The League of Women Voters believes that democratic government depends upon informed and active participation in government and requires that governmental bodies protect the citizen’s right to know by giving adequate notice of proposed actions, holding open meetings, and making public records accessible.

In 1968, the Colorado state legislature enacted the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA), declaring that “all public records shall be open for inspection by any person at reasonable times.” Four years later, the legislature enacted the Colorado Open Meetings Law (COML), which begins “It is declared to be a matter of statewide concern and the policy of this state that the formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.” 

Unfortunately, in recent years Colorado legislators have exhibited a disturbing tendency to downplay the importance of transparency in government. Their argument has been that transparency impedes expediency and efficiency. Let’s be honest: Less transparency does not necessarily equate with better governance. It does, however, foster a culture of secrecy that leads to a lack of accountability, the potential for corruption, and the loss of public trust.

Since 2024, there have been three attempts to modify CORA. The stated goal of each of these bills was to stop bad actors from abusing CORA requests, but in reality, these bills would have penalized ALL records requesters through longer wait times and higher fees. None of these bills was signed into law. In 2025, Governor Polis vetoed one of the bills with the urging of transparency advocates, including the League of Women Voters of Colorado (LWVCO). In testifying against these bills, LWVCO cautioned that restricting access to public records only increases public mistrust and therefore increases the number of records requests. 

In 2024, the General Assembly passed SB24-157, exempting the legislature from COML. The bill redefined a meeting as a contemporaneous, in-person quorum. Sponsors said that this was necessary in order to allow legislators to hold small group meetings on legislation. What they did not say was that this legislation in effect allowed daisy chain discussions and nonpublic negotiations on public policy. League opposed SB24-157 and testified that when democracy works, citizens are able to observe the debate, disagreement, and compromise that go into policy making. 

During our testimony on SB24-157, LWVCO also warned that by exempting itself from COML, the General Assembly was setting a dangerous precedent that might be followed by other public bodies. That fear was realized this year with HB26-1326, Sunset Public Utilities Commission. Section 3 of that bill permits commission members to move from what were once public communications to nonpublic communications regarding adjudicatory matters. LWVCO’s Legislative Action Committee has taken an amend stance on the bill and is asking that Section 3 be struck.

In early 2025, transparency advocates including the League of Women Voters of Colorado, the Independence Institute, the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, the Colorado Press Association, the Colorado Broadcasters Association, the ACLU, and Colorado Common Cause launched a coalition known as Team Transparency in order to address these continual legislative attempts to roll back sunshine laws. 

The League of Women Voters believes that transparency is a vital guardrail in any democracy, and that legislators must serve as stewards of democracy for present and future generations. The recent legislative trend away from transparency suggests that fundamental duty has been overlooked.