State legislators introduce new measure to extend CORA response deadlines
A state senator is trying again to curb what she has referred to as the “abuse” of the Colorado Open Records Act by certain records requesters.
Public Records Laws
Court of Appeals: Requesters can’t sue judicial branch over delayed response if records eventually provided
The Colorado Judicial Department cannot be sued for delaying its response to a request for administrative records if the records eventually are provided to the requester, the Court of Appeals ruled.
CFOIC brief: Lakewood’s appeal of body-cam footage ruling ‘an attempt to turn back the clock’ on Colorado’s Law Enforcement Integrity Act
Lakewood’s appeal of a judge’s order to disclose blurred body-worn camera footage of police shooting and killing a 17-year-old robbery suspect in 2023 “is a transparent attempt to turn back the clock” on Colorado’s Law Enforcement Integrity Act, the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and other organizations say.
Colorado legislative leaders asked to repeal 2024 open meetings law exemptions
Citizens, media representatives and nonprofit organizations asked legislative leaders to repeal Colorado Open Meetings Law changes affecting the legislature that were adopted earlier this year.
CFOIC’s 2024 year in review: a more opaque legislature, pricier public records, closed disciplinary records, child autopsies, police officer database and CORA ‘abuse’
Coloradans in 2024 lost ground in the never-ending battle for access to government information.
Rejecting news organizations’ appeal, Colorado Supreme Court keeps police officer database confidential
A ruling by the state’s highest court means that the bulk of Colorado’s licensing database of law enforcement officers will remain confidential.
Here’s how Colorado’s autopsy report disclosure law is changing on Jan. 1
Starting Jan. 1, journalists and the public no longer will have access to most autopsy reports on the deaths of children in Colorado but limited information from those reports will be available.
Colorado Supreme Court affirms a litigant’s right to use CORA to obtain public records, but two justices object
People who sue state and local government entities are still entitled to get public records from those entities by using the Colorado Open Records Act, a majority of the Colorado Supreme Court ruled.
Court of Appeals: Disciplinary records of Colorado school administrators are off-limits to the public
A Denver Gazette reporter is not entitled to inspect the disciplinary records of Denver school administrators because a state statute protects the confidentiality of educator evaluations and all documents “used in preparing” those reports, the Colorado Court of Appeals decided.
Taking another look at Ohio’s low-cost process for resolving open records disputes
In 2018, this blog reported on a then-two-year-old process in Ohio that gives requesters of public records a low-cost way to fight denials in court. A new research paper prepared for the National Freedom of Information Coalition looks at how well the process works.