Colorado Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Issue Committee Registration Requirements

The Colorado Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Unite for Colorado v. Colorado Department of State on the question of what constitutes a major purpose of ballot issue advocacy for purposes of requiring an organization to register and report as an issue committee. At issue was whether the statutory and constitutional legal framework permits regulators to look only at activity related to a single ballot issue or if they may consider an organization’s aggregated activities on multiple ballot issues in determining whether ballot issue advocacy is a major purpose of the organization. The General Assembly amended state statutes in 2022 to provide single and aggregate ballot issue percentage-of-total-spending major purpose thresholds but Unite contends its arguments may nevertheless have implications for the amended law.

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