LaTeX and the Colorado Constition

With the three amendments to the Colorado Constitution passed in 2012, it was time to update my pdf of the Colorado Constitution. The three amendments were Amendment 64 (Use and Regulation of Marijuana), Amendment 65 (Colorado Congressional Delegation to Support Campaign Finance Limits), and Amendment S (State Personnel System).

Strangely, there is no official version of the constitution on the state website, http://www.colorado.gov. There is a scan of the original 1876 constitution, but that doesn't do us immediate good for today. Scott Gessler, the Secretary of State, does have a combined US and Colorado Constitution. It hasn't been updated with the 2012 amendments, and has a host of citations and notes from the LexisNexis website, the official provider of the Colorado Constitution.

That's the really weird thing. The official version of the Colorado Constitution is only on the LexisNexis website. To even view it you have to agree to a 4,579 word terms and conditions document. It's at least not a pay-wall, but I shouldn't have to read about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act just to get to the state Constitution.

Which brings me to my little project. I've taken all the text, minus the cites and other legal work that could really be LexisNexis property, and turned it into a pdf . Why not a word doc? Well, I wanted to use LaTeX so pdf is the way to go. It's nicely formatted in the general flavor of the original 1876 Constitution.

You're welcome to the LaTeX file, too. These are still the 2010 versions -- I haven't finished copying in the 2012 amendments yet. I got Amendment 64 in today, hopefully the rest will come soon.