Supporters and critics of the constitutional procedure agree it is cumbersome, complex and doesn't work well but admit it is unlikely to be changed.

"Should there be an initiative process? Yes, there should," said House Speaker Pro Tem Bill Kaufman, R-Loveland. "But it should be used only in rare circumstances and where some individual or group has petitioned the Legislature and they feel we just blew them off.

"But we're voting for hog farms and for San Luis Valley water," he said, referring to recent initiatives.

"This country and this state were founded as representative democracies ... we're blurring that now, particularly in Colorado and the West, as we go to the initiative process as a way to override representative democracy," Kaufman said.

Rep. Penn Pfiffner, R-Lakewood, believes the initiative process must be protected because it often is the only way for the public to effect change.

"People in government want to keep (government) going for their own self-interest, so they rarely work to cut the size of government," Pfiffner said. "You need outside pressure, and without that, there's no way for the people to say, 'Here's how we want our government to be run."'

For instructions on placing an initiative on the ballot, a backer may refer to a 36-page manual authored by the Secretary of State's Office. A proposal first must be submitted to legislative lawyers for review. Then it is turned over to the state Title Board to finalize the language.

Rehearings and protests, which can include state Supreme Court review, often can stretch the process to several years.

After the board gives approval, backers can begin circulating petitions. They must gather enough valid signatures to make up 5 percent of the total number of voters who cast ballots for all secretary of state candidates in the previous election. This year, that number is 52,595.

The Title Board is working on at least 250 initiatives proposed for this November's ballot. The vast majority of those are multiple versions of one proposal, said Deputy Secretary of State Bill Hobbs, a member of the board.

"We haven't had more meetings than usual, they've just been longer, typically going to 6 or 7 at night," Hobbs said. "Next Wednesday, there are 16 items on the agenda, which is really far more than we used to see in past years."

Pfiffner and anti-tax crusader Douglas Bruce, one of the most infamous users of the process, said the complex procedure leaves room for numerous governmental abuses.

Bruce contends the process outlined in state and U.S. constitutions has been warped by politicians who want to thwart initiatives to protect the government that pays their salaries.

"It certainly works for the politicians who are trying to strangle the right of citizens who are trying to get something on the ballot," Bruce said. "It doesn't work for the average citizen who wants to exercise his constitutional right and have an issue decided by the voters."

In the past, Pfiffner said, the Secretary of State's Office has thrown out petition signatures on technicalities, such as use of an incorrect abbreviation in an address.

Bruce, whose latest tax-cut proposal has been rejected by state officials or the Colorado Supreme Court 180 times in four years, is now gathering signatures to put it on this year's ballot.

He said it was "scandalous and a complete outrage" that he had to defend a two-sentence proposal 180 times.

While Kaufman acknowledged the initiative system has been overused recently, he said there is little chance the Legislature will try to change the system.

"A lot of people are afraid they'd be looked at as trying to limit people's right to petition," Kaufman said.

So far, the only initiative certified for the 2000 ballot is a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow medical uses of marijuana. The proposal was rejected in 1998 for having too few valid petition signatures, but a recount showed there were enough to warrant a spot on the ballot.