By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice
Convention of States Action (COSA) says more than 62,000 Coloradans have signed its petitions calling for a constitutional convention to impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its power, and set term limits for Congress.
The organization has a draft bill ready for the 2027 legislative session.
Its representatives have met with senior policy staff in the Governor’s Office.
According to Michael Forbis, a 20-year Army veteran and Colorado Springs resident who volunteers on COSA Colorado’s Legislative Liaison Team, House Republican staff distributed an earlier version of the proposal to the caucus’s 22 members.
What it does not have is a single Colorado legislator willing to sponsor it.
The bill is called the Colorado Faithful Commissioner Act, and it would set the rules for how Colorado picks, instructs, and controls its delegates if 34 states ever trigger an Article V convention to propose constitutional amendments. COSA says 20 states have adopted its application covering fiscal restraints, limits on federal power and term limits. Colorado has not adopted that application. COSA is pushing states to pass delegate-control legislation now so they are ready if the threshold is reached.
Why COSA thinks the timing is right
According to Pew Research Center, the share of Americans who say they trust the federal government to do what is right “just about always” or “most of the time” has not exceeded 30 percent since 2007.
A Colorado Polling Institute survey in November 2025 found that 72 percent of Colorado voters say the political situation in the United States is in crisis.
COSA also cites two national polls it commissioned.
A July 2022 Trafalgar Group survey found 65.7 percent support and an August 2024 Susquehanna Polling and Research survey found 68 percent support. Both polls described the convention using COSA’s own platform language, asking about amendments for fiscal responsibility, limits on federal power and term limits for career politicians.
The petition numbers in Colorado tell a mixed story. New signers peaked at 8,830 in 2021. By July 11, 2026, the year-to-date count was 921. But the number of citizens testifying before legislative committees has grown sharply, from 2 witnesses in 2022 to 12 in 2023 to 27 in 2024.
Forbis calls the trust numbers the problem. The answer, he says, is older. He points to the Civil War, and to the amendments that followed it, as the country’s hardest self-correction.
“Our government’s never going to be perfect, but we have the amendment process to self-correct ourselves and put us on a better path,” he told RMV.
He said he has not found an alternative. “If there’s a better idea out there, hey, I’m all ears. I just haven’t seen that.”
What the bill would do
The working draft proposes three commissioners and three alternates, while retaining drafting notes that leave open the possibility of five or another odd number.
Each commissioner would have to be a Colorado resident for at least five years, at least 25 years old, a registered voter, and free of felony or moral-turpitude convictions in the past decade.
Current federal elected officeholders and anyone registered as a lobbyist at the state or federal level in the past five years would be disqualified.
A five-member Colorado Article V Advisory Committee, drawn from the General Assembly, would monitor the commissioners, send weekly guidance, and hold the power to recommend recall of anyone acting outside the authorized scope.
Commissioners would be barred from supporting any amendment that would alter protections in the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, or Fifteenth Amendments.
The draft labels an unauthorized vote a Class 2 misdemeanor and separately calls for up to 12 months in jail and a civil fine of up to $10,000.
Under current Colorado law, a Class 2 misdemeanor carries a maximum of 120 days, an inconsistency that would need to be resolved during formal drafting.
Softer than other states
A growing number of states have passed some form of commissioner-selection legislation.
South Carolina’s offers the closest parallel to what COSA would face in Colorado.
Colorado’s draft was modeled in part on Indiana’s SB 450, signed by Gov. Mike Braun in April 2025 and described by COSA as its national “34 Ready” template.
The two share the same residency, lobbying, and felony-bar qualifications, and both default to three commissioners. But Indiana also bans commissioners from accepting gratuities while serving, a provision Colorado’s draft does not include. South Carolina goes further, capping gifts at $200 and paying commissioners the same prorated salary as state legislators.
Colorado’s draft addresses neither compensation nor gifts.
South Carolina’s H. 3558, which became law in June 2026 after the legislature overrode a veto from Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, also sets a higher bar for who can serve.
It bars federal employees, federal contractors, and anyone who held federal elected or appointed office in the past 10 years. Colorado bars only sitting federal elected officeholders and recent state or federal lobbyists.
South Carolina explicitly protects the Nineteenth, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments from convention action. All four deal with voting rights. Colorado’s draft omits them.
And the penalties are not close. South Carolina’s law allows an out-of-scope commissioner to be investigated for misconduct in office, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Colorado’s draft stays at a misdemeanor.
Forbis has been the organization’s primary contact with Republican legislators and the Governor’s Office on this bill. In an interview with RMV, Forbis said those differences are not set in stone. “Once we find a sponsor, he or she can change it as desired,” he wrote in an email to RMV.
No sponsor, and a careful statement from a senator
COSA’s Colorado operation is based in the Colorado Springs area. Forbis told RMV that Republican Sen. Scott Bright of Senate District 13 had expressed willingness to co-sponsor the bill if a Democrat senator sponsors it first. Forbis said the conversation with Bright was handled by COSA Colorado state director Frank Vaughn, not by Forbis directly.
When contacted, Bright did not confirm that characterization. “I haven’t committed to sponsoring or co-sponsoring any legislation on this but am always open to discussion,” he wrote in a statement to RMV. “My focus right now is where my constituents need it — the cost of living, education, water, energy, and keeping our communities safe.”
Vaughn did not respond to a request for comment.
Forbis told RMV that House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell is a “strong supporter” of an Article V convention based on multiple conversations, but said he is unsure whether Caldwell would personally sponsor the bill.
Forbis said House Republican staff distributed an earlier version of the draft to the 22-member caucus during the 2026 session.
Looking toward 2027
Forbis told RMV that COSA’s top Democrat target is Sen. Marc Snyder of Senate District 12, a member of the Opportunity Caucus, the legislature’s bloc of more moderate Democrats. Republican Sen. Mark Baisley recommended Snyder to COSA as a potential co-sponsor, according to Forbis. Forbis said he met briefly with Snyder in March 2026 and that Snyder indicated he was willing to hear more after the session ended. COSA has been trying to get on Snyder’s calendar since late May.
Colorado’s legislative session opens in January 2027 under a new governor. Polis is termed out.
Forbis said that after a September 2025 meeting with Governor’s Office staff, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Legislative Affairs Allie Kimmel later told him in a follow-up call that the governor was “open-minded” to the legislation, but Forbis also noted that Polis never said he would sign it.
Whoever wins the November election will be the one deciding. And COSA still needs a name on the bill.
RMV also reached out to Rep. Caldwell and Sen. Snyder. Neither had responded as of publication.