It didn’t take long for several government entities in Colorado to adopt the new, much-higher, maximum CORA fee rate that went into effect on Monday, July 1.
CORA’s maximum research-and-retrieval rate will jump to $41.37/hour on July 1, letting state and local government entities in Colorado charge up to 23.2 percent more to process requests for public records.
A bill to require the livestreaming of meetings of state and local boards, councils and commissions “will not go forward” in the 2024 Colorado legislative session because of its high estimated cost, the measure’s sponsor told constituents in a newsletter.
Gov. Jared Polis’ signature on Senate Bill 23-286 will change the Colorado Open Records Act in some small but important ways when the measure takes effect in early August. Here are some things to know about what the CORA bill does — and does not do.
Despite a looming inflationary increase in fees, state lawmakers in the 2023 legislative session never addressed the often-high cost of obtaining public records in Colorado but did vote to eliminate some nagging obstacles for users of the Colorado Open Records Act.
Approved by Colorado voters in November 1972, the Sunshine Law ushered in a new era of government transparency in our state, establishing stricter rules for open meetings at the Capitol and providing the basis for the more wide-ranging transparency law that now dictates how all public bodies statewide conduct business.
If you think the cost of obtaining public records in Colorado is too high now, you’re not going to like what will happen in 2024.
Obtaining public records in Colorado could soon get a bit more expensive. Beginning Monday, July 1, state and local government entities will be allowed to charge a maximum of $33.58 an hour – after the first hour – to fulfill requests made under the Colorado Open Records Act.
