Colorado lawmakers seek to boost whistleblower protections
State lawmakers introduced three bills in the opening weeks of the 2016 legislative session intended to safeguard Colorado whistleblowers.
CORA
Court of Appeals: Jeffco teacher sick-leave records are public
Records showing a public school teacher’s request for sick leave are not part of a teacher’s confidential personnel file and must be disclosed to the public, if requested, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled.
Rocky Mountain Human Services: No plans to fight open-records bill
Rocky Mountain Human Services has “no intention” of opposing a bill that would open its records and those of 19 other Colorado nonprofits serving people with disabilities, the embattled agency’s interim executive director told a meeting of family members and service providers.
Databases, nonprofit records, wage theft transparency on legislature’s 2016 agenda
Colorado lawmakers will consider at least four measures to expand public access to information during the legislature’s 2016 session, which convenes Jan. 13.
CFOIC looks back: Transparency highlights and lowlights in 2015
The private emails flap was one of many transparency-related stories we highlighted in 2015 or broke ourselves.
A 21st-century open-records law for Colorado
If you’re lucky, you’ll have no problem getting public information in a format that allows for searching, sorting and aggregating. Too often, however, database records are released in a format that makes analysis difficult, or they’re not released at all.
Court of Appeals hears arguments in dispute over disclosure of Jeffco teacher sick-leave records
An attorney for the Jefferson County Education Association argued that a district court judge erred in ruling that teacher sick-leave records do not qualify as personnel information that must be withheld from the public.
Proposed 2016 bill would open records of nonprofits serving people with disabilities
Prompted by the recent financial troubles of a nonprofit that serves people with disabilities, a state lawmaker plans 2016 legislation to open the records of all such agencies in Colorado that receive more than half their funds from public sources.
Some counties charge thousands of dollars for public inspection of voted-ballot records
The public can inspect voted ballots in Colorado. But some counties are making it prohibitively expensive for at least one election watchdog to obtain the records he says are needed to independently audit the accuracy of voting systems.
State Integrity report gives Colorado an ‘F’ for public access to information
Colorado gets an “F” for public access to information in a Center for Public Integrity report released Monday that ranks each state on matters of transparency and accountability.