On a 56-8 vote, the Colorado House rejected Senate amendments to a bill that regulates how much the state and local governments can charge to research and compile public records.
For Colorado residents who live far from the state Capital, testifying on proposed legislation wouldn’t necessarily mean a long and sometimes perilous drive to Denver under a bill unanimously approved by a panel of state lawmakers.
A bill that caps research-and-retrieval fees for public records at $30 per hour passed the Colorado Senate with an amendment requiring that costs be the same for everyone.
A revised version of the mug shot bill won initial approval in the Colorado Senate, while state senators also gave a preliminary nod to amended legislation on open-records fees.
The passive surveillance bill is close to being on its way to Gov. John Hickenlooper’s desk. The measure, which mandates the purging of most images captured by government cameras after three years, won unanimous approval in the Colorado Senate.
An amendment to HB 14-1193 removes the minimum wage requirement and instead caps research and retrieval fees at $30 per hour with a requirement that the first hour be provided for free.
An amendment to be proposed caps the hourly rate at $25 for researching and compiling public records, with the maximum rate adjusted for inflation every five years. More significantly, the first two hours would be free.
A controversial bill to require the electronic recording of all portions of school board executive sessions was killed in a Senate committee at the request of the sponsor.
A possible amendment to a controversial bill on school board executive sessions would weaken a key provision of the proposal which mandates the electronic recording of portions of closed-door meetings that currently aren’t recorded because attorney-client privilege has been claimed.
A proposal to cap the amount governments in Colorado can charge for public records at four times the state minimum wage won final approval in the state House of Representatives.
