(1) On or before July 1, 1997, the state or any agency, institution, or political subdivision thereof that operates or maintains an electronic mail communications system shall adopt a written policy on any monitoring of electronic mail communications and the circumstances under which it will be conducted.
(2) The policy shall include a statement that correspondence of the employee in the form of electronic mail may be a public record under the public records law and may be subject to public inspection under section 24-72-203.
(3) On or before January 1, 2024, each member of the general assembly, the governor's office and each office of the governor, and each state agency and institution shall submit a report to the staff of the legislative council of the general assembly outlining its respective electronic mail retention policy. The members of the general assembly may submit individual reports or may submit a report that specifies the electronic mail retention policies of multiple members of the general assembly.
Source: L. 96: Entire section added, p. 1485, � 7, effective June 1. L. 2023: (3) added, (SB 23-286), ch. 406, p. 2430, � 3, effective August 7.
24-72-205. Copy, printout, or photograph of a public record - imposition of research and retrieval fee. (1) (a) In all cases in which a person has the right to inspect a public record, the person may request a copy, printout, or photograph of the record. The custodian shall furnish a copy, printout, or photograph and may charge a fee determined in accordance with subsection (5) of this section; except that, when the custodian is the secretary of state, fees shall be determined and collected pursuant to section 24-21-104 (3), and when the custodian is the executive director of the department of personnel, fees shall be determined and collected pursuant to section 24-80-102 (10). Where the fee for a certified copy or other copy, printout, or photograph of a record is specifically prescribed by law, the specific fee shall apply.
(b) Upon request for records transmission by a person seeking a copy of any public record, the custodian shall transmit a copy of the record by United States mail, other delivery service, facsimile, or electronic mail. No transmission fees may be charged to the record requester for transmitting public records via electronic mail. Within the period specified in section 24-72-203 (3)(a), the custodian shall notify the record requester that a copy of the record is available but will only be sent to the requester once the custodian either receives payment or makes arrangements for receiving payment for all costs associated with records transmission and for all other fees lawfully allowed, unless recovery of all or any portion of such costs or fees has been waived by the custodian. Upon either receiving such payment or making arrangements to receive such payment at a later date, the custodian shall send the record to the requester as soon as practicable but no more than three business days after receipt of, or making arrangements to receive, such payment.
(2) If the custodian does not have facilities for making a copy, printout, or photograph of a record that a person has the right to inspect, the person shall be granted access to the record for the purpose of making a copy, printout, or photograph. The copy, printout, or photograph shall be made while the record is in the possession, custody, and control of the custodian thereof and shall be subject to the supervision of the custodian. When practical, the copy, printout, or photograph shall be made in the place where the record is kept, but if it is impractical to do so, the custodian may allow arrangements to be made for the copy, printout, or photograph to be made at other facilities. If other facilities are necessary, the cost of providing them shall be paid by the person desiring a copy, printout, or photograph of the record. The custodian may establish a reasonable schedule of times for making a copy, printout, or photograph and may charge the same fee for the services rendered in supervising the copying, printing out, or photographing as the custodian may charge for furnishing a copy, printout, or photograph under subsection (5) of this section.
(3) If, in response to a specific request, the state or any of its agencies, institutions, or political subdivisions has performed a manipulation of data so as to generate a record in a form not used by the state or by said agency, institution, or political subdivision, a reasonable fee may be charged to the person making the request. Such fee shall not exceed the actual cost of manipulating the said data and generating the said record in accordance with the request. Persons making subsequent requests for the same or similar records may be charged a fee not in excess of the original fee.
(4) If the public record is a result of computer output other than word processing, the fee for a copy, printout, or photograph thereof may be based on recovery of the actual incremental costs of providing the electronic services and products together with a reasonable portion of the costs associated with building and maintaining the information system. Such fee may be reduced or waived by the custodian if the electronic services and products are to be used for a public purpose, including public agency program support, nonprofit activities, journalism, and academic research. Fee reductions and waivers shall be uniformly applied among persons who are similarly situated.
(5) (a) A custodian may charge a fee not to exceed twenty-five cents per standard page for a copy of a public record or a fee not to exceed the actual cost of providing a copy, printout, or photograph of a public record in a format other than a standard page; except that a custodian shall not charge a per-page fee for providing records in a digital or electronic format.
(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection (5), an institution, as defined in section 24-72-202 (1.5), that is the custodian of scholastic achievement data on an individual person may charge a reasonable fee for a certified transcript of the data.
(6) (a) A custodian may impose a fee in response to a request for the research and retrieval of public records only if the custodian has, prior to the date of receiving the request, either posted on the custodian's website or otherwise published a written policy that specifies the applicable conditions concerning the research and retrieval of public records by the custodian, including the amount of any current fee. Under any such policy, the custodian shall not impose a charge for the first hour of time expended in connection with the research and retrieval of public records. After the first hour of time has been expended, the custodian may charge a fee for the research and retrieval of public records that shall not exceed thirty dollars per hour.
(b) On July 1, 2019, and by July 1 of every five-year period thereafter, the director of research of the legislative council appointed pursuant to section 2-3-304 (1) shall adjust the maximum hourly fee specified in subsection (6)(a) of this section in accordance with the percentage change over the period in the United States department of labor, bureau of labor statistics, consumer price index for Denver-Aurora-Lakewood for all items and all urban consumers, or its successor index. The director of research shall post the adjusted maximum hourly fee on the website of the general assembly.
(7) If a custodian of a public record requested pursuant to this part 2 allows members of the public to pay for any other service or product provided by the custodian with a credit card or electronic payment, the custodian must allow the requester of the public record to pay any fee or deposit associated with the request with a credit card or via an electronic payment. The custodian may require a requester to pay any service charge or fee imposed by the processor of a credit card or electronic payment.
Source: L. 68: p. 204, � 5. C.R.S. 1963: � 113-2-5. L. 83: (1) amended, p. 863, � 4, effective July 1. L. 92: (3) and (4) added, p. 1105, � 5, effective July 1. L. 2007: (1) and (2) amended and (5) added, p. 578, � 1, effective August 3. L. 2013: (1) amended, (HB 13-1041), ch. 9, p. 23, � 1, effective March 8. L. 2014: (6) added, (HB 14-1193), ch. 142, p. 487, � 1, effective July 1. L. 2018: (6)(b) amended, (HB 18-1375), ch. 274, p. 1712, � 54, effective May 29. L. 2023: (5)(a) amended and (7) added, (SB 23-286), ch. 406, p. 2431, � 4, effective August 7.
Cross references: For distribution of copies of reports made to the general assembly, see � 24-1-136 (9).
24-72-205.5. Public inspection of ballots - stay period - recounts - rules governing public inspection of ballots - legislative declaration - definitions. (1) (a) By enacting this section, the general assembly intends to permit the inspection of ballots under the conditions specified in this section and to protect the integrity of the election process while protecting voter privacy and preserving secrecy in voting in accordance with the provisions of section 8 of article VII of the state constitution.
(b) In order to facilitate and ensure a consistent application of the provisions of this section across the state, the matters addressed in this section are matters of statewide concern.
(2) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) Ballot means a ballot voted by any acceptable, applicable, or legal method that is in the custody of an election official. Ballot includes any digital image or electronic representation of votes cast.
(b) Designated election official has the same meaning as set forth in section 1-1-104 (8), C.R.S.
(c) Interested party means:
(I) Any candidate who was in an election contest that is the subject of a recount or the political party or political organization as defined in section 1-1-104 (24), C.R.S., of such candidate;
(II) Any petition representative identified pursuant to section 1-40-113 or 31-11-106 (2), C.R.S., as applicable, in connection with a ballot issue or ballot question that is the subject of the recount;
(III) The governing body that referred a ballot question or ballot issue to the electorate that is the subject of the recount; or
(IV) The agent of an issue committee that is required to report contributions pursuant to the Fair Campaign Practices Act, article 45 of title 1, C.R.S., that either supported or opposed a ballot question or ballot issue that is the subject of the recount.
(3) (a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection (3), the designated election official shall not fulfill a request under this part 2 for the public inspection of ballots during the period commencing with the forty-fifth day preceding election day and concluding with the date either by which the designated election official is required to certify an official abstract of votes cast for the applicable candidate contest or ballot issue or ballot question pursuant to section 1-10-102 or 31-10-1205 (1), C.R.S., as applicable, or by which any recount conducted in accordance with article 10.5 of title 1, C.R.S., or section 31-10-1207, C.R.S., is completed, as applicable, whichever date is later. The denial of public inspection of ballots authorized pursuant to this paragraph (a) shall also apply to any internal batch reports generated by a designated election official for the specific purpose of auditing ballots received in the course of conducting an election.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the denial of public inspection of ballots authorized pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (3) shall apply to a recount that is conducted in accordance with the provisions of article 10.5 of title 1, C.R.S., or section 31-10-1207, C.R.S., as applicable; except that, during the period described in paragraph (a) of this subsection (3), an interested party may inspect and request copies of ballots in connection with such recount without having to obtain a court order granting such inspection. In connection with an inspection by an interested party as authorized by this paragraph (b), an interested party may witness the handling of ballots involved in the recount to verify that the recount is being conducted in a fair, impartial, and uniform manner so as to determine that all ballots that have been cast are accurately interpreted and counted; except that an interested party is not permitted to handle the original ballots. Except as specified in this paragraph (b), nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit an interested party from requesting copies of ballots in connection with a recount, to affect the conduct of a recount, or to affect the rights of an interested party in connection with a recount.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict the public inspection of election records as defined in section 1-1-104 (11), C.R.S.; except that, for purposes of this section, election records shall not include ballots.
(4) (a) In accordance with the provisions of section 24-72-203 (1)(a) and in addition to any other requirements that are applicable to a person requesting the inspection of public records under this part 2, prior to and later than the stay period described in paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of this section, ballots shall be available for inspection by the public in accordance with the requirements of this part 2.
(b) In connection with the public inspection of the ballots to which this section pertains:
(I) The original ballots shall at all times remain in the custody of the designated election official or his or her designee. In the discretion of the designated election official or his or her designee, and subject to the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) and this part 2, the designated election official or his or her designee shall determine the manner in which such ballots may be viewed by the public.
(II) The designated election official or his or her designee shall cover or redact, based upon the most practical means available, any markings or message on a ballot that may identify the particular elector who cast the ballot before the ballot may be made available for public inspection;
(III) To protect the privacy of particular electors, any ballots cast by electors within groups of discrete individuals who are more susceptible of being personally identified, such as military and overseas electors, shall be made available for public inspection only to the extent such ballots may be duplicated without identifying elector information. Insofar as such ballots are not able to be duplicated without identifying elector information, they are not available for public inspection. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no ballot, or any portion thereof, may be made available for inspection where the ballot, or any requested portion thereof, is identical in printed form, considering a combination of the election contests at issue and precinct coding, to only nine or fewer ballots, or comparable portions thereof, among all ballots used in the same election. However, any such ballot, or any requested portion thereof, that is identical in printed form to ten or more ballots, or comparable portions thereof, used in the same election may be inspected.
(IV) To protect the privacy of particular electors, ballots made available for inspection may be presented in random order selected by the designated election official or his or her designee;
(V) For the purpose of minimizing the costs of making ballots available for public inspection, the person seeking the inspection may indicate the candidate contest, ballot issue, or ballot question for which the person seeks to inspect the ballots; and
(VI) Any actual costs incurred by the office of the designated election official in making the ballots available for inspection in accordance with the requirements of this section may be charged to the person requesting inspection of the ballots. If the designated election official selects a person other than an employee of his or her office to conduct the duties required by this section, the actual costs to be charged the person seeking inspection shall not exceed the actual costs that would have been incurred if the work involved in complying with the requirements of this section was completed by an employee of the designated election official.
(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, nothing in this section affects either the rights of a watcher set forth in the provisions of titles 1 and 31, C.R.S., or the operation of a canvass board in accordance with the provisions of articles 1 to 13 of title 1, C.R.S.
Source: L. 2012: Entire section added, (HB 12-1036), ch. 269, p. 1420, � 2, effective June 7.