Since 1968, the Colorado Open Records Act, or CORA, has acted as the state’s freedom of information act—a statute that makes it so that the public can learn more about what their government does. CORA established a strong presumption that non-criminal justice records are open for public inspection unless another law states otherwise. Then, in 1977, the legislature enacted the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act, or CCJRA, which governs open records for law enforcement agencies. Finally, the Colorado Sunshine Law, also known as the Open Meetings Law (COML), passed in 1972, governs the methods by which public meetings are conducted.

In this CLE, lawyer and Colorado Common Cause executive director Amanda Gonzalez and Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition executive director Jeff Roberts will provide an overview of the role of open records in our democracy and an introduction to CORA, CCJRA, and COML as well as a how to do an open records request.