Amendment 47 was a proposed initiative on the Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 ballot for 2008. It was defeated.

The initiative was proposed jointly by Ryan Frazier

Ryan Frazier

Ryan L. Frazier is a United States politician who is running for Mayor of Aurora, Colorado. He is a member of the Aurora City Council and was the 2010 Republican candidate for United States House of Representatives Colorado's 7th congressional district...

 of Aurora

Aurora, Colorado

City of Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality spanning Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties in Colorado. Aurora is an eastern suburb of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area . The city is the third most populous city in the Colorado and the 56th most populous city in the...

 and Julian Jay Cole of Golden

Golden, Colorado

The City of Golden is a home rule municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the mining camp was...

. According to the Blue Book, the state-provided ballot guide, Amendment 47 "proposes amending the Colorado Constitution to: prohibit requiring an employee to join and pay any dues or fees to a labor union as a condition of employment; and create a misdemeanor penalty for violation of this law."

If ratified, Amendment 47 would have added a new section to the Colorado Constitution, which would state, in part:
This Amendment shall be known and may be cited as the "Colorado Right to Work Amendment". (a) No person shall, as a condition of employment, be required to:

(I) be a member of a labor union; and

(II) pay any dues, fees, assessments, or other charges of any kind to a labor union or to any charity or other third party, in lieu of such payments.

(b) Nothing in this section shall prevent any person from voluntarily belonging or voluntarily providing financial support to a labor union. Any person who directly or indirectly violated any provision of this section commits a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine in an amount equivalent to the most stringent misdemeanor classification provided by law.

Pro-Amendment 47 political ads

KUSA

KUSA-TV

KUSA, channel 9, is an NBC-affiliated television station in Denver, Colorado. KUSA is owned by the Gannett Company, and is a sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD...

, the NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 affiliate in Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

, analyzed one of the political ads supporting Amendment 47. Among their conclusions were that the particular ad was misleading when it stated, "All it does, it gives workers the right to choose for themselves whether or not they want to join a union." KUSA's analysis states:

As it stands now, [...] federal law prohibits anyone from being forced to join a union. What Amendment 47 would really do is give workers the right to decide if they want to pay any dues to the union for the purposes of negotiating for wages and benefits.

They also noted that agencies promoting passage of the amendment have received contributions from two organizations in Virginia, the Free Enterprise Alliance in Arlington the National Right to Work Committee

National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a charitable organization that provides free legal assistance to employees who claim that their civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism. The Foundation was founded in 1968 and has represented 20,000 employees in over 2,200 cases,...

 in Springfield

Springfield, Virginia

Springfield is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States and a suburb of Washington, D.C. The Springfield CDP is recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau with a population of 30,484 as of the 2010 census. Homes and businesses in bordering CDPs including North Springfield,...

.

Anti-Amendment 47 political ads

Channel Nine News also fact-checked a political ad from the opposition. Their conclusions (excerpted):

TRUTH TEST: Will Amendment 47 hurt Colorado's economy?

QUOTE: The few rich owners who are pushing Constitutional Amendment 47 say they want to give people a choice.

TRUTH: It is true that some wealthy businessmen and women have backed Amendment 47 and groups supporting this amendment do discuss freedom of choice and the rights of workers. [...]

QUOTE: You do have a choice. Would you choose to pass an amendment that could strip away all progress that Colorado workers have made with wages and health care and retirement?

TRUTH: This is opinion, but regards the concerns opponents have about the impact of this measure on union organization in the state. [...]

QUOTE: In times like these, who would choose to destabilize Colorado's economy and put jobs at risk?

TRUTH: This is opinion, but regards opponents' concerns related to employment and working conditions. [...]

QUOTE: If it's not broke, why fix it? No on 47. It's risky, it's reckless, it's wrong.

TRUTH: This is opinion.

Controversy

The backers of Amendment 47 have been found to have violated campaign finance laws:

Amendment 47 backers run afoul of campaign finance law

Support and opposition

One organization which supports Amendment 47 is called For A Better Colorado. An organization in opposition is called Protect Colorado.

Results