Colorado Legislative Council Staff

NO FISCAL IMPACT

TITLE:            CONCERNING ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION MAINTAINED BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

Summary of Assessment

            The bill would require that the Secretary of State provide electronic read-only access through the Internet to public information related to campaign finance, information required by the Public Official Disclosure Law dealing with lobbyists and public officials, regulation of lobbyists, and information required under the Open Meetings Law. The bill would become effective July 1,1999.

            The Secretary of State is currently in the process of creating a system on the Internet that would provide most of the information required under this bill. Additional information that this bill may require to be placed on the Internet would be added with minimal effort. Since the Secretary of State's office has committed resources for this purpose, there would be no fiscal impact. The fee structure is established and is not estimated to alter revenues significantly. The number of persons accessing the information through the current Direct Address System may change to the Internet for ease of use. However, the number of users is not expected to change significantly. Therefore, this bill is assessed as having no fiscal impact.

Departments Contacted

            Secretary of State