Campaign Finance Reform - Colorado Contribution Limits

In 2002, Colorado voters approved Amendment 27 by a 2-to-1 margin to enact comprehensive campaign finance reform for state-level political campaigns. A coalition of groups, including the League of Women Voters of Colorado, Colorado Common Cause, Reclaim Democracy, and Voter Revolt helped develop and supported the grassroots reform measure under the campaign slogan "Get Big Money Out of Politics".

The amendment puts campaign finance reforms into the State's constitution so any changes in the future must be put to the citizenry for a vote. The measure changes the following:

• Reduces contribution limits from $5,000 to $500 for Governor, $1,500 to $200 for state Senate, and $1,000 to $200 for state House races.
• Bans corporate and union contributions to candidates and political parties.
• Lowers the contribution limit to Political Action Committees (PACs) from $25,000 a year to $500 per two-year cycle and limits their contributions to candidates
• Creates small-donor committees for individual citizens to pool $50 contributions.
• Requires better disclosure of the funding sources of so-called "educational committees" that run attack ads about candidates.

More:

• Full Text of Amendment 27
• More Background on Colorado's Amendment 27
• National Voting Rights Institute
• Project Vote Smart
• State PIRGs' Democracy Campaigns
• The Reform Institute for Campaign and Election Issues
• Issues and Legal Precedent in State Campaign Finance Reform - Reclaim Democracy, November 2002
• Primer on the current rules governing campaign finance at the federal and state levels
• Public Citizen's Campaign Finance Reform and Governmental Ethics Program
• Campaign Finance Information Center - a resource provided by the Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc.
• Opensecrets.org - tracking money in politics by the Center for Responsive Politics
• Plugging In the Public: A Model for Campaign Finance Disclosure - by Elizabeth Hedlund and Lisa Rosenberg, 1996
• Federal Election Commission's Campaign Finance Law Resources