“…The formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret,” declares the text of Colorado’s original open meetings law. The need for the Colorado Sunshine Act of 1972 was created.
Colorado Sunshine Act of 1972
Called the “Colorado Sunshine Act of 1972,” it set the standard for government transparency in Colorado. Modified and updated since, the act continues to require that state and local government meetings be open to the public, including specific guidelines for meetings to attain that standard.
“That’s the law that entitles you, or anyone, to attend a meeting for a public body,” says Jeffrey A. Roberts, Executive Director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. At CFOIC, Roberts works to educate Coloradans on their rights to government transparency and equips them to use the existing laws to hold governments accountable.
The Colorado Sunshine Act of 1972 included multiple laws governing the freedom of information, and “Sunshine Laws” may refer to any of those laws. But the “Colorado Sunshine Law for Open Meetings” specifically addresses the rights of the public to attend government meetings.
According to the law, any meeting to discuss public business involving two or more members of a governing body qualifies as a public meeting and must meet certain requirements: The body must post advance notice of the meeting, ensure that the meeting is open to the public, and, if it includes taking formal action, record and publish minutes of the meeting.
Unless a meeting fulfills the law’s requirements, any of its formal decisions are invalid.
Requirements and Consequences
These requirements—and the consequences if they are not followed—act like other Sunshine Laws in the United States, promoting government accountability to citizens by simply requiring transparency, “letting the sunshine in.”
Modern technology can complicate following the requirements of the law. Roberts says, “These days, a [public] meeting could be over a teleconference, it could be over the phone, it could be over text message, email, those are all meetings [according to the Sunshine Law]. But if [government members] don’t find a way for the public to participate in that meeting, it’s a violation.”
Shifts toward technological communication make it harder to know if a public body discusses official business without notifying the public, says Roberts. And in cases where governments do fail to follow the standards of the law (and someone finds out), citizens have only one option: File a civil lawsuit.
Going to court
While the law requires that attorney and court fees be provided to a winning plaintiff, Roberts says many citizens are intimidated by the idea of going to court against a government attorney. And even if the court does find that a governing body violated Colorado open meetings law, a plaintiff’s successful court case may only result in the nullification of a meeting decision.
Referring to civil recourse for meetings violations, Roberts says, “There’s not a ton of teeth in there, but I think those are still important remedies to use because you have to find a way to hold government accountable.” Even if penalties for open meetings violations are small, he believes, it is still worth communicating to government bodies that citizens care.
Roberts is hopeful that state and local governments can use technology to make government meetings available to members of the public who cannot personally attend. He points to the Open Media Foundation, a Denver-based nonprofit that equips governments to stream public meetings over internet.
Open Media provides a low-cost software package to governments, allowing them to upload, timestamp, and archive videos for constituents. If a government is using Open Media’s technology, people can access meeting agendas and use them to navigate to relevant parts of the meeting. During the Coronavirus Pandemic, the nonprofit is offering its public meeting software package to local governments for free.
And software packages like that one may make meetings even more accessible in the modern world. Roberts stresses that using Zoom for public meetings is only appropriate for a limited period, but after the COVID-19 crisis is over, he predicts, constituents’ ability to participate virtually in local government will only increase.
“There have been public bodies that have violated those laws, and it’s difficult to catch,” says Roberts. But the standard set by Colorado’s Sunshine Law for Open Meetings remains the same: Public business may not be conducted in secret.
