by Bryce Reedy

As of Feb. 5, a democratic state senator is trying to start a bill that would modernize Colorado’s Open Records Act (CORA). The bill is co-sponsored by Democratic Rep. Daniel Pabon of Denver.

CORA was put in place in 1969, and it requires that all public records must be open to any person at reasonable times.

This legislation would require government agencies to release all public records in searchable data formats, such as Excel, which would allow easier analysis for the public.

A similar bill was submitted last year by Sen. John Kefalas, but the bill “died due to concerns about costs to government agencies and their ability to permanently redact sensitive or private information from requested records,” according to The Washington Times.

“In most cases, we’re talking about a spreadsheet a journalist or member of the public wants. Under the bill, it would be extremely easy to produce for the requester,” Jeffrey Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, said to The Washington Times.

This proposed change to CORA was brought to the attention of the state legislature following an investigation conducted by The Coloradoan. A state newspaper that had to inspect documents containing nearly 5,000 employee salaries at Colorado State University by hand to complete their database because CSU refused to give the newspaper electronic copies of the same information.

This is one of the several bills that could have an impact on CORA. A second bill would open the public state records showing whether companies have cheated workers on their wages.