DENVER–A citizens’ initiative aimed squarely at government transparency has been filed by Jon Caldara, president of the Denver-based Independence Institute, and Beth Hendrix, executive director of the League of Women voters of Colorado.
The measure is the result of well over a year’s worth of effort by what can only be described as a strange-bedfellows coalition, to create a “fundamental right to know the affairs of all levels of state and local government.”
The transparency proposal amends Article II of the Colorado Constitution ensuring public access to all state and local government proceedings, among other things, putting a right to transparency on par with other guaranteed civil liberties in the state’s Bill of Rights.
“The people find and declare that because all political power is vested in and derived from the people, and by right all government originates from the people, is founded upon their will alone, it is instituted for the good of the whole, the people have a fundamental right to know the affairs of all levels of state and local government,” The amendment reads, in part.
According to Caldara, the effort is a reaction to an ongoing infringement on citizens’ rights to know:
“Active organizations on opposite sides of the political spectrum are running into the same problem – what should be open in a transparent government is closed and opaque,” Caldara told Complete Colorado. “Open records requests blatantly unanswered while more and more of the people business is done behind closed doors. The only way to see what has transpired requires expensive lawsuits to enforce open meetings and open records laws. We have had enough.”
In 2024, for example, the Democrat-controlled legislature outright exempted themselves from parts of Colorado’s open meetings law, and a bill in the 2026 legislature seeks to water down the Colorado Open Records Act(CORA), changing the definition of a public record, increasing CORA response times, and limiting the disclosure of certain records.
“The most unusual and unique political coalition perhaps in Colorado history, has come together to propose a constitutional change, making it a fundamental right that we the people know the affairs of government,” Caldara added.
In addition to Independence Institute (also publisher of Complete Colorado) members of the coalition include League of Women Voters, Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, Colorado Common Cause, Colorado Broadcasters Association, Colorado Press Association, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.
The ballot initiative also lays out sanctions for government employees and public officials who violate the law, imposing a $1,000 fine per violation.
The measure was filed Feb. 13 and faces a lengthy process on the way to the Nov. statewide ballot, including review by Legislative Council Staff, followed by a Title Board hearing, then on to the Secretary of State for petition approval, all before the first signature can be gathered.
Under Colorado law, any proposal seeking to amend the Constitution must acquire signatures from 2% of total registered voters in all of Colorado’s 35 senate districts and must be passed by a super-majority 55% of voters.
