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 statement, Polis said the lengthened deadlines “defend against open records requests specifically intended to overload election officials and make conducting an election more challenging while still preserving open records access for legitimate requests.”

A bill advanced by state senators Thursday would give county clerks up to 20 working days to comply with Colorado Open Records Act requests during election seasons, except for requests made by journalists.

Senate Bill 24-210, which makes multiple election-related law changes, lengthens the required response time for clerks during a period that starts 60 days before an election and ends when a clerk certifies the official abstract of votes cast.

In that period, clerks “may extend the period for production of records” up to 10 extra working days beyond the seven-working-day extension now permitted when “extenuating circumstances” apply. That’s in addition to CORA’s initial three-working-day response time.