Defining precisely what a so-called green job actually is and how many have been created in Colorado is perhaps the only job as hard as actually creating such emerald-hued employment— and a University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business survey due later this spring attempting to quantify the growth and qualify the nature of the [...]

“State Transparency Website Not Transparent Enough”–that’s the title of a recent 7NEWS story (video) discussing Rep. B.J. Nikkel’s (R-Loveland) transparency efforts, including the CDOT transparency measure passed 65-0 in the House earlier today.
While Nikkel gives the current state online database–Transparency Online Project or TOPS–a “C” for content, it is the confluence of both that content [...]

Rep. B.J. Nikkel’s HB 1002, designed to close a gap in the state’s online transparency offerings for Colorado’s Department of Transportation, passed out of the House today on a 65-0 vote.
The bill still needs Senate approval, as well as the signature of Gov. John Hickenlooper.

A little transparency goes a long way.
The Public Utilities Commission’s chair, Ron Binz, has rejected any possibility of being reappointed to his current position by Colorado’s new Governor John Hickenlooper. Facing ethics concerns revealed by Colorado Open Records Act requests regarding possible backroom deals that benefited Xcel and a penchant for expensive, overseas junkets that [...]

Earlier this month, COST profiled the excellent investigative reporting conducted by The Denver Channel’s Tony Kovaleski in discovering the profligate spending practices of Pinnacol Assurance’s board of directors, who had spent in excess of $300,000 in posh golf and span junkets.
The subsequent row over the expenses stirred up calls for board resignations, and now COST [...]

Rep. B.J. Nikkel (R-HD 49) earned another win for transparency when HB 1002, a bill that COST profiled two weeks ago, received unanimous bipartisan support in clearing the House Transportation Committee on Wednesday on an impressive 12-0 vote.
A recap of what the transparency bill requires of the Colorado Department of Transportation:
This bill requires the Colorado [...]

As far as personal information goes, medical documents are perhaps among the most important–and also the most closely-held–due to privacy concerns.
When legislators push for compulsory public databases of highly sensitive information, as Colorado did this year with HB10-1330 “All-Payer Database,” the threat of information being disseminated to unknown parties, subject to hacking, or even accidental [...]

Senate Bill 57 had a healthy, full-throated debate on the floor of the state senate today. The senate education committee’s attempt to gut the bill and turn it into a resolution was overturned.
Other amendments on the floor have changed the legislation as follows:

Implementation must be by 2011 rather than 2010
Archived data storage requirement cut back [...]

While we are working hard to educate Colorado about the need for state and local governments to post their spending online where taxpayers can see it, some governments still are in need of even more basic transparency.
The number of special districts in Colorado has grown rapidly in recent years: there are now more than 1,300 [...]

Update, 2/20: COST apologizes for an inadvertent misstatement concerning the amount reported spent by the Falcon 49 superintendent. The wires were crossed, as the 2 million dollars was in reference to something else. In fact, the amount in question is undetermined at this time. We apologize for the error, regret any confusion it caused, and [...]