The CU Foundation won’t give scholarships to the children of public employees until legislators resolve questions surrounding Amendment 41, a university provost announced today.

Mark Heckler, who testified before a House committee, urged lawmakers to support legislation to address the scholarship issue and other unintended consequences of the ethics measure voters approved last fall.

In addition, Heckler said, pharmaceutical companies have been advised to stop providing medication samples to publicly employed physicians.

"These sample medications assist patients who are adjusting to new medication or who cannot pay for expensive medications," said Heckler, provost for the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.

He was one of several witnesses who talked about problems with Amendment 41 which, in part, limits government workers and their families from receiving anything of value worth more than $50.

Interpretations vary on who is impacted and how, but many said government employees are fearful of their lives could be changed.

"We hear horror stories every day," Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said.

On a party-line vote, with Democrats prevailing, the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee approved House Bill 1304 by Rep. Rosemary Marshall, D-Denver.

The legislation resolves some questions surrounding Amendment 41 by offering certain terms.

Republicans agree Amendment 41 needs to be clarified, but said now that it’s in the constitution, only the voters can fix what’s wrong with it.

In a separate but related matter, the committee approved a resolution that will ask the Supreme Court whether the clarification in House Bill 1304 meets constitutional muster.

Rep. Jean Labuda, D-Denver, said her daughter voted for Amendment 41 because it was titled "ethics in government" and later admitted she really didn’t know what the measure entailed.

Rep. Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge, chided the public for supporting the measure and then becoming upset that scholarships and such were at risk.

"The public needs to read what they’re voting on," she said.

But Jenny Flanagan, executive director of Colorado Common Cause, which helped put the measure on the ballot, said scholarships were never intended to be included.

She took heat from several lawmakers for Amendment 41, which even the chief backer, Internet entreprenuer Jared Polis, said was poorly worded.

"Please don’t curse Colorado with another one of these" ballot measures, said Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud.

"This is a horrible mess," said Rep. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs.

Heckler provided some of the most compelling testimony.

He said he learned Wednesday about the CU Foundation’s decision to withold scholarships for now, which impacts undergraduate students attending school next fall.

He also talk about Frank Bingham, whose wife and two children were killed last year on a downtown Denver street. Bingham, who was injured, now faces catastrophic medical bills, Heckler said.

But Bingham is a CU employee and so cannot receive individual contributions exceeding $50 or else must pay a penalty double the contribution, Heckler said.