2 weeks Ago By Marianne Goodland [email protected]
Democratic lawmakers, who are preparing for a fight with the governor over a myriad of issues, will seek an override of Gov. Jared Polis' veto of Senate Bill 77, which increased deadlines to fulfill public records requests in Colorado. The measure changed the state's open records law, increasing the costs of open records requests, creating three classes of requesters, and extending the time a governmental entity must comply with those requests.
One of the main criticisms of the bill was that it allowed the media to receive public records quicker than the general public. Polis vetoed the bill last week, citing concerns over its creation of three classes of requesters: mass media, those who seek open records for financial gain, and everyone else. The bill, sponsored by Sens.
Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins and Janice Rich, R-Grand Junction, initially won a 27-6 vote from the state Senate, more than enough to sustain a two-thirds majority for a veto. In the House, Reps. Michael Carter, D-Aurora, and Matt Soper, R-Delta, sponsored the measure, which passed 45-19, just one vote above the two-thirds majority needed for an override.
The question then becomes whether the governor has the juice to sway a few lawmakers to vote "no." Secondly, are there Republicans who would change their "no" votes to "yes," taking the opportunity to embarrass the governor? Carter said he believes in the bill because it will protect the privacy of teachers, schools and students. He told Colorado Politics that he believes the House votes will hold and that he doesn't anticipate losing any.
There were 18 "no" votes on the bill from House Republicans, with only three voting in favor, including Soper. The bill could pick up a few more "yes" votes from the Republican caucus, with several telling Colorado Politics they are a "maybe." That's mainly because there are so many new members in the House Republican caucus, nine in the 2025 session.
It may be a little tougher in the Senate to keep all 27 votes, but there are two differences between when the bill passed on Feb. 26 and now. In February, there were only 34 senators due to the resignation of Sen.
Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont. Fellow Democrat Katie Wallace has since replaced her. And one Democratic senator was excused that day, which could create an easier path to keeping at least 24 votes.
Seven Republicans in the Senate voted in favor of SB 77. Relations between the governor and the General Assembly—mostly with Democrats—are tense over a couple of issues, most notably Senate Bill 5, the contentious collective bargaining bill that Polis has insisted must contain a compromise between labor and business. There are also disagreements between the administration and the legislature over how Colorado Parks and Wildlife has handled wolf reintroduction.
A footnote in the recently adopted state budget warns the administration to do more to help ranchers whose livestock is slaughtered by wolves. Governors rarely face challenges with their vetoes, but they do happen. The last two overrides were tied to footnotes in the state budget, which are directives to state agencies on how to spend their budgets.
Governors have frequently vetoed some of those footnotes, claiming it is a separation of powers issue, but they usually direct the agencies to comply anyway. The Associated Press reported in 2011 that Gov. John Hickenlooper lost a veto override that year, tied to a footnote directive to the education department about money for radio and television broadcasts.
In 2007, after vetoing 88 footnotes in the 2007-08 budget, Gov. Bill Ritter lost a veto override, with unanimous support from the Senate and a 61-2 vote from the House. Democrats controlled both chambers.
In 2006, the state Supreme Court ruled that the governor could not veto headnotes, defined in the budget bill, and that the legislature had no authority to tell state departments how to spend their budgets. The court did not technically touch on the issue of footnotes. The last time a governor lost a veto override tied to a bill was in 1988, when then-Gov.
Roy Romer vetoed a bill on using lottery funds for prisons..
