HCPF failed to draft hundreds of relevant documents, petitions
Denver, June 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Sherry PaifeAn award-winning investigative journalist for The Complete Colorado, she told the Denver District Court today that the Colorado Department of Health Policy and Finance (“HCPF”) did not comply with the public records request. asked to order to show
The Colorado Public Records Act (“CORA”) requires most public records, including those created, maintained, or stored by government agencies, to be made available to the public.With some exceptions, Mr. Paif’s petition claim HCPF’s response was insufficient.
Despite repeated efforts to obtain the requested documents, Complete Colorado believes the HCPF unreasonably withheld the requested documents and failed to comply with certain provisions of the law.
“We hope this lawsuit sheds light on the need for greater transparency at all levels.” Colorado What We Offer State Governments and People Colorado Access to public information has improved,” said the editor of Complete Colorado. Mike Krause.
Peiff’s petition highlights:
- reporter Sherry Paife You have submitted a CORA-compliant information request to HCPF. March 7, 2023departments are seeking specific documents related to different conditions and employees.
- CORA Officers of HCPF, Cathy Snowinitially estimated that there were nearly 2,000 records in the search parameters, but later corrected the estimate to 1,550 records that could potentially respond to the request.
- upon April 13, 2023, Only 318 documents were produced by the HCPF. The affidavit Peiff received from Snow referred to attorney-client privilege and/or adjudication process privilege over a number of documents withheld, indicating the amount of documents HCPF estimated to produce versus the amount actually produced. A large gap remains between the amount of documents
- upon May 15, 2023bilateral consultations will be held via video conference.
- upon June 9, 2023the Colorado Attorney General’s Office subsequently provided a modified answer to the request, which produced only six additional documents, bringing the total number of documents produced to 324.
276 of the documents listed in the amended Vaughan Index were claimed under deliberative process privileges, which Complete Colorado said in its petition was “too broad.”
The final total of documents covered was 596, well short of the HCPF’s original estimate of more than 1,550.
Peiff’s petition arrives after payment $2500 Make your first CORA request to HCPF.
“CORA requests for public records are already often out of reach for the press and the public, and Complete Colorado has had to turn to the courts to pursue transparency in the HCPF. It’s a shame,” Krause said.
A petition was filed at: Denver District Court, Case No. 2023-CV-031854.completion Colorado is represented by John S. Zachem and Andrew C. Nickel of jackson kellyPLLC.
About Complete Colorado
completion Colorado is a digital journalism site with an investigative focus, regularly covering issues of public interest statewide. To view the full petition filed and learn more about the details of this lawsuit, please read below. Sherry Paife’s report on the matter here.
media contact
completion Colorado
Mike Krause
Email: [email protected]
jackson kellyPLLCs
Andrew C. Nickel
Phone: 303.390.0003
Source Complete Colorado LLC
