After opposing groups made peace on changing how Colorado draws political boundaries, lawmakers will now have a say in the matter.

Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City, and Sen. Stephen Fenberg, D-Boulder, are sponsoring legislation that would put the question on the ballot in November. Colorado voters, then, would decide if the General Assembly should continue to wrangle over congressional and legislative boundaries, or whether those maps should the work of independent commissions who stress competitiveness over political advantage.

Fair Districts Colorado, the group that first proposed the change, and People Not Politicians, made up of suspicious groups that blocked them, worked out their differences last month. Together they filed paperwork to collect signatures to get initiatives 170 and 171 on the ballot.

If the legislature provides what’s called a referred measure on the November ballot, it would save the groups a lot of time and money, if they don’t have to collect at least 98,402 verified signatures.

The groups are proposing:

The left-leaning fair elections group Common Cause did a more detailed breakdown of the proposals, which you can read by clicking here.

The state redraws statehouse and congressional districts after the census every 10 years. The legislature draws the boundaries, and the party in the majority tends to exert its will, until the maps wind up in court. In the process, Democrats and Republicans have carved out districts of enough like-minded voters to ensure safe for their incumbents, a shadowy process called gerrymandering.

That gives the major parties tremendous power in deciding who gets elected and ensuring those officeholders stick to party doctrine or face a primary, according to critics.

“I am pleased to see legislators on both sides of the aisle supporting these important measures designed to protect us from gerrymandering,” former House Speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, one of the leaders of Fair Districts Colorado, said in a statement.

“We need our representatives to step up now to avoid the kind of bitterly divided fights that were waged during the last two redistricting cycles. Coloradans across the political spectrum will benefit from a process that is fair, transparent, less partisan, and ultimately more effective.”

Stated People Not Politicians’ Joe Zimlich, chief executive of the Bohemian Group: “Colorado deserves a process that allows people to choose their politicians. A process that allows broad public involvement, a process that will create fair and competitive districts, and will not give either political party an advantage.”