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Journalism, Public Records Laws April 10, 2020

More than 60 journalism organizations sign letter to Gov. Polis regarding COVID-19 information and transparency

We write today to request that you take a few additional actions that we feel would greatly help to ensure journalists throughout the state are best equipped to tell the stories that must be told. Our primary objectives are to keep the public informed, to accurately chronicle the events of this unprecedented period – to write the “first rough draft of history” – and to report on how government officials, local business and civic leaders, and communities are responding.

Aaron Harber

Open Meetings Laws, Public Records Laws March 22, 2020

Harber: Transparency at the University of Colorado

In an extraordinary decision which can only be described as a public flailing, the Board of Regents of the University of Colorado – the governing board for the entire CU system – overwhelmingly lost a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) lawsuit in which the Daily Camera newspaper sought to force the university to disclose the six candidates who actually were finalists in last year’s search for a new system-wide president.

First Amendment, Journalism, Open Meetings Laws, Public Records Laws March 20, 2020

Recommit to transparency during COVID-19 pandemic, CFOIC and other groups urge governments

The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition joined 131 other transparency-minded organizations in urging state, local and tribal governments across the United States “to recommit to, and not retrench from, their duty to include the public in the policy-making process, including policies relating to COVID-19 as well as the routine ongoing functions of governance.”