(1) All requests made to the office for the drafting of bills or amendments thereto shall be submitted, either in writing or orally, by the legislator or by the governor or the governor's representative making the request, with a general statement respecting the policies and purposes which the person making the request desires the bill or amendment to accomplish. The office shall draft each bill or amendment to conform to the purposes so stated or to supplementary instructions of the person making the original request.
(a) Prior to the introduction of a bill or amendment in the general assembly, no employee of the office shall reveal to any person outside the office the contents or nature of such bill or amendment, except with the consent of the person making the request. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the disclosure to the staff of any legislative service agency of such information concerning bills or amendments prior to introduction as is necessary to expedite the preparation of fiscal notes, as provided by the rules of the general assembly, but such staff shall not reveal the contents or nature of such bills or amendments to any other person without the consent of the person making the request.
All documents prepared or assembled in response to a request for a bill or amendment, other than the introduced version of a bill or amendment that was in fact introduced, shall be considered work product, as defined in section 24-72-202 (6.5), C.R.S.
(I) The final version of all documents prepared or assembled by the office for amember of the general assembly but not in response to a request for a bill or amendment and not containing legal analysis or expressing a legal opinion or conclusion shall not be considered work product as defined in section 24-72-202 (6.5), C.R.S. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (e) of this subsection (2), the final version of such documents shall be a public record. These documents include, but are not limited to:
Comparisons of existing law with the provisions of any bill or amendment, comparisons of any bills or amendments with other bills or amendments, comparisons of different versions of bills or amendments, and comparisons of the laws of this state with laws of other jurisdictions;
Compilations of existing public information, statistics, or data;
Compilations or explanations of general areas or bodies of law, legislative history, orlegislative policy.
(II) Prior to delivery of the final version of such a document to the member who requested it, no employee of the office shall reveal to any person outside the office the contents or nature of the document, except with the consent of the member making the request.
If a member of the general assembly requests a legal opinion or document from theoffice that is the same as or substantially similar to a legal opinion or document previously requested by another member, the office may produce an identical or substantially similar legal opinion or document for the second member. The office shall not disclose the identity of any member who made a previous request.
A member may request that the final version of a document that would otherwisebecome a public record in accordance with paragraph (c) of this subsection (2) remain work product.
No employee of the office shall lobby, personally or in any other manner, directly orindirectly, for or against any pending legislation before the general assembly.
Source: L. 68: R&RE, p. 141, § 178. C.R.S. 1963: § 63-3-5. L. 88: Entire section amended, p. 308, § 11, effective May 23. L. 96: Entire section amended, p. 1479, § 2, effective June 1. L. 97: (2) amended, p. 1103, § 1, effective August 6.
Use of supreme court library. The librarian of the supreme court library shall facilitate the work of the office by permitting the liberal withdrawal of materials and data therefrom, subject to such reasonable rules as may be necessary for the proper operation of the library.
Source: L. 68: R&RE, p. 141, § 178. C.R.S. 1963: § 63-3-6.
Office space in capitol - office hours - appropriations. (1) The office shall be provided with suitable office space in the state capitol, so situated as to be convenient for the members of the general assembly. Throughout the year, the office shall be kept open during the hours prevailing in other offices in the state capitol, and at such other times in order to efficiently serve the general assembly.
(2) Adequate appropriations shall be made to carry out the purposes of this part 5, to be included in the appropriation to the legislative department. The controller is authorized and directed to draw warrants monthly in payment of the salaries of personnel, and in payment of expenditures of the office, on vouchers signed by the chair of the committee or, in the absence of the chair, by the vice-chair; except that any payroll voucher or any other voucher that does not exceed five thousand dollars may be signed by the staff director or, with prior written approval of the chair of the committee, by the staff director's authorized designee.
Source: L. 68: R&RE, p. 141, § 178. C.R.S. 1963: § 63-3-7. L. 93: (2) amended, p. 348, § 1, effective April 12. L. 2016: (2) amended, (SB 16-031), ch. 23, p. 55, § 1, effective March 18.
Terminology - references. The office of legislative legal services shall be the successor in every way of the legislative drafting office and the office of revisor of statutes, and every contract, agreement, or other document entered into by the legislative drafting office or the office of revisor of statutes prior to May 23, 1988, is deemed to have been entered into by the office of legislative legal services. The director and the employees of the legislative drafting office and the office of revisor of statutes shall become employees of the office of legislative legal services on May 23, 1988. The director and such employees shall retain all accrued rights to retirement and other benefits under the laws of the state, and their service shall be deemed to have been continuous. If any law of this state refers to the legislative drafting office or the office of revisor of statutes, said law shall be construed as referring to the office of legislative legal services.
Source: L. 68: R&RE, p. 142, § 178. C.R.S. 1963: § 63-3-8. L. 88: Entire section R&RE, p. 308, § 12, effective May 23.
Transfer of employees. (Repealed)
Source: L. 68: p. 142, § 180. C.R.S. 1963: § 63-3-9. L. 88: Entire section repealed, p. 313, § 24, effective May 23.
Study regarding an organizational recodification of title 12 of the ColoradoRevised Statutes - legislative declaration - repeal. (Repealed)
Source: L. 2016: Entire section added, (SB 16-163), ch. 283, p. 1157, § 1, effective June 10. L. 2018: (2)(b) and (4) amended, (SB 18-031), ch. 285, p. 1772, § 1, effective August 8.
Editor's note: Subsection (4) provided for the repeal of this section, effective September 1, 2019. (See L. 2018, p. 1772.)
Office of legislative workplace relations - creation - duties - records definitions. (1) The office of legislative workplace relations is created in the office of legislative legal services. The head of the office is the director of the office of legislative workplace relations. The director of the office of legislative legal services shall appoint the director of the office of legislative workplace relations and may appoint such additional staff as may be necessary for the efficient operation of the office, in accordance with section 2-3-503 (1).
The office of legislative workplace relations shall provide services to the generalassembly, its members and employees, and the legislative staff agencies related to employee relations; training; compliance; workplace culture, including the investigation of complaints under the workplace expectations policy; and workplace harassment, including the investigation of complaints under the workplace harassment policy.
Records created and maintained by the office of legislative workplace relations thatare related to a workplace harassment complaint or investigation, a complaint under the workplace expectations policy, or an inquiry or request concerning workplace harassment or conduct, whether or not the inquiry or request leads to a formal or informal complaint or resolution process, are not public records as defined in section 24-72-202 (6) and shall not be made available for public inspection; except that, notwithstanding the provisions of section 2472-204 (3)(a)(X):
The director of the office of legislative workplace relations shall publish and makeavailable to the public an annual statistical report showing the total number of complaints received under the workplace harassment policy and the workplace expectations policy and their resolution. The director shall ensure that the report does not contain information that would disclose the identity of a complainant, respondent, or witness.
(I) Except as provided in subsection (3)(b)(II) of this section, if, after an investigationin accordance with the workplace harassment policy, a workplace harassment committee of the senate or house of representatives finds that the facts found more likely than not in the investigation establish a violation of the policy by a member of the general assembly, the director of the office of legislative workplace relations shall make available to the public the executive summary of the report of the investigation and the name of the member. The director shall ensure that the executive summary does not contain information that would disclose the identity of the complainant or any witness.
(II) The committee may decide by a two-thirds vote to not release the executive summary as required by subsection (3)(b)(I) of this section. The committee shall meet in executive session to determine whether to release the executive summary or any portion thereof and shall take into consideration the severity of the conduct alleged, any patterns of harassing behavior by the member, and the public's interest in being informed of the conduct of elected officials.
Records of the expenditure of public money on complaints, investigations, or otherfunctions of the office of legislative workplace relations are public records subject to inspection in accordance with part 2 of article 72 of title 24, except to the extent that they contain information that would disclose the details of, or the identity of an individual involved in, a complaint, investigation, or inquiry or request concerning workplace harassment or conduct.
The office of legislative workplace relations shall be provided with suitable officespace in the state capitol or in a nearby building. The office space must be situated so as to provide confidentiality and convenient access for individuals covered by the workplace harassment policy and the workplace expectations policy.
As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
"Workplace expectations policy" means the workplace expectations policy adoptedby the executive committee of the legislative council pursuant to the joint rules.
"Workplace harassment policy" means the workplace harassment policy adopted bythe executive committee of the legislative council pursuant to the joint rules.
Source: L. 2019: Entire section added, (SB 19-244), ch. 243, p. 2375, § 1, effective May 20.