Will 2016 be remembered as the year we realized just how much our democracy depends on an informed citizenry? The fake news epidemic was one of many issues the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition highlighted in 2016 or wrote about on its blog.
Parents and advocates celebrated the signing of SB 16-038 at the Denver-based community-centered board whose financial woes motivated state lawmakers’ efforts to impose transparency measures on the 20 nonprofits that coordinate services for Coloradans with disabilities.
On matters affecting public information, the General Assembly did little during this year’s session to improve access. The most significant legislative win for government transparency doesn’t actually affect governments.
Although nonprofits serving people with disabilities in Colorado won’t be subject to the state’s open-records law, it appears they will be required to provide the public with certain financial information and other documents.
The state’s 20 nonprofits serving people with disabilities shouldn’t be subject to the Colorado Open Records Act, a Senate panel decided.
The bill is still alive, but it’s becoming clear that 20 nonprofits serving people with disabilities won’t be covered by the Colorado Open Records Act any time soon.
Twenty Colorado nonprofits that spend public dollars to serve people with developmental and intellectual disabilities should be required like government agencies to provide detailed financial records and other information on request, parents and advocates told state lawmakers.
Rocky Mountain Human Services has “no intention” of opposing a bill that would open its records and those of 19 other Colorado nonprofits serving people with disabilities, the embattled agency’s interim executive director told a meeting of family members and service providers.
Colorado lawmakers will consider at least four measures to expand public access to information during the legislature’s 2016 session, which convenes Jan. 13.
Prompted by the recent financial troubles of a nonprofit that serves people with disabilities, a state lawmaker plans 2016 legislation to open the records of all such agencies in Colorado that receive more than half their funds from public sources.
