From The Durango Herald: State legislators asserted the right Wednesday to exclude the public from some of their meetings, a move that an open-government advocate said was a violation of Colorado’s sunshine laws.
The House and Senate agriculture committees took a field trip Wednesday morning to a marijuana cultivation warehouse operated by a company called iVita. The trip was noticed on the Legislature’s daily agenda as a meeting of the two committees. But when a Herald reporter attempted to enter, a lobbyist for iVita told him it was closed to the public.
Legislators have several marijuana-related bills to decide before their session ends next Wednesday, and iVita – like many companies in Colorado’s booming marijuana industry – has hired lobbyists to influence legislation. Wednesday’s tour was closed to everyone but legislators, their staff and the company’s employees and lobbyists.
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