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 legislature no longer requires plaintiffs to pay the court costs and attorney fees of local government bodies they unsuccessfully sue over executive session announcements.

State senators late Thursday removed that House Bill 23-1259 provision, which the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition had pointed out established a risky financial barrier for anyone interested in filing an accountability lawsuit over whether a local public body announced a closed-door meeting with enough specificity. The civil courts are the only venue for enforcing Colorado’s open-government laws.

The bill, which passed 3-2 in the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, still makes it more difficult to challenge an inadequate executive session announcement. It lets local public bodies “cure” an executive session-announcement violation of the Colorado Open Meetings Law at a subsequent meeting. And to have legal standing to challenge a violation, a person must provide written notice at least 14 days before a regular meeting of the public body. Prior to that meeting, the secretary or clerk of the public body must communicate with the person “to determine if the challenge can be resolved” without a lawsuit.