The Aspen Times: On June 1, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed SB17-040 into law, and this new law becomes effective Aug. 9. Thus, Colorado takes a meaningful step forward on behalf of the people. By updating the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) in accordance with 21st-century information technology, government becomes more transparent and accountable. The bill was introduced on the second day of the 2017 legislative session and passed the Senate unanimously on the final day after a most arduous legislative journey. The success of this legislation is the result of a dedicated team effort, and here’s the rest of the story.

We introduced SB-040, an important bill to make it easier for Coloradans to understand the actions and activities of their government by allowing more effective access to public records, which belong to Coloradans. Before the bill passed, amendments limited its provisions and we passed a bill that was a little more modest but still meaningful.

CORA states that public records, with specific exemptions, that are created or maintained by government custodians must be disclosed. As technology has modernized, most of these records are maintained digitally in various electronic data bases and spreadsheets. When the people get records in searchable and sortable formats, it is easier for them to manipulate and analyze the records to better understand the actions and activities of government. While some custodians release records in these formats, others do not.

Our introduced bill was the result of an eight-month working group convened by the secretary of state and intended to address how records are provided to the public, not what records are subject to disclosure. However, upon introduction, numerous records custodians attempted to use the bill as a vehicle to withhold various public records from the public.

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