Jerry Kopel

When Sen. Hillary Clinton addresses the Democratic National Convention delegates and viewers around the world on Aug. 26, you can rest assured she will mention the 88th anniversary of suffrage for female citizens of the United States.

There will be a constitutional amendment on the 2008 ballot dealing with intoxicating liquors, and this one has nothing to do with liquor sales at grocery stores.

House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 1008, which passed through the Legislature with only one negative vote, is now called Referendum N.

What will happen to your vote and the credibility of your signature in future elections if Referendum O becomes part of the state constitution?

Here’s a brief analysis by the Legislative Council staff, supplemented with additional information in parenthesis.

How old should you be to serve in the Colorado Legislature? The voters will decide in November.

Referendum L on the November ballot would drop the age qualification for members of Colorado’s House and Senate from 25 to 21.

Term limit supporters claim it’s necessary to limit terms so legislators don’t overstay. But a little research casts doubt on the idea that overstaying was ever a problem. It would seem the whole reason for term limits is based on a myth of political junky careerist state legislators.

Consumers in Denver and nearby counties should soon see whether passage of House Bill 1227 actually results in more choice when they call for taxicabs. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Alice Madden, D-Boulder, and Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, grants another decade of life to the Public Utilities Commission under its scheduled Sunset review.

A Denver Post article recently gave me a headache by reminding me of the motto that kept me sane while serving 18 of my 22 years in the House as a member of the minority party: “The bad guys always win... eventually.”

Finally! The common law doctrine from England, caveat emptor (Latin for “let the buyer beware”) is no longer the guiding principle in landlord-tenant residential contracts in Colorado.

Reapportionment of the Legislature? Too early to discuss? Not really.
 
The 65-member House and the 35-member Senate will have new boundary lines in 2012, and there won’t be a large experienced group of legislators from 2001 to provide insight in 2011.
 

I can hardly wait.

By this time next year, I will have reported to you on the State Auditor’s 2009 report on the Colorado Lottery. 

This will be only the fourth time the auditor has made an extensive review of a 25-year-old lottery based on issues requested by the state Legislature. The other reviews were 1987, 1997 and 2003.