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Measure to forbid union-dues removal from checks on ballot

By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 25, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated July 25, 2008 at 12:23 a.m.

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A measure that would bar governments in Colorado from taking unions dues directly out of workers' paychecks will appear on the November ballot.

Amendment 49, authored by Independence Institute President Jon Caldara, had more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, Secretary of State Mike Coffman said Thursday.

It becomes the fourth citizen initiative to be certified for the statewide ballot.

Though Caldara said the measure is about special interests and government ethics, the biggest impact would be on unions. School districts could not collect dues for teachers unions, for example, and recently unionized state workers would have to write their own dues checks.

"(Amendment) 49 means that government can no longer be the bag man for special interests," Caldara said.

Foes have alleged that amendment petition gatherers have encouraged ineligible voters to sign and are considering a lawsuit aimed at bouncing the measure from the ballot.

A host of other proposed initiatives, including Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to cut oil company tax breaks and use the revenue to fund college scholarships and other programs, need at least 76,047 valid signatures by Aug. 4.

Other measures that have qualified for the ballot are:

* Amendment 46, which would end government affirmative-action programs.

* Amendment 47, called the right-to-work law, which would ban union membership as a condition of employment.

* Amendment 48, which would ban abortion by defining personhood as beginning at fertilization.

sealovere@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5438

Comments

  • July 25, 2008

    11:34 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    JeffcoGOP writes:

    For years Caldara has been the bag man for special interests that want to see our state crumble under the weight of its own failure to provide basic services and rights to people. We should have an amendment to ban him.

  • July 25, 2008

    6:18 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jacka writes:

    Wow this should be interesting. Doesn't this Amendment take us back to pre-Ritter days when the state forbid auto deductions for any purpose other then taxes?