An anti-doxxing bill advanced by a state legislative committee Thursday would amend the Colorado Open Records Act to bar the disclosure of the specific date of a teacher’s absence from work.

Senate Bill 22-171 was introduced in response to CORA requests and other public demands for the names of Douglas County School District educators and staff members who took sick leave Feb. 3 to protest actions by majority members of the school board.

Teachers told the Senate Education Committee they felt intimidated and threatened by the records requests and statements made by some prominent conservatives calling for their names to be published.

“This was terrifying, the idea that parents and frankly anyone in the community could confront us,” said Lucy Squire, who works in the Douglas County school system. “… We feared that we would face retaliation for speaking up in response to decisions being made that would impact our school district. My husband, who was already concerned that my job was on the line, then became worried about my physical safety.”

“The public’s right to information should not come before the safety of educators,” Squire said.

The bill, which passed the committee 6-1, adds the specific date of an educator’s absence from work to CORA’s definition of non-disclosable personnel file information. It also adds educators to the list of protected people whose personal information can be withheld from the internet if they believe dissemination of the information would threaten them or a family member.