Press

PRESS
May 17, 2012

Controversial Colorado Open Records bill draws calls for veto

The bill was never really debated in the Senate where it was introduced, then it was tacked on to a House bill amid the blizzard of activity that marked the last days of the Colorado legislative session. Government watchdog and elections groups on the right and left are now asking Gov. John Hickenlooper to veto it, arguing the bill would deny citizens the right to inspect voter ballots and “gut” the state’s Open Records Act.

“HB 1036 creates two classes of citizen access to open records: a special class of ‘interested parties,’ who will have access to ballots; and a second class – that is, all other people in the State of Colorado – who will not have that access,” says the letter sent to Hickenlooper on Wednesday. “This special treatment of certain citizens and groups, and the corresponding discrimination against all others, undercuts entirely the public policy underlying CORA, which is that ‘all public records shall be open to inspection by any person at reasonable times.’”