By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board
Governor Jared Polis vetoed a controversial bill last Thursday that would have made it more difficult—and more expensive—for Coloradans to access public records. But transparency advocates across the political spectrum say his sudden concern about responsive governance contradicts years of actions that have consistently chipped away at public accountability.
Senate Bill 25-077, sponsored by Sen. Cathy Kipp (D–Fort Collins), would have:
- Extended response deadlines for open records requests from three to five days, and up to ten under “extenuating circumstances”
- Allowed government agencies to bundle multiple requests from the same person to increase fees
Eliminated the first free hour of research time for follow-up requests - Created different classes of requesters, giving priority to members of the media while everyday citizens and nonprofits would pay more and wait longer
Polis vetoed the bill on April 17, stating it placed too much discretion in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and could erode equal access to public information.
“Speed to access public information is determined by who you are,” he wrote in his veto letter. “As a representative for the people of Colorado, I support more, not less, openness and transparency.”
But critics are calling out the governor’s convenient shift in tone.
Despite his latest stand, Polis has repeatedly signed legislation that limits access to public records and shields government operations from scrutiny.
In March 2025, he signed House Bill 25-25-1041 into law, exempting college athletes’ name, image, and likeness (NIL) contracts from public records law—even as those deals involve public institutions and millions of dollars.
In 2024, Polis signed Senate Bill 24-157 into law, giving the Colorado General Assembly a carve-out from the state’s open meetings law, allowing lawmakers to engage in “any form of written communication, electronic or otherwise” without public knowledge or scrutiny.
When Polis signed it into law, Steve Zansberg, President of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition said it was “extremely disappointing” that the legislature and the governor chose to “effectively exempt one branch of government from our state’s public transparency law.”
In February, Sen. Byron Pelton and Rep. Lori Garcia Sander introduced HB25-1242, which sought to repeal the open meeting law exemptions of SB24-157, but it was postponed indefinitely in committee this March.
While the governor acknowledged that HB25-1041 and SB24-157 undermined transparency—he signed them anyway.
“This follows an unfortunate trend,” Polis admitted in his NIL bill signing letter. Yet he passed it, claiming he hoped future transparency issues would be “tackled later.”
To many conservatives, that’s become Polis’s playbook: sign the bad law, blame the process, and signal regret later.
SB25-77 faced strong opposition from transparency watchdogs, media outlets, and grassroots organizations—many of which argued it would turn open records access into a pay-to-play system.
Currently, Colorado’s Open Records Act (CORA) allows for the first hour of records research to be free. The bill would have allowed agencies to combine requests and charge $41.37 per hour—an unaffordable barrier for ordinary Coloradans, investigative nonprofits, and parents requesting information from school districts.
Polis, to his credit, recognized the problem: “The bill would create three different classes of open records requests,” he wrote, “with different deadlines based on the perceived motivations of the person asking for information.”
Could the legislature override the veto? Possibly. The Colorado House passed the bill with 45 votes, one more than needed for a two-thirds override. The Senate passed it with 27 votes, three more than required.
If lawmakers attempt to override Polis’s veto, it would be the first of his seven-year tenure as governor.
Some Democrats may hesitate, given the vocal public backlash from First Amendment groups and journalists. Others may double down and try to ram it through, despite the optics.
While Polis’s veto is the right decision, critics say it’s a rare exception to an otherwise troubling pattern.
At a time when trust in government is plummeting, the public’s right to know shouldn’t be up for negotiation. Colorado deserves consistent transparency—not mere lip service and selective outrage when it’s politically convenient.