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An overview of the goals of reforming the Colorado Open Records Act. Nick Coltrain

Lauren Gustus is Executive Editor of the Coloradoan.(Photo: File photo)

About a year ago, a bill withFort Collins origins failed in the Colorado Legislature.

You might be thinking, well, thats nothing new. This session will see more than 700 bills introduced at the Capitol. A fraction of them will become law.

It's what happened after this specific bills failure that was unusual.

The Secretary of States Office committed to helping reframe the bill for 2017 so it worked better for those who made public records requests and those in receipt of them.

The idea: If a record is available in digital form, it should be given to a requestor in a native format, i.e., some sort of searchable digital format. Today the standard is that it be made available in printed form (and that could be somewhere far from where you live).

The prospect of open records modernization is understandably concerning to government employeesworking in an office that doesnt receive requests often or if your office isnt familiar with excel or other digital formats.

So the Secretary of State created a working group to determine how to create a piece of legislation that updated todays Colorado Open Records Act known as CORA, which hasnt been updated since 1996 without creating potential for unintentional release of data that is not public (such employees Social Security numbers, gender, etc).

I served on the 16-person working group as the representative for the Colorado Press Association, which started to discuss the issue in early summer and wrapped in December.

The result is Senate Bill 40, which will be heard in the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on Feb. 6. I am headed down to Denver to testify in its support. If it passes out of committee, it will move to the Senate floor.

Some people might wonder if it is my place to speak in support of legislation at a time when we are discussing daily how to best offer balanced coverage for you.

Just as it is our responsibility to fight abuses of power and champion issues for those who do not have a voice, it is also our duty to work for improved transparency.

Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote that First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.

Timely stuff, even if his comments were made 15 years ago.

The update to CORA is a reasonable solution thats worked its way through a monthslong process with stakeholders from across the state and the political divide.

I am impressed by the open-minded approach taken by Colorado legislators on both sides of the aisle, as well as state agencies such as the Secretary of States Office, and how stakeholders with disparate missions brought to a table to make concessions.

With this piece of legislation, Colorado is demonstrating that it can be an exception to todays political rule in Washington, D.C.

This bills sponsors (Sens. John Kefalas and Dan Pabon) compromised. Just as important, they listened. Im hopeful the committee will do the same when it considers the legislation.

The bill would require the custodian of the public records to provide an accurate copy of the public records in a searchable format when requested. If public records are not stored as structured data but are stored in an electronic or digital form and are searchable in their native format, the custodian is required to provide a copy of the public records in a format that is searchable when requested.

Nothing in the bill requires a custodian to produce records in their native format. A searchable format is required.

http://leg.colorado.gov/content/committees

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Gustus: First Amendment matters; here's what I'm doing - The Coloradoan