SB 25-239: Nonattorney Access to Court Data - Colorado

Rerevised (04/10/2025) → Revised (04/09/2025) · 2 edits

MINOR

The bill was revised to reflect its status after second reading in the Senate, removing the '3rd Reading Unamended' stamp and updating the sponsorship list to exclude four House sponsors (Keltie, Smith, and others). This indicates the bill is in a different legislative stage and has been modified in its sponsorship representation.

TECHNICAL

Removed the '3rd Reading Unamended April 10, 2025' stamp and updated the revision header from 'REREVISED' to 'REVISED' to reflect the bill's current legislative status.

Removed four House sponsors (Bird, Keltie, Smith) from the House Sponsorship section, reducing the list to only Sirota and Taggart.

Final Act (04/16/2025) → Rerevised (04/10/2025) · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was reorganized and renumbered from a Senate-only document to a formal joint bill with House and Senate committee assignments. The substantive policy content remains largely the same, allowing non-attorney professionals working with specific government offices to access judicial case databases.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains unchanged; it still applies to the same offices and professionals, though the formatting and presentation have been updated for joint legislative consideration.

TECHNICAL

The document structure was changed from a Senate-only bill to a joint Senate and House bill, including new sponsorship listings and committee assignments.

The bill title and header information were updated to reflect the 'Rerevised' version with all amendments adopted in the Second House.

A bill summary was added explaining that current law allows attorneys under contract with specific offices to access case databases, and this bill extends access to other professionals under contract with those offices.

Page numbers and formatting were updated to reflect the new joint bill structure with proper legislative numbering.

Signed Act (04/28/2025) → Final Act (04/16/2025) · 4 edits

MODERATE

SB 25-239 was amended to correct formatting errors and clarify eligibility criteria for non-attorney professionals who can access Colorado's judicial database. The changes fix typos, standardize language, and ensure clarity about which professionals can access case information.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on granting electronic access to the judicial database for specific non-attorney professionals, but the language clarifying who qualifies was improved.

TECHNICAL

Fixed typos and inconsistent capitalization throughout the bill text, such as changing 'thc' to 'the' and 'arc' to 'are'.

Added a note indicating the bill is prepared for signatures and directing readers to check legislative status sheets.

ELIGIBILITY

Added 'PROFESSIONALS' language to clarify that non-attorney staff under contract with child representation, defense counsel, and respondent parent counsel offices can access the database.

REQUIREMENT

Standardized language about professionals being 'authorized to work with an appointed attorney' across multiple sections.

Reengrossed (04/03/2025) → Signed Act (04/28/2025) · 6 edits · Apr 28, 2025

MODERATE

This bill expands who can access Colorado's public case type judicial database beyond just attorneys. It now allows non-attorney professionals working under contract with three specific government offices (Child's Representative, Alternate Defense Counsel, and Respondent Parents' Counsel) to access case information when authorized to work with appointed attorneys. The changes also update related statutes governing information exchange and access to juvenile records to include these new categories of authorized professionals.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from allowing only attorneys to also include non-attorney professionals under contract with specific government offices, provided they are authorized to work with appointed attorneys in specific cases.

ELIGIBILITY

Added eligibility for non-attorney professionals under contract with the Office of the Child's Representative to access the judicial database when authorized to work with appointed attorneys.

Added eligibility for non-attorney professionals under contract with the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel to access the judicial database when authorized to work with appointed attorneys.

Added eligibility for non-attorney professionals under contract with the Office of the Respondent Parents' Counsel to access the judicial database when authorized to work with appointed attorneys.

Updated information exchange provisions in juvenile delinquency and dependency cases to include the newly eligible non-attorney professionals.

Updated access provisions for juvenile delinquency records to include the newly eligible non-attorney professionals.

REQUIREMENT

Added requirement for the three specified offices to manage user access granted to agencies under the new access provisions.

Engrossed (04/02/2025) → Reengrossed (04/03/2025) · 3 edits · Apr 3, 2025

MINOR

The bill was reengrossed to include all amendments adopted during the House of Introduction, adding sponsor Weissman to the Senate sponsorship list and updating the bill summary availability date to April 3, 2025. These are primarily administrative and procedural changes rather than substantive policy modifications.

TECHNICAL

Added sponsor Weissman to the Senate sponsorship list.

Updated bill summary availability date from an unspecified future date to April 3, 2025.

Changed the bill status header from 'ENGROSSED' to 'REENGROSSED' to reflect inclusion of all House amendments.

Introduced (03/31/2025) → Engrossed (04/02/2025) · 3 edits · Apr 3, 2025

MINOR

The bill was amended from 'Introduced' to 'Engrossed' status, incorporating Senate amendments that clarify eligibility for accessing juvenile case records. The changes expand the list of authorized professionals who can access confidential case information and update the bill's page numbering and formatting.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include additional professionals authorized to access juvenile case records, specifically adding 'other professionals under contract with the office of the respondent parents' counsel' to the list of eligible entities.

ELIGIBILITY

Added 'other professionals under contract with the office of the respondent parents' counsel' to the list of authorized personnel who can access juvenile case records

DEFINITION

Modified the definition of authorized professionals to include those working with appointed attorneys in addition to existing categories

TECHNICAL

Updated bill status from 'Introduced' to 'Engrossed' and corrected page numbering and formatting throughout the document

Nonattorney Access to Court Data

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