Polis, in first veto of year, rejects bill changing public records law

Gov. Jared Polis rejected a bill that would have altered the state’s public records laws on Thursday, setting up a rare attempt by legislators to try to override the veto.

In a letter announcing his decision — the first veto of the 2025 legislative session — the governor wrote that Senate Bill 77 made some “administrative changes” to the Colorado Open Records Act that he considered fine, including requiring additional public information about the filing and costs of records requests.

But he wrote that it had two fatal flaws: The bill would’ve given government entities more time to respond to requests than currently allowed if they determined the request was for financial gain — requiring officials to make that determination themselves. It also would’ve created two classes within the public records law, requiring faster responses for journalists — sticking to the three days now considered reasonable — while allowing for delays of a couple additional days for everyone else.

“I acknowledge CORA can be improved, and the bill includes some narrowly tailored common-sense reforms,” Polis wrote in his veto letter. “While I would support these types of narrowly scoped adjustments to CORA, I cannot do so in the context of the broader, more significant problems SB25-077 would have on transparency and the State’s open records structure.”

The bill’s bipartisan group of sponsors — who attempted a similar bill last year — have said the measure was broadly intended to give small governmental entities more time to respond to CORA requests, which, they argued, had mounted in recent years. Supporters said they gave special consideration to media requesters because journalists are typically more skilled at filing specific requests that can be more easily fulfilled.

Read the full story from our partners at The Denver Post.