2022 Colorado Code
Title 1 - Elections
Article 45 - Fair Campaign Practices Act
§ 1-45-109. Filing - Where to File - Timeliness

(1) For the purpose of meeting the filing and reporting requirements of this article 45:

(a) The following shall file with the secretary of state:

(I) Candidates for statewide office, the general assembly, district attorney, district court judge, school district director, or any office representing more than one county; the candidate committees for such candidates; political committees in support of or in opposition to such candidates; issue committees in support of or in opposition to an issue on the ballot in more than one county; small donor committees making contributions to such candidates; and persons expending one thousand dollars or more per calendar year on electioneering communications.

(II) Candidates in special district elections; the candidate committees of such candidates; political committees in support of or in opposition to such candidates; issue committees supporting or opposing a special district ballot issue; and small donor committees making contributions to such candidates.

(b) Candidates in municipal elections, their candidate committees, any political committee in support of or in opposition to such candidate, an issue committee supporting or opposing a municipal ballot issue, and small donor committees making contributions to such candidates shall file with the municipal clerk.

(c) All other candidates, candidate committees, issue committees, political committees, and small donor committees shall file with the secretary of state.

(2) (a) Reports required to be filed by this article 45 are timely if received by the appropriate officer not later than the close of business on the due date.

(b) A person upon whom a penalty has been imposed for failure to file a statement or other information required to be filed pursuant to section 5, 6, or 7 of article XXVIII of the state constitution or section 1-45-108, this section, or section 1-45-110 by the due date may appeal the penalty by filing a written appeal with the appropriate officer no later than thirty days after the date on which notification of the imposition of the penalty was mailed to the person's last-known address. Upon receipt of an appeal pursuant to this paragraph (b), the appropriate officer shall set aside or reduce the penalty upon a showing of good cause.

(3) In addition to any other reporting requirements of this article, every incumbent in public office and every candidate elected to public office is subject to the reporting requirements of section 24-6-203, C.R.S.

(4) (a) All reports required to be filed by this article 45 are public records and are open to inspection by the public during regular business hours. A copy of the report must be kept by the appropriate officer and a copy shall be made available immediately in a file for public inspection. When the secretary of state is the appropriate officer, the secretary shall make reports viewable on the secretary of state's official website.

(b) and (c) Repealed.

(5) (a) The secretary of state shall operate and maintain a website so as to allow any person who wishes to review reports filed with the secretary of state's office pursuant to this article electronic read-only access to such reports free of charge.

(b) All reports required to be filed by this article that are electronically filed pursuant to subsection (6) of this section shall be made available immediately on the website.

(c) The website shall enable a user to produce summary reports based on search criteria that shall include, but not be limited to the reporting period, date, name of the person making a contribution or expenditure, candidate, and committee.

(d) At the earliest practicable date, the secretary of state shall develop and implement improvements to the website's design and structure to improve the public's ability to navigate, search, browse, download, and analyze information. Such improvements shall include but need not be limited to:

(I) Enhanced searching and summary reporting, including additional search fields such as zip code, employer, and vendor, the ability to search across multiple committees and all filers, the ability to filter or limit searches, such as by election cycle or candidate, the inclusion of smart-search features such as "name sounds like" or "name contains", and numerical totaling of amounts shown on search results;

(II) Features that facilitate the ability to download raw data and search results in one or more common formats to enable offline sorting and analyzing;

(III) Detailed, technical instructions for users;

(IV) Information to help users determine the scope of candidates' and committees' reports and campaign data available online, including explanations of which types of reports are available, the period covered by the online data, and which specific reports can be viewed for each campaign committee; and

(V) Resources that give the public comparative context when viewing campaign finance data, such as compilations of the total amounts of money raised and spent by individual candidates, lists of total amounts raised and spent by all statewide and legislative candidates, and compilations of fundraising and spending across candidates and election cycles.

(e) The secretary of state may promulgate rules necessary for the implementation of this subsection (5). Such rules shall be promulgated in accordance with article 4 of title 24, C.R.S.

(6) (a) The secretary of state shall establish, operate, and maintain a system that enables electronic filing using the internet of the reports required by this article to be filed with the secretary of state's office. In accordance with the provisions of section 24-21-111 (1), C.R.S., the secretary may require any filing under this section to be made by electronic means as determined by the secretary. The rules for use of the electronic filing system shall be promulgated by the secretary in accordance with article 4 of title 24, C.R.S.

(b) Any person required to file with the secretary of state's office shall use the electronic filing system described in paragraph (a) of this subsection (6) in order to meet the filing requirements of this article, if so required by the secretary in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subsection (6), except insofar as an alternate method of filing may be permitted by the secretary. Where a person uses such electronic filing system to meet the filing requirements of this article, the secretary of state shall acknowledge by electronic means the receipt of such filing.

(7) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 1296 , § 1, effective July 1, 2007.)

(8) (a) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 1296 , § 1, effective July 1, 2007.)

(b) (I) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 1296 , § 1, effective July 1, 2007.)

(II) and (III) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2009, (HB 09-1357), ch. 361, p. 1872, § 2, effective July 1, 2009.)

(c) (I) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 1296 , § 1, effective July 1, 2007.)

(II) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2009, (HB 09-1357), ch. 361, p. 1872, § 2, effective July 1, 2009.)

(9) Subsection (1) of this section shall not be construed to require the secretary of state to review reports electronically filed by persons beyond the duties specified in section 9 of article XXVIII of the state constitution.

(10) to (12) Repealed.

Source: Initiated 96: Entire article R&RE, effective upon proclamation of the Governor, January 15, 1997. L. 2000: (4), (5), and (6) amended, p. 125, § 7, effective March 15. L. 2001: (1) amended and (7), (8), and (9) added, p. 808, § 2, effective August 8; (6)(b) amended, p. 1111, § 3, effective September 1. L. 2002: (1) and (4)(a) amended, p. 1640, § 34, effective June 7. L. 2003: (1) and (7)(b) amended, p. 2159, § 4, effective June 3. L. 2005: (9) amended, p. 760, § 7, effective June 1. L. 2007: (5), (6), (7), (8), and (9) amended, p. 1296, § 1, effective July 1; (2) amended, p. 1983, § 37, effective August 3. L. 2009: (1), (5)(a), (6), (8)(b)(II), (8)(b)(III), (8)(c)(II), and (9) amended and (10) added, (HB 09-1357), ch. 361, p. 1872, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2010: (11) added, (SB 10-203), ch. 269, p. 1235, § 5, effective May 25; (4)(b) and (6) amended, (SB 10-041), ch. 151, p. 523, § 3, effective July 1. L. 2017: (4)(b) amended and (4)(c) and (12) added, (HB 17-1155), ch. 236, p. 966, § 1, effective August 9. L. 2018: IP(1), (1)(a)(I), (2)(a), (4)(a), (4)(b), and (4)(c)(I) amended, (HB 18-1047), ch. 155, p. 1094, § 5, effective April 23. L. 2019: (4)(b), (4)(c), (11), and (12) repealed, (SB 19-232), ch. 330, p. 3065, § 3, effective July 1.

Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 1-45-104 as it existed prior to 1996.

(2) Subsection (10)(e) provided for the repeal of subsection (10), effective January 1, 2011. (See L. 2009, p. 1872 .)

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in the 2010 act adding subsection (11), see section 1 of chapter 269, Session Laws of Colorado 2010.