State lawmakers are adding themselves and many other government officials in Colorado to the list of “protected persons” who, for safety reasons, can get their home addresses and other personal information removed from public records posted on the internet.
Fred Brown, who died this week at age 85, demonstrated his passion for both journalism ethics and access to government information long before he joined the board of the newly formed Colorado Freedom of Information Council in 1988.
A bill advancing in the state legislature would enhance transparency requirements for municipal courts and reinforce livestreaming mandates for all criminal courts in Colorado.
A Weld County Sheriff’s Office requirement that records request forms be notarized “creates an arbitrary and unreasonable hurdle” and “does not serve any legitimate government interest,” a letter from an attorney for two news organizations says.
Enacted five years ago following the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colorado’s Law Enforcement Integrity Act has made it easier to obtain police body-worn camera footage. But some barriers to access remain.
A legislative effort to strengthen Colorado’s two-year-old law requiring the livestreaming of criminal court proceedings ended with Gov. Jared Polis’ veto of House Bill 25-1147.
A bill close to passage in the Colorado legislature requires most metropolitan districts to post online “in plain, nontechnical language” information about their debt, mill levies and how residents can serve on their boards.
Court rulings in Denver and El Paso County rejected arguments from public utilities that water usage records for large data processing centers are confidential under the Colorado Open Records Act.
Lakewood’s appeal of a judge’s order to disclose blurred body-worn camera footage of police shooting and killing a 17-year-old robbery suspect in 2023 “is a transparent attempt to turn back the clock” on Colorado’s Law Enforcement Integrity Act, the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and other organizations say.
A quarter of the way into the 21st century, should Coloradans still have to write paper checks to pay for public records?
