The public won’t have to wait longer to get some public records from government agencies in Colorado after state lawmakers on Friday abandoned an effort to override a bill vetoed by Gov. Jared Polis.
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at kunc.org.
The bill’s sponsors say instead, they’ll spend the summer talking with transparency advocates who lobbied against the measure and use their input to craft a different bill on the issue for next year.
“We decided that it was better to seek common ground than to, frankly, make people take a vote that makes them look non-transparent,” state Sen. Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins, said of the decision to abandon the veto override vote.
Senate Bill 77 would have given governments more time to respond to records requests from the public and businesses while exempting journalists from the delays.
In his veto letter, Polis said he did not support creating three different timelines for fulfilling records requests based on who is making them.
He also said the bill would “weaken” the Colorado Open Records Act.
“I support more, not less, openness and transparency,” Polis wrote.
The bill was also widely opposed by transparency advocates. In a letter asking Polis for the veto, the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition said giving governments as long as three weeks to respond to some records requests would be a “dramatic step backward” for transparency.
Critics also raised concerns about the rising cost of research fees to obtain records and said the public should not face additional hurdles.
Kipp stood by her measure last month and vowed to seek an override, saying governments in Colorado need relief after being “inundated” with requests for public records in recent years.
But the override vote was repeatedly delayed, suggesting the sponsors lacked the two-thirds support they needed in both chambers to force it into law.
The state Senate on Friday pushed the vote until after the legislative session ends, effectively killing the effort.
Veto overrides are rare in Colorado. The last time one was successful was in 2011 under Gov. John Hickenlooper over a budget measure.
In a statement, the bill’s four prime sponsors said “while we believe our bill is reasonable and fair to both records requesters and those who must fulfill records requests, we also acknowledge the concerns raised by the governor, the press and a coalition of groups who want to ensure their access to public records is not compromised.”
The sponsors added they have reached an agreement with the governor’s office and transparency groups to “continue conversations on this topic with a goal of finding solutions that are both transparent and fair to everyone.”
Transparency advocates and the governor did support some parts of the bill. One provision they both endorsed would have required governments to provide a detailed breakdown of the fees they were charging to fulfill a request.
“We will start conversations immediately, probably in May,” Kipp said of the plan to work on a new bill. “I think people on both sides of this issue understand there’s a need to do things differently, we just felt rather than add to the division it was better to move forward and find where we do have common ground.”
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS and The Colorado Sun, and shared with Rocky Mountain Community Radio and other news organizations across the state. Funding for the Alliance is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.