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.
Six months after a controversial, contentious meeting of the Elbert County Commission, county residents are still waiting to read the meeting minutes.
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.
With no discussion, a Senate committee killed legislation that would have allowed the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to disclose whether a company has cheated its workers.
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 Colorado House voted to require independent groups or individuals to disclose expenditures when they buy ads, billboards and mailings that mention only political parties.
The Society of Professional Journalists’ Colorado chapter honored Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, with its 2016 First Amendment award. Roberts also won a first-place award for blogging in SPJ’s four-state “Top of the Rockies” contest, which honors journalists in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Information on employers who violate wage laws in Colorado shouldn’t be considered confidential “trade secrets,” a panel of state lawmakers decided.
A bill to encourage state government whistleblowers won the endorsement of a Senate committee, despite fears that private information could be made vulnerable to security breaches.
A bill to improve the management of government records by the Colorado State Archives won approval in a House committee. HB 16-1368 is an attempt “to deal with the digital revolution that’s happened over the past couple of decades and so move forward to save our documents.”
