What Is Amendment S About?
Amendment S seeks to make several changes to the state personnel system, which has not been changed in 40 years. Those changes include:
Assessing a job candidate's merit not only through standardized testing, but on ability and talent as well
Increasing the number and type of state employees who may be exempt from the state personnel system
Expanding job opportunities to those who live out-of-state
Increasing the time conditions of employment for temporary workers (6 months currently, to 9 months)
Limiting state personnel board members to two terms of 3 years
Allowing two of five board members to be elected or removed by the governor
Removing the authority of the board to set rules of the evaluation and hiring of state employees, and transferring that power instead to the state personnel director
Expanding hiring preferences for veterans
Allowing the governor to appoint up to 325 political appointees
Allowing six finalists for a job, instead of four
The ballot question to be posed reads:
Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning the state personnel system, and, in connection therewith, expanding the veterans' preference; increasing the number of candidates eligible to be appointed to a position; adjusting the duration of allowable temporary employment; allowing the flexibility to remove a limited number of positions from the system; modifying the residency requirement; adjusting the terms of service for members of the state personnel board; and requiring merit-based appointments to be made through a comparative analysis process?
The main campaign for Amendment S is Vote Yes on S. Governor John Hickenlooper, as well as former Colorado governors Bill Ritter and Bill Owens have lent their support to the ballot measure. The main arguments for Amendment S are that it will help Colorado attract jobs, encourage the promoting and hiring of great job performers, prioritize veteran hiring, and increase accountability. The campaign stresses that Amendment S will not increase taxes or the cost of running the government.
"Amendment S is not about politics, it is about doing what is best for Colorado. If there is anything we, all of us-- Democrats, Republicans, and independents-- can agree on in this contentious election season, it's that we should all vote "yes" on Amendment S."-- Bill Owens, Bill Ritter Jr., and John Hickenlooper in op-ed piece in Denver Post.
Formal opposition to Amendment S has come about recently in the form of Colorado Citizens for Good Government and Responsible Colorado State Employment. Both parties attest that Amendment S gives too much power to the Governor and State Personnel Director, "[opening] the door to nepotism, cronyism, and discrimination." The campaigns say that the merit-based system we have now works, and the proposed "comparative analysis process" is too vague. They also ask how the state will pay for these new positions without raising taxes.
