A judge is examining how much body-worn camera footage must be provided to the public when there is an incident of alleged misconduct by law enforcement.
A quarter of the way into the 21st century, should Coloradans still have to write paper checks to pay for public records?
The Colorado Supreme Court will review an appellate court opinion that the Colorado Children’s Code doesn’t necessarily prohibit the state Department of Human Services from publicly releasing aggregate statistics about child-abuse hotline calls made from licensed residential care facilities.
State lawmakers made significant adjustments to a bill that closes autopsy reports on minors, adding a deceased child’s name to the summary of information that must be released to the public following a death.
County coroners could publicly release an autopsy report concerning a minor’s death while in the care or custody of a government agency under a revised bill passed by the Colorado House.
State lawmakers moved to make autopsy reports on minors confidential in Colorado despite extensive testimony from journalists and a child-protection advocate who explained the public-interest benefits of keeping those records open.
Nearly six years after then-Gov. John Hickenlooper vetoed a bill to seal autopsy reports on minors, Colorado’s county coroners are again trying to restrict public access to those records.
A judge will decide whether disciplinary records about the former police chief of Elizabeth are “personnel files” exempt from disclosure under the Colorado Open Records Act.
The Colorado Department of Human Services wants the state’s highest court to review a recent appellate court opinion that could force the disclosure of aggregate statistics about child-abuse hotline calls made from licensed residential care facilities.
Several key rulings in 2023 showed why courts matter so much for enforcing and interpreting Colorado’s open government laws.
