How resident initiatives & petitions workAs some residents may be aware, a few initiative petitions have circulated in our community this summer. This process may be unfamiliar to some Louisvillians, so here’s a quick guide to what initiatives and petitions are and how they work. What are resident initiatives? The Constitution of the State of Colorado and Louisville’s City Charter give registered electors — residents who are registered to vote — the power to initiate proposed city laws (ordinances). If certain criteria are met, those proposed ordinances are then put up for a vote at a citywide election, also called a referendum. How do initiatives work? The initiative process is governed by Article V, Section 1 of the Colorado Constitution andArticle 7 of the Louisville City Charter.
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| One or more registered electors files with the City Clerk a written notice of intent to circulate an initiative petition, and submits the full text of their proposed ordinance. |
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| Once the petition form is approved by the City Clerk, circulators can begin obtaining signatures. Only registered Louisville electors can sign the petition, and circulators must collect signatures from at least five (5) percent of Louisville’s registered electors. All signed petition forms must be submitted to the City Clerk for verification and certification within 180 days of the Clerk’s approval of the petition form. |
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| Within 30 days, the City Clerk will verify petition signatures against Boulder County’s voter database. If the petition is determined to have the required number of valid signatures — and no protest is filed — the City Clerk will issue a determination that the petition is sufficient and present it to the City Council within 20 days. |
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| The City Council then has 20 days to either adopt the ordinance without alteration or refer it to voters at a regular or special election. |
This is a simplified summary of the process. For full details and timeline of the initiative process, refer to our Citizen Initiative Guidelines document. It’s important to note that ordinances proposed via initiative aren’t automatically placed on the ballot once enough valid signatures are collected, but rather go first to the City Council, which can either adopt the ordinance as proposed or send it to the voters. To learn more about residents' powers of initiative, referendum, and recall, visit theInitiatives, Referendum & Recall page at LouisvilleCO.gov. If you have questions or need additional information, please contact the City Clerk's Office atClerksOffice@LouisvilleCO.gov or 303.335.4574. |
