(by Stacey Weber, TLPC Student Attorney)
The TLPC is pleased to release a policy brief detailing the state of free and open public access to the law in Colorado under the government edicts doctrine. At the request of Carl Malamud, President of Public.Resource.Org., the TLPC took a deep dive into the legal and practical realities of access to the law in Colorado. The brief details our findings, noting that Colorado demonstrates leadership with its open government framework but still has important work to do to preserve access to justice and foster innovation.
Key recommendations include:
- Amending provisions in the Colorado Revised Statutes and Colorado’s pending publishing contract with LexisNexis that incorrectly assert copyright over the law and withhold digital downloading of statutes from the LexisNexis platform;
- Completing Colorado’s project for in-house publication of the Statutes with XML access; and
- Improving access to the law and legal materials on government websites, ideally by providing uniform, centralized, searchable databases that permit bulk digital downloads in the best available format.
You can read and download the report here: