For the second year in a row, Republicans in the Colorado Senate on Thursday voted down a Democratic effort to allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue over decades-old allegations.
Now, backers of the proposal will take it directly to the public, gather signatures and try to get it on the ballot without going through the legislature.
鈥淲e will still go to the ballot one way or another,鈥� said Sen. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge, who is leading the effort.
Danielson and other supporters of the proposal want to open a window of time in which victims can file civil lawsuits against their abusers and the institutions that shielded them, even if the statutes of limitations on their cases have already expired.
The legislature passed a law in 2021, also sponsored by Danielson, to create a timeframe for victims to sue over cases dating back to the 1960s. But the measure was overturned by the Colorado Supreme Court.
So this month, Democrats proposed an amendment to the Colorado constitution, . Danielson sponsored the measure along with Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet of Commerce City and House Majority Leader Monica Duran of Wheat Ridge.
Proposing a constitutional amendment through the legislature requires two-thirds support from lawmakers as opposed to a simple majority, which means in the Senate, one Republican had to vote along with all of the chamber鈥檚 Democrats for the resolution to pass.
鈥淲e only need one member of the Republican Party to come on board with this, to push this forward, one person,鈥� Danielson said on the Senate floor Thursday.
Not a single member of the GOP caucus broke ranks to support the measure.
Senate Republican Leader Paul Lundeen said it would have set a dangerous precedent.
鈥淚t upends numerous constitutional and legally settled rights, including principles of legal certainty, the principle of finality of litigation and other elements of due process,鈥� Lundeen said.
The resolution was voted down in a similar fashion by Republicans last year, but the coalition of lawmakers, victims and victim advocates behind it isn't giving up. They鈥檙e now changing their strategy.
Danielson said the coalition has already started working on a signature-gathering campaign to get the proposed amendment on the ballot in 2026. The group has not actively started collecting signatures yet, but it is gearing up to start in the coming months.
For a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment to be placed on Colorado ballots, organizers must get signatures from at least 2% of voters in each of the state鈥檚 35 Senate districts.
