A bill to modernize Colorado’s public records law survived a state House panel Monday night in a form closer to the way it was introduced earlier in the legislative session.
After a hearing that lasted more than five hours, the House Finance Committee removed a Senate amendment to Senate Bill 17-040 that was intended to make Colorado’s judicial branch subject to the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA).
The committee also undid another Senate amendment that would have allowed records custodians to withhold metadata, a term that is not defined in the bill but generally refers to information about other data. Instead, a new provision requires records requesters to specifically ask for metadata, which wouldn’t be released unless it is disclosable under CORA.