This bill makes various amendments to Colorado's open records laws and the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act (CCJRA). Here is a breakdown of the main changes:
Section 1:
Repeals 2024 Provisions: It removes certain provisions related to the Colorado Open Meetings Law that were enacted in 2024 by Senate Bill 24-157, specifically concerning the General Assembly.
Section 2:
Peace Officer Database: The Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) board database, which tracks peace officer conduct and discipline, must be:
Sortable (in addition to being searchable).
Made available to the public at no cost, with only personal information of peace officers redacted.
Sections 3, 4, and 5:
Changes to the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA):
Service of Requests: Clarifies how service of public records requests must be made.
Affidavit of Service: Requires requesters to submit an affidavit of service with public records requests, creating a rebuttable presumption of when service was made.
Rules and Fees:
Rules for inspecting public records cannot increase costs or extend the inspection time.
Removes the need for a requester to request notification if records are in active use or not readily available.
Response Time: Changes the response period to 5 working days (up from 3).
Searchable Records: Limits when a custodian can deny producing records in searchable or sortable formats.
Personnel Files: Allows inspection of documents that reflect government functions in personnel files, with permissible redactions.
Fee Structure:
First 5 hours of time spent researching and retrieving records are free.
Hourly fees capped at $25.
Attorney review capped at $50, limited to attorney-client privileged documents.
Custodians must provide written estimates of time and fees before imposing any charges.
Sections 6, 7, 8, and 9:
Changes to the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act (CCJRA):
Definition of Official Records: Adds incident reports and records of interactions between on-duty peace officers and the public to the definition of official records.
Response Time:
Custodians must respond to requests within 3 days, with an extension up to 10 days if extenuating circumstances apply.
Internal Investigation Records: Requires that records from completed internal investigations be available for public inspection within 21 days of a request, regardless of whether a member of the public was involved.
Attorney Fees: Changes the court's discretion regarding attorney fees. Courts can now award fees if records are improperly denied, without needing to find the denial arbitrary or capricious.
Search and Retrieval Fees: Applies the same fees for search and retrieval and attorney review as under CORA.
This bill aims to increase transparency in both criminal justice records and public records while ensuring reasonable timelines for responses and limiting fees for records access. It also expands public access to peace officer conduct records and clarifies how records related to public functions and criminal investigations are handled.
Summary
Section 1 of the bill repeals provisions in the Colorado open
meetings law that specifically apply to the general assembly that were enacted in 2024 by Senate Bill 24-157. Section 2 requires that the database created and maintained by the
peace officer standards and training board that includes specified information related to peace officer conduct and discipline be sortable in addition to being searchable and that it be available upon request to any member of the public with only personal information of peace officers redacted at no cost to the requester. Sections 3, 4, and 5 make the following changes to the Colorado
open records act (CORA):
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Specifies the manner in which service of requests for public records must be made;
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Requires that a requester of public records submit with the request an affidavit of service, which creates a rebuttable presumption of the date that service is made;
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Clarifies that any rules made by a custodian for the inspection of public records cannot increase any costs charged to a requester and cannot expand the date and time for inspection of public records;
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Removes the requirement that a requester must request that the custodian notify the requester that requested public records are in active use, in storage, or otherwise not readily available;
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Clarifies that computation of time for response periods is in accordance with the generally applicable law for computation of time and does not include the day that service is made;
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Permits computation of time for a request that was mailed to begin on the third day after the date of mailing;
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Changes the reasonable time to respond to a request for public records from 3 working days to 5 days;
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For a custodian to not be required to produce a digital public record in a searchable or sortable format, requires documentary evidence that producing the record in that format would violate the terms of a copyright or licensing agreement or documentary evidence, including an opinion from legal counsel, that producing the record in that format would result in the release of a third party's proprietary information;
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Although a custodian is allowed to deny inspection of a personnel file, allows inspection of any writings that reflect or discuss the exercise of official government functions by any public employee subject to certain permissible redactions;
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Allows for the first 5 hours of time expended in connection with the research and retrieval of public records to be free of charge to the requester;
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Caps the amount of the hourly fee that can be imposed for research and retrieval of public records to $25;
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Allows a $50 fee to be imposed for attorney review which is limited to review of requested public records for attorney-client privileged communication; and •
Invalidates any fee imposed by a custodian if the custodian does not provide information in writing to the requester concerning an estimate of time to be expended and fees to be charged in connection with responding to the request. Sections 6, 7, 8, and 9 make the following changes to the
Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act (CCJRA):
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Adds to the definition of official record any incident report or other record of an interaction between any on-duty peace officer and any member of the public;
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Modifies the provisions on the response period to state that a custodian shall respond to a request for criminal justice records 3 days after the day the request is received unless extenuating circumstances apply, in which case the 3-day response period may be extended for a period not to exceed 10 days. The extenuating circumstances set forth in CORA are the extenuating circumstances applicable for requests under the CCJRA.
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Requires that records in a completed internal investigation be available for public inspection within 21 days of a request being submitted and whether or not the investigation involved a member of the public;
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Removes the court's discretion and the requirement that the court find that improper denial of records is arbitrary or capricious to award court costs and attorney fees; and
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Applies the same parameters as those established under CORA for search and retrieval and attorney fees.
