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Legislature Access
Legislature Access
Denver, CO 80205
720-274-7177
[email protected]
@CoFOIC on Twitter
The Voice for Open Government in Colorado
Dear Speaker Garnett, President Garcia, Majority Leader Esgar, Majority Leader Fenberg, Minority
Leader McKean and Minority Leader Holbert:
We, the undersigned organizations, want to thank you and other legislative leaders for taking
steps during the fall 2020 special session to ensure public and journalist access to the legislative
process at a time when many Coloradans do not feel safe appearing in person at the state Capitol.
Adding a mechanism for remote testimony during committee hearings afforded interest groups
and individual Coloradans all over the state essential opportunities to express their views on
proposed legislation during the COVID-19 public health emergency, and we urge the General
Assembly to continue offering remote testimony for every committee of reference during the
2021 session. Additionally, journalists appreciated the preservation of at least limited floor access
to each chamber and we ask that this same access continue.
We also ask you to consider the following observations and recommendations regarding
transparency and public/journalist access to the legislative process, both during the session and
when lawmakers are not in session.
Reporters have learned about “working groups” involving multiple legislators that met via
Zoom or other conferencing platforms prior to the special session. Please be mindful of, and
adhere to, the letter and spirit of the Colorado Open Meetings Law, which deems all
meetings of two or more members of a state public body “open to the public at all times”
when those meetings pertain to public business. We ask you to notify journalists and the
public of such working-group meetings (including meetings that take place in person) and
allow contemporaneous access to them. Posting recordings of these meetings on the
General Assembly’s website also would ensure a transparent process.
As you know, it was difficult at times for reporters and the public to hear and understand
We encourage you to integrate video into the legislature’s system for online monitoring of
committee hearings, like the Colorado Channel system for floor sessions, if doing so is
feasible. A video feed would help broadcast new outlets adequately cover committee
hearings and make it easier for everyone to clearly identify anyone speaking via the WebEx
conferencing platform.
Please post written public testimony on the legislature’s website so that journalists and the
public do not need to file Colorado Open Records Act requests to obtain copies.
Respectfully,
Contact:
Jeff Roberts, Executive Director, Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition
[email protected]
720-274-7177