By Jeffrey A. Roberts
CFOIC Executive Director
Gov. Jared Polis noted an “unfortunate trend of legislative proposals that ultimately impede access to official records” Friday when he signed House Bill 25-1041, which makes name, image and likeness contracts between public universities and student athletes confidential.
“These exceptions move transparency in the wrong direction and any other proposals that further prevent or delay public access to information will be carefully reviewed,” the governor wrote in a statement to state lawmakers. “I encourage my colleagues in the General Assembly to consider transparency across all public institutions and to balance legitimate reasons for exceptions with the public interest.”
Earlier this session the legislature passed, and Polis signed into law, a bill that shields the identities of ranchers and others who seek and get state compensation for property damage caused by wildlife. In 2024, lawmakers expanded the number of public school employees whose evaluations are not subject to public disclosure, also hiding their disciplinary records if they are used to prepare those evaluations.
The House is on the verge of sending Polis Senate Bill 25-077, which expands Colorado Open Records Act response deadlines for requests made by the public and businesses (not the news media). The measure, which representatives approved on second reading Thursday, would give records custodians up to 15 working days to provide records if “extenuating circumstances” apply, even though there is little if anything requesters can do when the statutory deadlines are missed.
Meanwhile, the legislature has not addressed skyrocketing CORA research-and-retrieval fees. And last year, it exempted itself from major portions of the Colorado Open Meetings Law, allowing unlimited conversations among lawmakers via email and apps such as Signal, which can be set to automatically delete messages.
HB 25-1041 allows the University of Colorado, Colorado State University and other public higher education institutions in Colorado to compensate a student athlete for the use of their name, image or likeness. But it exempts from public inspection the athlete’s name and the fee amount as well as other information that could be used to identify the athlete.
The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition opposed the bill. In committee testimony, CFOIC board member Eric Maxfield said that “concealing NIL records from the public disserves the interests of every stakeholder — the public, the athletes and college sports itself — in making sure that competition is fair, honest and passes the test of legitimacy, and that athletes have equitable earning opportunities befitting their level of accomplishment.”
Polis wrote in his signing statement that “our student athletes should have the freedom to contract and develop their careers, and our institutions of higher education should work to increase and retain top talent while supporting athletes in all aspects of their careers.”
“While I support the bill and its goals, there are issues regarding transparency that were not addressed during the legislative process that I would like to see addressed in the future,” he added. “I have concerns about the bill’s new Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) exception regarding student athlete contracts. While the bill’s exception is narrowly tailored, it follows an unfortunate trend of legislative proposals that ultimately impede access to official records that are arguably within the public’s interest to view.”
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