Unite for Colorado v. Colorado Department of State.

2026 CO 56. No. 24SC281. Campaign Finance—Constitutional Law—Issue Committees.

June 29, 2026

The supreme court interpreted the definition of “issue committee” in article XXVIII, § 2(10)(a)(I) of the Colorado Constitution and held that Unite for Colorado does not qualify as an issue committee. Article XXVIII, § 2(10)(a)(I) defines an issue committee as an organization that has “a major purpose of supporting or opposing any ballot issue or ballot question.” The court construed the phrase “a major purpose” to require a fact-specific analysis of an organization’s creation, spending, and ballot campaign-related activities to determine whether the organization spent a considerable or principal amount of its time and resources engaging in ballot issue advocacy. The court construed the phrase “any ballot issue or ballot question” to allow consideration of the organization’s aggregate spending and activities across multiple ballot issues. After conducting a fact-specific analysis, the court held that Unite for Colorado did not have a major purpose of ballot issue advocacy during the 2020 election cycle. Accordingly, the court reversed the judgment of the court of appeals.