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 Records Act bill in the closing days helped make the final tally a little less one-sided.

Setting the tone was the enactment, ironically during Sunshine Week in March, of a leadership-sponsored measure that narrowed the definition of “public business” as it applies to members of the General Assembly and lets state lawmakers communicate by email and text message without having to worry about violating the Colorado Open Meetings Law.

Legislators exempted themselves from portions of the 52-year-old, citizen-initiated law after being sued twice during the past year over alleged open meetings law violations. Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, said Senate Bill 24-157 was needed to “create clarity, to codify what is essentially current guidance that we already operate under and to remove gray areas so that everyone has a shared understanding of how to follow the law.”