Fees for public records, protecting the confidential sources of journalists, the Open Meetings Law. These weren’t the topics that grabbed the biggest headlines during the during the 2014 legislative session. But that doesn’t diminish their importance.
On a 56-8 vote, the Colorado House rejected Senate amendments to a bill that regulates how much the state and local governments can charge to research and compile public records.
A bill that caps research-and-retrieval fees for public records at $30 per hour passed the Colorado Senate with an amendment requiring that costs be the same for everyone.
A revised version of the mug shot bill won initial approval in the Colorado Senate, while state senators also gave a preliminary nod to amended legislation on open-records fees.
HB 14-1047, intended to stop Internet sites from charging people to remove booking photos, picked up support from Republican lawmakers as it moved to the Colorado Senate on a bipartisan 45-19 House vote.
Despite First Amendment concerns, the Colorado House approved Rep. KC Becker’s bill to stop Internet sites from charging fees to take down booking photos.
A Colorado legislative committee advanced a bill aimed at stopping Internet sites from publishing mug shots and then charging fees to take them down.
HB 14-1047 would require that commercial websites remove a booking photo free of charge if the arrested person makes a request in writing and that person was not charged with a crime, charges were dropped or the person was acquitted.
