Just moments ago, I finished interviewing Stephen Bailey on his proposal for a constitutional amendment to enable the people to limit the power of government. He read through the amendment and explained it well during the interview, but I thought it would be useful to post the text here for people to refer to as well.

So here it is… and don’t forget to listen to the interview!

The right of the people to annul unconstitutional law shall not be infringed.

Any person may bring suit challenging the constitutionality of any legislation, regulation, or rule enacted or promulgated by any government within the State of Colorado, except items consisting solely of appropriations.

Any person subject to the challenged legislation shall have standing to bring such a suit in a court within the governing jurisdiction of the law and that court shall have jurisdiction to hear the suit.

Such suits shall be heard by a jury composed of twelve jurors, randomly selected from the eligible electors residing in the judicial district in which the suit is brought. Jurors shall be disqualified and may only be disqualified due to demonstrated conflict of interest.

Unless two-thirds of a jury shall find the law a necessary and proper exercise of power delegated by this Constitution, and not infringing unalienable individual rights protected by this Constitution or the Constitution of the United States, the law shall be annulled.

Any appeal of a jury annulment shall comply with the requirements specified herein.

All convictions under a nullified law shall be immediately voided.

The jury may separately find, through a simple majority vote, that the public officials who enacted an annulled law wantonly violated their oath to protect and defend this constitution and, therefore, are ineligible to hold elective or appointed public office in the State of Colorado. This disability shall be effective upon completion of the term of a currently held elected public office, or immediately if not currently holding an elected public office. No public official shall be held accountable for approving or enacting a law, regulation or rule prior to the ratification of this amendment.