By Jeffrey A. Roberts
CFOIC Executive Director
A quarter of the way into the 21st century, should Coloradans still have to write paper checks to pay for public records?
The General Assembly seemingly addressed this issue in 2023, requiring Colorado Open Records Act custodians to accept electronic payments for records if they let the public pay for other services or products electronically.
But some government entities say they still aren’t equipped for it or they point to a loophole in the year-old law, which also doesn’t apply to law enforcement records or court records.
Last week, Denver Post breaking news reporter Max Levy ran up against a Pueblo Combined Courts policy that says payment for records must be made in person or mailed in the form of a check or money order. He was working on a bizarre story about a man who allegedly faked a kidnapping report that prompted an Amber Alert. Levy asked the court for a copy of the arrest affidavit, which he needed for his reporting, but there was no mechanism for him to pay the $6.50 invoice electronically.
“One of the important pieces of what happened was the defendant’s motive for doing what he allegedly did. That was something apparently contained in the arrest affidavit, and we weren’t able to get access,” Levy told the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.
The court’s “antiquated” payment system “limits your ability to share information with your readers in a timely way,” he said. Even more frustrating is that the court was willing to email the records to Levy once it received payment. “That felt like insult to injury a little bit,” he added.
CFOIC tried to ask the Pueblo Combined Court clerk’s office about its records policy but got no response to a phone call and email.
Asked about the policies and practices of courts statewide, Suzanne Karrer, chief communications officer for the State Court Administrator’s Office, emailed this response to CFOIC:
“Judicial districts can accept credit card payments, by phone or in person. The branch’s fiscal rule prohibits writing down card details, and with limited credit card terminals in various locations, most districts require a check for record requests for those not made in person. However, some districts, if a terminal is available, may accept payment via credit card, but not typically.”
The CORA provision on electronic payments went into effect Aug. 7, 2023, but since then CFOIC has heard from journalists and others who were not permitted to pay for records by using a credit card or some other modern method.
In April, a Denver Business Journal reporter requested records from the Denver Economic Development and Opportunity office. She was told the office accepts electronic payments for loans and certain applications but “is not set up to accept electronic payments from other entities such as payments related to a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request.”
In February, 9NEWS investigative producer Aaron Adelson requested records from the Indian Hills Water District. The district manager told him: “Legal advised us that the ‘custodian’ is generally an individual that has control of the records, not the entity itself. The District accepts electronic payments from customers to their water account. The custodian of the IHWD records is not set up to accept electronic payments.”
Adelson told CFOIC he drove to the district office and paid a $41.98 deposit in cash but eventually got the district to use an electronic payment system called Stripe when there was an additional charge.
Forcing requesters to write a check or get a money order is one obstacle that can slow the process of obtaining public records. Another is requiring requesters to provide a driver’s license, which some requesters are reluctant to do because the license lists their address and other personal information.
The 2023 CORA amendments prohibited government entities from requiring requesters to show identification unless the requested records are confidential or available only to a “person in interest.” But this provision does not affect the courts or law enforcement agencies, many of which make requesters show a driver’s license to obtain records open for inspection under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act.
At least one law enforcement agency, the Weld County Sheriff’s Office, also requires records-request forms requests to be notarized.
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