Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition

Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Monica Márquez highlighted “coordinated attacks” on Colorado’s virtual courtrooms during her State of the Judiciary remarks Friday, stressing the need to upgrade the system that

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

Coloradans in 2024 lost ground in the never-ending battle for access to government information. Early in the year, the General Assembly exempted itself from major portions of the 52-year-old citizen-initiated

A ruling by the state’s highest court Monday means that the bulk of Colorado’s licensing database of law enforcement officers will remain confidential. Affirming a 2023 appellate court opinion, the

A judge this week tossed out one claim from a lawsuit that was aimed at holding Elbert County commissioners personally liable for approving new contracts for the county administrator and

People who sue state and local government entities are still entitled to get public records from those entities by using the Colorado Open Records Act, a majority of the Colorado

A Denver Gazette reporter is not entitled to inspect the disciplinary records of Denver school administrators because a state statute protects the confidentiality of educator evaluations and all documents “used

The Colorado Supreme Court is examining whether a newspaper is considered a “citizen” and therefore entitled to attorney fees when prevailing in open meetings lawsuits. A year ago, in a

In 2018, this blog reported on a then-two-year-old process in Ohio that gives requesters of public records a low-cost way to fight denials in court. A new research paper prepared for the

A quarter of the way into the 21st century, should Coloradans still have to write paper checks to pay for public records? The General Assembly seemingly addressed this issue in 2023, requiring Colorado

Public bodies must not be permitted to “cure” infringements of the Colorado Open Meetings Law without being held accountable to the citizens who file lawsuits to enforce compliance, the Colorado

The Colorado Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday about whether a state law that makes educator evaluation records confidential also shields the disciplinary records of Denver Public Schools administrators. A

Comparing the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) board to the dental board and similar state licensing agencies, an attorney for two news organizations Tuesday urged the Colorado Supreme Court

The Elbert County commissioners should be held personally liable for unlawfully approving new contracts for the county administrator and county attorney outside of public view and ordered to reimburse Elbert’s

An updated memo from the Office of Legislative Legal Services suggests that members of the Colorado General Assembly take a conservative, “risk-management” approach to managing their social media accounts following

The Colorado Court of Appeals has stayed a judge’s order to disclose blurred body-worn camera footage of Lakewood police officers shooting and killing a 17-year-old robbery suspect, pending the outcome

Members of the appointed board that oversees the broadcasting of Colorado House and Senate floor proceedings say it’s time the General Assembly joins the long list of state legislatures that

The state’s highest court announced Tuesday it will examine the “public interest” parameters of a 2019 statute designed to protect Coloradans from meritless lawsuits that target free expression. In a

The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition presented its Jean Otto Friend of Freedom Award to Erin McIntyre and Mike Wiggins, owners and co-publishers of the weekly Ouray County Plaindealer since

Elbert County commissioners violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law by approving new contracts for the county administrator and county attorney in private, a group of residents alleged in a letter

The Boulder Police Department is not allowed to charge thousands of dollars in fees for body-worn camera footage requested by the public under Colorado’s 2020 Law Enforcement Integrity Act, a

Colorado’s second-highest court Thursday ordered a judge to hold a hearing in the case of a “homeless and penniless” activist who sued a state agency that wanted to charge him

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

Despite a 2019 state statute requiring the public disclosure of police internal affairs files in Colorado, the town of Ouray for months released only heavily blacked-out copies of records concerning

The Colorado Supreme Court will examine whether a judicially created doctrine allowing public bodies to “cure” violations of the Colorado Open Meetings Law goes against the “plain meaning” of the

The Colorado Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Wednesday about whether a Denver activist has legal standing to sue a state agency that wanted to charge him $600 for public

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. At least 19

KOAA-TV is entitled to unredacted records concerning employees at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo, a judge ordered this week, rejecting a state agency’s claim that disclosure of their

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

Are Colorado law enforcement agencies allowed to charge the public thousands of dollars for body-worn camera footage of incidents of alleged officer misconduct? Court briefs recently submitted in a Boulder

The death at age 89 of longtime police reporter Marilyn Robinson brought to mind an enduring image for those of us who were colleagues of hers at The Denver Post

A judge Friday ordered the Lakewood Police Department to release blurred body-worn camera footage of officers shooting and killing a 17-year-old crime suspect in March 2023. The city withheld the

A Pagosa Springs attorney who has filed nearly 100 open-government lawsuits in the past several years has standing to sue the Elizabeth school board for alleged open meetings law violations

It could have been worse. While open-government losses far outnumbered wins in the 2024 session of the Colorado General Assembly, which ended Wednesday, the death of a burdensome Colorado Open

A proposal to ban the charging of fees for unedited body-worn camera footage, released to the public under the 2020 Law Enforcement Integrity Act, died Friday when the Colorado House

State senators Wednesday killed a bill that would have given state and local government entities more time to respond to Colorado Open Records Act requests to address what proponents called

Update: Gov. Jared Polis signed SB 24-216 into law on Friday, May 31. People who want library books removed from circulation or reclassified on library shelves could no longer remain anonymous

Update: Gov. Jared Polis signed SB 24-210 into law on Thursday, June 6. A House amendment adopted May 5 limits the lengthened CORA deadlines to requests for “election-related” records. In a signing

Update: An amended version of HB 24-1460 died in the House on a 31-33 vote on Friday, May 3. See this blog article. A bill narrowly passed by a Colorado House

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

A bill in the Colorado legislature aimed at curbing the “abuse of CORA” no longer contains a provision for labeling certain requesters of public records as “vexatious.” Representatives removed the

The title is set for a proposed Colorado initiative to repeal newly enacted legislation that narrows the definition of “public business” in the Colorado Open Meetings Law as it applies

A lawsuit challenges the Boulder Police Department’s insistence that a news organization pay the city nearly $3,000 to get video of a 2023 fatal shooting of a 51-year-old woman by

Update: The House concurred with Senate amendments to HB 24-1244 and repassed the bill on Friday, Apr. 19, sending it to Gov. Jared Polis. State lawmakers Wednesday made significant adjustments

State lawmakers Tuesday killed a bill that would have codified 41-year-old case law by making the legislature’s political party caucuses subject to the Colorado Open Meetings Law, but it also

In an alarming act against press freedom and your right to know, Sandra Fish, a seasoned Colorado Sun reporter, was unjustly ousted from the Republican state assembly on April 6.

The Colorado News Collaborative (COLab), Colorado Press Association, Colorado Broadcasters Association, Colorado Media Project, Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and Denver Press Club write to express our collective dismay and

Update: The Colorado House passed SB 24-132 on a 50-11 vote on Monday, Apr. 8, sending the bill to Gov. Jared Polis. A bill earning support in the Colorado legislature

The draft of an annual financial report prepared by Durango city officials for later submission to the state auditor is not exempt from public disclosure under the work product provision

The Colorado Supreme Court will review whether appellate judges wrongly decided the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (POST) is a criminal justice agency in a 2023 ruling that kept

State lawmakers could voluntarily post drafts of proposed legislation — before legislative sessions begin — on a “clearinghouse” website of the Colorado General Assembly under a measure endorsed Thursday by

The town board of Del Norte violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law by censuring a fellow board member during a closed executive session, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday,

Denying a Pagosa Springs lawyer legal standing to sue a school district because he doesn’t live within its boundaries “would drastically and substantively alter the protections” of the Colorado Open

Records custodians would have the power to deem someone a “vexatious requester” and bar that person from obtaining public records for 30 working days under a bill introduced Wednesday in

A legislative committee Wednesday narrowly endorsed a proposed $150,000 study by the Colorado Attorney General on ways to prevent and combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation after proponents tried

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. “History

More than two months after BusinessDen asked a judge to set aside her contempt threat against reporter Justin Wingerter, the judge responded to the motion this week with three words, “NO ACTION

The state’s second-highest court Thursday affirmed a judge’s order to disclose video surveillance footage showing three Woodland Park school board members talking with a candidate for superintendent after a public

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. Lawyers for the town

Update: Gov. Jared Polis signed HB 24-1090 into law on Tuesday, Feb. 20. State lawmakers want to adjust a 2023 juvenile privacy law that recently forced Colorado’s judicial branch to

Certain records about a June 2023 cyberattack at the Colorado Department of Higher Education are subject to CORA’s deliberative process privilege and can’t be disclosed to a requester, a judge

A Pagosa Springs lawyer who routinely sues school boards around the state for violations of the open meetings law is defending his role as a “private attorney general” in a

Colorado lawmakers’ use of an anonymous private survey to prioritize bills impacting the state budget “thwarts the entire purpose” of the Colorado Open Meetings Law because it shields the public

The state’s highest court should reaffirm that people who sue state and local government entities are still entitled to obtain public records from those entities by using the Colorado Open

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

Several key rulings in 2023 showed why courts matter so much for enforcing and interpreting Colorado’s open government laws. Unlike some other states, Colorado has no avenue to administratively challenge

Because of a 2023 law that protects the privacy of juveniles, the Colorado Judicial Department plans to limit attorneys’ access to criminal court records and clerks may take longer to

Three years ago, the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition published a “wish list” of recommendations for better open government laws in Colorado. Part of CFOIC’s job, we noted, is to

In a victory for the Aurora Sentinel, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed a district court ruling Thursday and ordered Aurora to publicly release the recording of an executive session

Update: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed an amicus letter with the court in support of BusinessDen’s motion to vacate on behalf of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition,

On October 30, 2023, a Colorado state court judge determined that two Denver city officials had improperly withheld public records from a TV reporter when they refused to disclose text

Are people who want books banned or reclassified library “users” whose identities are protected by Colorado law? The Colorado Court of Appeals said yes in an opinion issued last month, but now

A judge’s decision to restrict access to records in the case of a cardiologist accused of sexually assaulting and drugging victims does not comply with a 2021 Colorado rule meant

In a new court brief, leaders of the Colorado General Assembly defend their use during recent legislative sessions of an anonymous online survey to help prioritize bills that impact the

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, the Colorado

A judge Monday ordered Denver to disclose city officials’ text messages about last June’s severe hailstorm at Red Rocks Amphitheater, ruling the communications were improperly withheld from 9NEWS reporter Steve

A year from now, on July 1, 2024, inflation will likely boost the maximum hourly rate governments are allowed to charge for processing Colorado Open Records Act requests from $33.58

A district court ruling against four Douglas County school board members last week doesn’t affect other government boards, councils and commissions, but it could persuade judges who examine similar cases

A Court of Appeals opinion keeping Colorado’s database of law enforcement officers confidential “creates a gaping hole” in the Colorado Open Records Act and broadens the scope of the criminal

Concerned the measure would “act as an impediment to legitimate challenges to open meetings,” Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday vetoed a heavily amended bill that would have barred pro se

Gov. Jared Polis’ signature on Senate Bill 23-286 Tuesday will change the Colorado Open Records Act in some small but important ways when the measure takes effect in early August.

Signing into law a bill that lets elected officials block anyone from their private social media accounts for “any reason,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Monday urged state lawmakers to

A district court judge made “egregious” errors last year in deciding that Colorado’s Sunshine Law did not require members of an elected town board to discuss the censure of a

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

Update: Denver District Court Judge Andrew Luxen on Thursday, June 1, denied Movimiento Poder’s motion to intervene because its interests are “adequately represented” by the news organizations suing Denver Public

Promising to keep working to improve access to state-and-local government for people with disabilities, a lawmaker Tuesday requested the defeat of his own bill to mandate the livestreaming of public

Update: The Colorado Senate voted 29-5 to pass the amended version of HB 23-1259 on Tuesday, May 2. The strike-below amendment to House Bill 23-1259, similar to language suggested by the Colorado Freedom

Legislators Friday defeated a CORA bill amendment, proposed by Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, aimed at opening records on the Democrats’ use of a secret survey to help decide the fate of

Update: The House concurred with Senate amendments to HB 23-1259 and repassed the bill on Thursday, May 4, sending it to the governor. An open meetings bill in the Colorado

Update: The Senate passed HB 23-1306 on a 26-9 vote on Thursday, May 4, sending the bill to the governor. State and local elected officials could block anyone from their private

Colorado’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) board is a criminal justice agency, and it did not abuse its discretion by denying two news organizations’ requests for the state’s database

A CORA modernization bill passed a Colorado Senate committee Thursday with lawmakers adding a provision that prohibits state agencies and local governments from requiring requesters to show identification to obtain

Unlike a draft circulating at the state Capitol since mid-March, the introduced version of a bill amending the Colorado Open Records Act would not affect public records fees, which are

As amended by the Colorado House last week, an open meetings bill still significantly weakens Coloradans’ ability to enforce a 22-year-old provision in the Sunshine Law requiring school boards and

Update: The Colorado House approved HB 23-1182 on third reading 63-0 on Friday, Apr. 14. There will be no “presumptive” livestreaming of criminal trials and evidentiary hearings in state courts,

State lawmakers Monday endorsed a bill that makes it harder for Coloradans to challenge inadequately announced closed-door meetings of school boards, city councils, county commissions and special district boards. House

A bill requiring Colorado courts to livestream open criminal court proceedings on Webex or another videoconferencing platform won unanimous approval in the House Judiciary Committee early Thursday morning. Committee amendments

Lawyers argued in the Colorado Court of Appeals this week over whether Colorado’s Peace Officer Standards and Training board is a criminal justice agency or an agency subject to the

A judge Wednesday ordered the Woodland Park School District to disclose video surveillance footage showing three school board members talking with a candidate for superintendent after a public meeting last

A proposed chief justice directive should be revised to allow the livestreaming of criminal trials and evidentiary hearings in Colorado courtrooms and permit virtual access to civil proceedings, the Colorado