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Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs

Thursday, March 5, 2026·▶ Watch / Listen

A marathon State Affairs hearing produced two dead bills and one survivor: the committee killed a rewrite of the Colorado Open Records Act after a wall of press and government testimony, killed a Republican-led bid to let voters opt out of mail ballots, and advanced a clarifying measure on firefighter petition elections.

Key Actions

·Colorado Firefighter Safety Act Petition ElectionsPassed

+ 2 more actions

Notable Quotes

We heard from an attorney who received a quote of $1 million to fulfill a Quora request with no explanation of how that figure was calculated. That's not acceptable.

Cathy Kipp (member, co-sponsor) · witnessKipp's example of the status quo the bill's fee provisions were meant to curb — even as press witnesses argued the timeline changes cut the other way.

+ 5 more quotes

Votes

Referred to Committee of the WholeAction
Yes (3)William Lindstedt, Tom Sullivan, Katie Wallace
No (2)Rod Pelton, Lynda Zamora Wilson
Postponed indefinitely — bill killedAction
Yes (3)William Lindstedt, Tom Sullivan, Katie Wallace
No (2)Rod Pelton, Lynda Zamora Wilson
Postponed indefinitely — bill killedAction
Yes (3)Lynda Zamora Wilson, Katie Wallace, Tom Sullivan
No (2)William Lindstedt, Rod Pelton
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TranscriptPreview
Bill in committee and we'll have a couple of members juggling in and out, so might have to hold votes a little bit for that. And with that, we will start with Senate Bill 107. Senator Rich, please start us off. Thank you, Madam Chair. This is Senate Bill 107 concerning modifications to the Colorado Open Records act. And we are bringing this back this year. And you're going to hear more from my coprime on everything that we're changing and doing to satisfy the governor this year. He had some major concerns with it last year, you'll remember. But one thing that's, well, several things that's really good about this bill is the increased transparency and requiring public entities to post their core policies, including if they have one, the public entities records retention policy. Also post information to members on how to make a public record request. And any requirements concerning the prepayment or payment of fees must comply with the custodian's adopted policies and be consistent with the provisions of cora. We will have an amendment as well, and I'm sure my Coprime will speak to that. But that's just a quick overview. 30,000ft. And Mike Coprime
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