House committee votes to open records on wage-law violations
Information on employers who violate wage laws in Colorado shouldn’t be considered confidential “trade secrets,” a panel of state lawmakers decided.
Public Records Laws
Senate committee passes bill to encourage state government whistleblowers
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.
Colorado State Archives ‘moving forward to the 21st century’
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.”
Lawmakers reject bill to make records of judicial branch employees subject to CORA
Lawmakers rejected a proposal to treat the administrative records of people who work for Colorado’s judicial branch like the records of those who work for the executive and legislative branches and all local governments in Colorado.
Senators: Audit nonprofits serving people with disabilities, don’t subject them to CORA
The state’s 20 nonprofits serving people with disabilities shouldn’t be subject to the Colorado Open Records Act, a Senate panel decided.
Lawmakers vote to align school board campaign disclosures with other races
Campaign finance disclosures in school board elections should be aligned with those of other races in Colorado, a panel of state lawmakers decided.
Retention of government emails in Colorado ‘an honor system thing’
Whether emails are retained by governments in Colorado is “really sort of an honor system thing,” State Archivist George Orlowski told us. “The senders and recipients of emails have to decide whether there’s something important that needs to be preserved.”
Cloudy conditions for Sunshine Week: A pile of paper instead of a spreadsheet
Aurora’s response to a reporter’s records request illustrates a common problem facing journalists and anyone else in Colorado who wishes to analyze public records kept in spreadsheets or databases. Too often, they get PDFs or stacks of paper instead. This makes analysis difficult or sometimes impossible.
Bill to close breathalyzer database won’t affect police DUI records
Legislation to close portions of the state database of breath-alcohol test results won’t affect information available in law enforcement reports on drunken driving arrests, the bill’s sponsor said.
Database of Colorado statutes will be free, state lawmakers decide
The state legislature no longer will charge thousands of dollars for copies of its annually updated database of the Colorado Revised Statutes and ancillary information such as source notes and editors’ notes, the Committee on Legal Services decided.