Historical character of Colorado Constitution at risk

[koganbot]

Sorry that I've been derelict in responding to the many inquiries I've received as to how I will vote on Referendum N on the 2008 Colorado ballot. Here, to refresh your memory, is Referendum N itself.

Referendum N
Obsolete Constitutional Provisions Relating to Alcohol Beverages
Referendum N proposes amending the Colorado Constitution to:

‚ remove provisions related to the regulation of alcohol beverages from two sections of the constitution.

Summary and Analysis

The manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol beverages are regulated by both the state and federal government. The federal government regulates the manufacture and import of alcohol to ensure the content is safe and the labeling is accurate. Colorado law regulates such things as standards of health, cleanliness, purity, quality, storage, and transportation of alcohol that is manufactured, distributed, and sold in the state. Referendum N repeals two sections of the state constitution relating to alcohol beverages.

Impure or tainted alcohol beverages. Referendum N repeals language in the state constitution that requires the state legislature to prohibit importing, manufacturing, and selling impure alcohol. This language was part of the original constitution that was adopted in 1876. Regulation of alcohol beverages. Prior to national liquor prohibition in 1919, Colorado adopted a constitutional amendment prohibiting the manufacture and import of alcohol, beginning in 1916. In 1933, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution repealed liquor prohibition. Around the same time, an amendment to the Colorado Constitution required the state to regulate the manufacture, sale, and distribution of all alcohol within Colorado, and it prohibited the state legislature from passing laws that allow citizens to establish saloons. Saloons existed before 1916 and were strictly for consuming alcohol beverages; current law requires licensed drinking establishments to offer food or meals. Referendum N removes the constitutional provisions that address the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcohol within Colorado. It also removes the constitutional prohibition on saloons, allowing the state legislature to determine whether to permit the establishment of saloons in the future.

Argument For

1) The constitutional restrictions relating to alcohol beverages are outdated, no longer necessary, and clutter the constitution. Removing these provisions does not affect the legislature's authority to regulate alcohol within the state. Further, the quality of alcohol has been regulated by the federal government since the early 1900s, so the problem of impure alcohol beverages does not exist as it did when Colorado became a state.

Argument Against

1) Referendum N repeals provisions of the constitution that have historical significance and reflect an interesting period in Colorado's history. Removing them may diminish the historical character of the constitution and make research of repealed constitutional provisions and state laws more difficult. (emphasis added)

Estimate of Fiscal Impact

Referendum N is not expected to affect state or local revenues or expenditures.

After spirituous soul-searching (see below), I have reluctantly decided to support the proposed amendment to the constitution. Now don't get me wrong, I know no one as supportive of the historical character of the state constitution as I; and furthermore, should the federal government suddenly somehow fail to ensure the safe content and accurate labeling of alcoholic beverages (as it recently failed to ensure the safe content and accurate labeling of collateralized debt obligations and of credit default swaps), who is there left to do it but the state of Colorado? However, as much as I venerate history, I cannot abide the clutter that has overtaken the Colorado constitution, and any provision that subtracts from its mess gets my support. In fact, were the time to come when we desired to regulate spirituous beverages (see below), we can do so most efficiently through statute, not the constitution.

But to do discharge my duty to history, I print here one of the two constitutional provisions the demise of which is imminent:

Section 5. Spurious and drugged liquors - laws concerning. The general assembly shall prohibit by law the importation into this state, for the purpose of sale, of any spurious, poisonous or drugged spirituous liquors, or spirituous liquors adulterated with any poisonous or deleterious substance, mixture, or compound; and shall prohibit the compounding or manufacture within this state, except for chemical or mechanical purposes, of any of said liquors, whether they be denominated spirituous, vinous, malt or otherwise; and shall also prohibit the sale of any such liquors to be used as a beverage, and any violation of either of said prohibitions shall be punished by fine and imprisonment. The general assembly shall provide by law for the condemnation and destruction of all spurious, poisonous or drugged liquors herein prohibited.

Comments

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

dude, yr country is So Very Odd...