On February 5, Colorado Representative Kathleen Curry introduced HB 1271, which relaxes the prior affiliation rules for all candidates. Current Colorado law says no one may be a petitioning candidate in the November election if that person was a member of a qualified party, for even one day, at any time during the 17 months before the general election. Current law also gives political parties the freedom to set their own prior disaffiliation period. But current law says that for qualified political parties that don’t have their own special bylaw on the subject, no one can be the nominee of a party if that person was a member of any other party one year before filing for a party primary.

HB 1271 eases all those deadlines, and makes them only apply to a candidate’s prior registration going back to January 1 of the election year. That would still give Colorado the second most restrictive law on that subject, for independent candidates, of any state. If the bill passes, only California would have a more severe period. The bill does not take effect until 2012. It has already had a hearing, in the House Judiciary Committee, on February 18. The Committee will vote on Monday, February 22.