Tag: ncsl

What does it look like when a government body debates and makes decisions in a closed-door executive session? Pretty much the same as it would in public -- which the law requires -- except that only the meeting's participants get to see what went into the decision.

In the months since voters passed Colorado's controversial Amendment 54 in November, and from the moment it passed into law on the last day of December, its expanding implications have slowly come into focus, spurring heated arguments for and against it. As a high-powered lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the amendment wends its way to court, detractors and supporters are pleading their cases in the court of public opinion, underlining the fact that the showdown over 54 is just the latest skirmish in a larger battle over the evolution in lawmaking away from legislatures and toward ballot initiatives.