Does #1-9 v. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

In an unprecedented application of the Colorado Open Meetings Law (“OML”), two separate panels of the Colorado Court of Appeals held that the adoption of an “internal policy” by the staff of CDPHE constituted an open meetings violation under the theory that the policy should have been adopted by a public body instead.This interpretation could easily extend to municipalities because OML contains a parallel provision for “local public bodies.” C.R.S. § 24-6-402 (2)(b). Several months later, a third panel of the Court of Appeals held that the OML only applies to formally constituted bodies such as boards and commissions. Does # 1-9 v. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 2018 WL 3580688 (Colo. App., July 26, 2018); cert. granted (2019).

CML joined as amicus along with seventeen state agencies in support of CDPHE. If the Supreme Court broadly interprets “state public bodies” as argued by the John Doe Doctors, then an equally broad interpretation of “local public bodies” is likely. 

View CML Amicus Brief