the First Amendment — six years after federal courts began to point out the problem.

Ah, but let’s be magnanimous. Lawmakers are busy and the freespeech rights of small-time political activists are not always uppermost in their minds. Tom Paine may remain a political icon, but his modern-day successors who spend a few hundred dollars on yard signs and leaflets to support a ballot measure will be subjected to a welter of complex legal rules and no one gives it a thought.

Except the courts, fortunately. In three separate opinions — in 2010, 2014 and again last month — federal courts have indicated that Colorado’s law governing individuals and groups that raise and spend relatively small amounts of money on ballot measures violates the First Amendment.

If you raise or spend more than $200, you become an “issue committee” that must register with the state and then comply with a host of disclosure rules. Basically, you’ve got to hire an attorney to make sure you are following the law when all you’re doing is engaging in protected speech.

Senate Bill 186 would offer relief. You’d still have to register with the secretary of state when you reach the $200 threshold for donations or expenditures on behalf of ballot measures. However, the detailed reporting rules would be waived until at least $5,000 was involved.

This change would offer essential relief to small groups without undermining the campaign finance law’s ability to shine a spotlight on funding for ballot measures. That’s because the vast majority of money spent on these measures is handled by issue committees with assets far in excess of $5,000. Transparency guardians will still be able to track the big money that is behind many initiatives, particularly at the state level.

Small issue groups should not have to repeatedly defend their free-speech rights in court because the state refuses to take the hint from federal judges and reform its campaign laws. SB 186 is an important bill that should be a priority this session.