Over the years, the Colorado Constitution has been one of the most amended constitutions in America. That would likely change if a proposed amendment for the November general election makes its way onto the ballot and is approved by voters.

The Raise the Bar, Protect Our Constitution amendment would change the petition signature gathering requirements and require at least 55 percent voter approval of proposed amendments. Amendments are now approved with just over 50 percent of the votes.

Backers of proposed amendments would have to gather the signatures of 2 percent of registered voters in each of the state’s 35 state Senate districts. Currently, backers must gather 98,492 valid voter signatures, or 5 percent of the total votes cast for all candidates for Colorado secretary of state in the last general election.

Raise the Bar campaign spokesman Rich Coolidge said the desire for the change was expressed during many Building a Better Colorado meetings and open houses across the state. Building a Better Colorado is a nonpartisan group that has been actively working to improve government and the political climate of the state.

“We’ve also seen much divisiveness come out of many of these initiatives and the influence of out-of-state special interest groups,” Coolidge said.

He added that the signature-gathering change is needed “so people can’t just stand out on the 16th Street Mall and get people to sign. There should be more involvement of all areas of the state.”

Coolidge said the signature-gathering for the amendment is proceeding well, but did not have a date in mind to turn them in to the secretary of state. Monday, Aug. 8, is the deadline for all petitions to be submitted.

The amendment would not change the process now used to change state laws, Coolidge noted, which is the same as the current amendment process. It would also allow changes to recent amendments to be made under the current process, Coolidge added. The Raise the Bar process would only apply to new proposed amendments.

Coolidge said the energy industry is among the amendment’s funding contributors, along with other business and civic groups from across the state.

Two well-known state politicos, former Democratic state Rep. turned Summit County Commissioner Dan Gibbs and former Republican state Sen. Greg Brophy have both been instrumental in guiding the Raise the Bar campaign forward.

Colorado Concern, an alliance of business executives that works to support legislative candidates and statewide policies benefiting the state’s businesses, is also among those backing the amendment. Colorado Concern has brought in the big guns, politically speaking, hosting a fundraising reception with Gov. John Hickenlooper to discuss the Raising the Bar amendment Tuesday, Aug. 2, at the home of Kristin and Blair Richardson in Denver.

Colorado Concern spokesman Sean Duffy said many business people favor stricter requirements to amend the state constitution.

“Colorado has really become a kind of laboratory for every special interest group out there, left or right,” he stated. “We don’t think we need a dubious distinction like that. Colorado should not have to serve as an experiment for all these groups.”

In a letter posted to the Raise the Bar’s Facebook page on July 28, Hickenlooper and four former Colorado governors endorsed the Raise the Bar amendment. Hickenlooper and former governors Bill Ritter, Bill Owens, Roy Romer and Richard Lamm noted that “Recent proposed changes to the Colorado Constitution have been growing geometrically and these proposals have become increasingly onerous and costly to defeat.”

The governors also wrote that Colorado has “unfortunately become a ‘test market’ for regional and national proposals” because of the state’s low 50 percent threshold for Constitutional change “and relatively inexpensive media market.”

The Colorado Constitution has over 150 amendments, while the U.S. Constitution has only 27 amendments. According to the Initiative & Referendum Institute, Colorado has had more citizen initiatives than all states except California and Oregon.