9NEWS (Denver): Lawmakers seeking answers from the Governor are using a tactic generally reserved for members of the public or the media.

“It’s really a sad state of affairs, but I’m forced to submit a Colorado Opens Records Act request to the Governor’s Office to try to get this information,” said House Minority Leader State Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock.

Neville and 26 other House Republicans, signed a letter and sent it to Gov. John Hickenlooper, D-Colorado, on Dec. 11.

They were seeking the 2018-19 budget requests the Governor received from each state department, except education and transportation, that included two-percent reductions compared to 2017-18.

In the waning moments of last year’s session in May, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 267, which did several things, but allowed for CDOT to start financing almost $2 billion in projects. It also included a caveat, that each state department would submit a two percent budget reduction request to the governor.

“I think the intent, for us, was to try to actually find out what the priorities are,” said Neville.

In November, Next asked the state’s budget director, Henry Sobanet, about why the governor presented a budget for 2018-19 without the two-percent reductions.

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