Citing Connectivity Needs, Hickenlooper Vetoes Expense Disclosure Changes

(TNS) — In part of a series of vetoes Tuesday, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper rejected a bill that would have cut requirements for county governments to disclose expense and salary reports.

Pushed by state Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, Senate Bill 156 also would have removed requirements in Colorado law that county governments publish such information in a newspaper.

Cooke cited the cost of complying with requirements to publish expense reports (once per month) and public official salary reports (twice per year) in newspapers. His bill would have required both reports be generated annually instead and also would have removed the requirement those reports be published in a newspaper. Weld County commissioners support the bill.

The Greeley Tribune publishes these reports and more for Weld, earning a little more than $30,000 per year from the county's $327 million budget.

In a veto letter, Hickenlooper said he supports the basic idea behind the bill but that he thinks access to broadband internet has to be more universal before the information in question is no longer required to appear in a county's newspaper of record.

"The underlying law was enacted in a time when newspapers were the dominant, if not sole, form of public information in all communities. For some communities, this is still the norm," Hickenlooper said in the letter. "We are persuaded that the sponsors' concept is sound and the bill's time is near. But that time must closely align with full broadband availability throughout the state. To that end, we encourage the sponsors to bring this bill next year with trigger language taking effect not at a date certain, but rather once full broadband buildout is achieved."

Hickenlooper also vetoed three other bills Tuesday: House Bill 1263, which would have provided medical marijuana access for people with autism spectrum disorder; House Bill 1083, which would have exempted private planes from sales and use taxes; and House Bill 1011, which would have allowed publicly traded corporations to invest in marijuana businesses.

That brings the total number of Hickenlooper's vetoes from the recently ended legislative session to nine — the most he's turned down in one year since taking office in 2010.

©2018 the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.), Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.