Date: 01/28/2015

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB15-1085

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
Adopt amendment L.001 (Attachment C). The motion p
Postpone House Bill 15-1085 indefinitely. The moti
Refer House Bill 15-1085, as amended, to the Commi		PASS
PASS
FAIL



02:06 PM -- HB15-1085

Representative Thurlow, sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1085 concerning the on-line publication of fiscal information by a county. The bill allows a board of county commissioners (board) to publish monthly expenditure reports and semiannual financial statements on a website maintained by the county instead of in a legal newspaper. In addition, the bill requires that salary warrants be included in the county's monthly expenditure report.

Representative Thurlow distributed a handout (Attachment B) and discussed the importance of transparency and the changes in technology to make resources more accessible.

15HouseLocal0128AttachB.pdf15HouseLocal0128AttachB.pdf

Representative Ransom asked a question concerning internet accessibility.

Representative Klingenschmitt discussed the fiscal note and the amount of money that will be saved by the county for publishing the information online.


02:20 PM

Representative Thurlow answered questions from the committee concerning the access to county information online.

Representative Keyser discussed access to public information. Representative Fields discussed the history of similar bills in the House Local Government Committee and her concerns with the current bill.


02:30 PM

The committee members continued to discussed the provisions of the bill and accessibility of the internet.

Representative Thurlow said that counties can choose to publish the information either on-line or in a newspaper. He presented amendment L.001 (Attachment C). Representative Thurlow discussed amendment L.001 and changes it makes to the bill.

15HouseLocal0128AttachC.pdf15HouseLocal0128AttachC.pdf

Representative Thurlow answered questions from the committee concerning amendment L.001.

02:40 PM -- Samantha Johnston, Aspen Times, spoke against the bill. She said that legal revenue does not have a large impact in their operations. In addition, Ms. Johnston discussed concerns about separating legal notices into different places, and said that this does not help transparency.

Ms. Johnston answered a question from the committee regarding internet access. She discussed the importance of making information available to people and subsidies to organizations.

Representative Thurlow answered a question from the committee regarding the option to counties on how information will be published.

02:49 PM -- Greg Romberg, representing the Colorado Press Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. He distributed a handout (Attachment D). Mr. Romberg discussed his concerns regarding dispersing public information through a variety of sources. He said that the newspaper centralizes the information in one place to make it easier to access information. He discussed the cost to county governments for publishing information in a newspaper. Mr. Romberg spoke on amendment L.001.

15HouseLocal0128AttachD.pdf15HouseLocal0128AttachD.pdf

Representative Keyser asked a question concerning county governments discretion to publish information.


02:59 PM

Representative Thurlow discussed the accessibility of online information. Mr. Romberg discussed his concerns regarding the decentralization of government legal notices.

The committee members discussed the importance of information access and local newspapers.

03:08 PM -- Gerard Healey, Colorado Community Media, spoke in opposition to the bill. He discussed community media and the importance of sharing government information. Mr. Healey discussed the history of newspapers as the place of record and said the internet may not be a reliable source to consumers. He discussed the costs to the counties for publishing information on-line. He said that newspapers have to hold counties accountable for publishing the information on time.


03:17 PM

Representative Saine and Mr. Healey dialogued about the costs of publishing information in newspapers.

Representative Thurlow discussed third party verification and accountability.

Mr. Healey answered a question from the committee regarding advertisements and that publishing legal information is a statutory requirement.

03:25 PM -- Rose Pugliese, Mesa County Commissioner, spoke in favor of the bill. She said that the bill only effects financial information regarding county operations and does not effect other public information requirements. Commissioner Pugliese spoke on the costs and current methods to provide information to the public. She discussed the importance of transparency and the other state agencies that are not required to publish information in the newspaper.

03:32 PM -- Donald Rosier, Jefferson County Commissioner, spoke in favor of the bill. He discussed the importance of transparency. Commissioner Rosier discussed the cost to publish public notifications in the newspaper and the access to the Jefferson County website. He discussed the other governing bodies that are exempt from publishing information in the newspaper. He said that the internet allows information to be updated regularly.

Commissioner Rosier answered questions from the committee regarding the costs of publishing information.

03:41 PM -- Richard Orf, Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, spoke in favor of the bill. He said that this bill addresses a financial matter.

03:42 PM -- Pat Ratliff, Colorado Counties, Inc., spoke in favor of the bill.

Representative Thurlow provided a summary of the amendment. He answered questions from the committee members regarding the provisions of the amendment.

The committee members discussed the amendment.
BILL:HB15-1085
TIME: 03:44:11 PM
MOVED:Klingenschmitt
MOTION:Adopt amendment L.001 (Attachment C). The motion passed on a vote of 9-2.
SECONDED:Saine
VOTE
Arndt
Yes
Danielson
Yes
Keyser
Yes
Klingenschmitt
Yes
Navarro
No
Ransom
Yes
Rosenthal
Yes
Saine
Yes
Singer
Yes
Lebsock
Yes
Fields
No
YES: 9 NO: 2 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


Representative Thurlow provided a closing statement on the bill.

The committee members discussed the bill.

BILL:HB15-1085
TIME: 03:52:48 PM
MOVED:Keyser
MOTION:Refer House Bill 15-1085, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a vote of 5-6.
SECONDED:Klingenschmitt
VOTE
Arndt
No
Danielson
No
Keyser
Yes
Klingenschmitt
Yes
Navarro
No
Ransom
Yes
Rosenthal
Yes
Saine
Yes
Singer
No
Lebsock
No
Fields
No
YES: 5 NO: 6 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:HB15-1085
TIME: 03:54:18 PM
MOVED:Singer
MOTION:Postpone House Bill 15-1085 indefinitely. The motion passed on a vote of 7-4.
SECONDED:Rosenthal
VOTE
Arndt
Yes
Danielson
Yes
Keyser
No
Klingenschmitt
No
Navarro
Yes
Ransom
No
Rosenthal
Yes
Saine
No
Singer
Yes
Lebsock
Yes
Fields
Yes
YES: 7 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS



03:55 PM

The committee adjourned.