DPA Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) Policy

Scope

This policy applies to all requests submitted to the Department of Personnel and Administration under the Colorado Open Records Act, Part 2 (§ 24-72-200.1 to 206, C.R.S.).

References

• Colorado Open Records Act, Part 2 (§ 24-72-200.1 to 206, C.R.S.)

Policy Description

The Department of Personnel & Administration (Department) is committed to transparency and open government. The following policy specifies how the Colorado Open Records Act, Part 2 (§ 24-72-200.1 to 206, C.R.S.) will be applied in a uniform and reliable manner. This policy helps ensure the Department complies in all respects with the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) and meets all of its constitutional and statutory duties to the people of Colorado in an orderly and expeditious manner. This policy is not intended to be duplicative of CORA or to supersede state law. This policy shall apply to all divisions and programs within the Department; the State Personnel Board follows this same policy but manages its own requests. This policy applies solely to records requests where the Department is the custodian of records pursuant to CORA. Other State agencies may have different CORA policies.

Office procedure for handling records requests

All records requests made of the Department shall be submitted through the online Open Records Request Portal. If a request is sent to an individual state email address, the recipient will notify the requestor that they must submit their request through the online portal in order for the request to be processed, with a Cc to the Open Records Request email inbox (dpa_corarequest@state.co.us). These emails will be retained in accordance with DPA's Email Retention Policy.

In limited circumstances, a records request may be accepted by alternative means (i.e. not through the portal as an accommodation). Any alternative submission must still comply with the requirements of the Colorado Open Records Act and will be processed in the same manner as portal submissions.

The Open Records Request Liaison is responsible for monitoring the portal and receiving requests as they are submitted. Once a request is received, the Liaison will respond within the statutory three working day deadline in accordance with § 24-72-203(3)(b), C.R.S. If extenuating circumstances apply, an extension of up to seven additional working days may be invoked as permitted by law.

The Open Records Request Liaison will respond to all Colorado Open Records Act requests on behalf of the Department, unless otherwise authorized by the Executive Director due to extraordinary circumstances.

Requests for records of the State Personnel Board must be submitted directly to the Director of the Board, who will respond on behalf of the Board in accordance with applicable procedures. If a requester submits a CORA request to DPA seeking State Personnel Board records, the Open Records Request Liaison must inform the requester that they must direct their CORA request for Board records to the Director of the Board.

Any request referencing or submitted under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will be treated as a request made pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act and handled in accordance with state law.

When responding to a records request, the Department shall make every effort to respond within three working days as required by § 24-72-203(3)(b), C.R.S. The three-working-day response time begins the first working day following receipt of the request via the online portal, except in the limited circumstances where an alternative submission method has been approved as outlined above, in which case the three-working-day response time begins the first working day following receipt of the request via the approved alternate means. A request received after 4:00 p.m. or any day DPA is officially closed will be considered received as of the following working day (e.g., an email received at 4:09 p.m. Monday will be considered received Tuesday and will be responded to by close of business Friday; a letter received Saturday will be considered received Monday and responded to by close of business Thursday). The Department can add up to a seven working-day extension if extenuating circumstances apply, as defined in §24-72-203(3)(b), C.R.S.

No employee of the Department shall modify, redact or omit any records which they are required to provide to the Open Records Request Liaison, or their designee, pursuant to this policy except as permitted or required by law. Decisions about whether a record falls under CORA will be made by the Open Records Request Liaison. Office staff should never assume a document is exempt from CORA and should always consult the Open Records Request Liaison before a final determination is made.

When feasible, the Department will endeavor to provide electronic copies or files to requesters if such an alternative is significantly less burdensome to provide than paper records (see "The format of records produced" below). When responsive records cannot be easily or cost-effectively provided electronically to a requester, the Department shall work with the requester to schedule a time to inspect the records in person between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Open Records Request Liaison may grant exceptions where the Department, requesters or the records produced require special accommodation.

This policy shall not apply to requests for records made of the Office of Administrative Courts, the State Personnel Board or State Archives as part of their regular work that is not governed by CORA (i.e., court documents or historical records). When in doubt, please contact the Open Records Request Liaison for clarification.

When the Department is not the custodian of the record(s) requested, the Open Records Request Liaison will respond with a formal written notice and, whenever possible, will identify and provide contact information for the correct custodian.

The format of records produced

CORA provides that "all public records shall be open for inspection by any person at reasonable times, except as provided in this part 2 or as otherwise specifically provided by law" (§ 24-72-201, C.R.S). CORA does not guarantee access to records in a specific format. When the production or review of records in a specific format would interfere with the regular discharge of duties of Department employees (§ 24-72-203(1 )(a), C.R.S.) or levy an undue burden upon the Department, the Open Records Request Liaison shall determine the appropriate format for the records to be produced. Records maintained electronically may be produced electronically at the Department's discretion; this may or may not mean records are provided in their native format. It is the Department's policy to provide records as PDF files whenever possible so as to maintain the integrity of the record to the highest degree possible. The Department may require that members of the public or press be allowed to review only copies of documents when the custodian of records determines that allowing access to originals could interfere with the regular discharge of duties of the Department or its staff or production of original records could jeopardize the condition of the records.

The Department manages multiple extremely large databases that contain private information. In order to maintain the privacy of that data, the Department's policy is to query those databases for any public information requested. While the Colorado Open Records Act does not require the Department to create new records, the Department may choose to do so rather than provide access to the entire database.

Fees for document retrieval, review, copies and release of records

When a request is made requiring more than one hour of staff time to locate or produce records, the Department shall charge the requester for all copying expenses and staff time pursuant to § 24-72-205(5)(a) and (6)(a), C.R.S.

When the number of pages produced pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act exceeds 25 pages, the Department shall charge $0.25 per page for all documents copied. The Department will not charge a per-page fee for providing records in a digital or electronic format. When producing records consumes more than one hour of staff time, the Department shall charge $37 per hour for all staff time associated with locating and producing records for a requester.

For requests when the Department anticipates more than 25 pages will be produced and/or more than one hour of staff time will be consumed, the Department shall provide a requester with advance notice and an estimate of compliance costs. Such costs shall be paid in full before the production of records. Charges will be updated to reflect final costs, and the Department will refund any difference to the requester.