A city charter amendment, which passed with 74 percent of the vote Nov. 5, is much more restrictive than the Colorado Sunshine Law. It allows the City Council to meet behind closed doors for only two reasons.
Because an “emergency executive session” of the Lake County Board of County Commissioners was held with no notice and because there was no true emergency, the Herald Democrat considers the meeting to be illegal.
A Conifer woman learned recently that open records aren’t necessarily open in Colorado when public and private information are mixed together. The law is different in some other states.
Restricting access to court records in the Aurora movie theater shooting case would impair the public’s understanding of issues of national importance involving violence and mental health, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argues in a letter co-signed by the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.
Restricting public access to information in the Aurora movie theater shooting case would set a dangerous precedent and erode the public trust in our state’s judicial system.
The CFOIC joined other organizations in supporting a request that the Colorado Supreme Court reconsider opening the case files of two men on death row, but the Court immediately denied a motion from defense lawyers.
The new edition of “Sunshine Laws: Guide to Colorado Open Meetings & Open Records Laws,” is now available on the Resources page.
A recent Court of Appeals decision upheld a 2003 ruling on how much governments in Colorado can charge to research and retrieve records.
Gov. Hickenlooper signed into law HB 1041, requiring that records be made available even if the requester cannot pick them up in person.
The PIO was recognized for “his devotion and commitment to making the day-to-day operations of the State Courts and the Judicial Branch of government accessible to citizens throughout our state.”
