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 call attention to systemic roadblocks that make it harder for journalists and the public at large to get information from state and local government entities as well as the courts.

In that 2020 article, we pointed out some improvements over the previous few years, including successful bills that opened police internal affairs files, clarified the public’s right to copies of digital public records in useful file formats and established requirements for disclosing footage from body-worn cameras.

But there was more to be done, in our humble opinion, and now that wish list is longer.

The General Assembly in its 2023 session did address a few nagging obstacles in the Colorado Open Records Act by 1) eliminating per-page fees for records provided in digital formats such as PDFs; 2) requiring records custodians to transmit digital records by email “or by another mutually-agreed-upon transmission method” for bigger files; 3) letting CORA requesters pay with credit cards; and 4) outlawing identification requirements for CORA requesters except for confidential records.