DENVER Gov. John Hickenlooper and senior legislators refused to pledge Friday that they will negotiate the state budget in full view of the public next year.
Colorados sunshine law requires meetings of two or more legislators to be conducted in public, with at least 24 hours notice. But last April, the Legislatures six-person Joint Budget Committee abruptly retreated behind closed doors in order to finish a heated negotiation between Democrats and Republicans on the $18 billion budget.
A day later, the press and public learned they were in Hickenloopers budget office, meeting with his advisers.
When reporters asked the governor and legislators Friday about next years budget, they did not pledge to avoid more secret negotiations.
Hickenlooper said he would prefer legislators to work out the budget themselves, but his offices are open if they need a place to finalize their negotiations.
The vast majority of the brokering was overstated last year, Hickenlooper said. We provided a kind of neutral ground where some of those discussions could take place.
The open meetings law declares that the formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.
Im unaware that we broke any laws as people came in and out for ad hoc meetings repeatedly. I dont know how we were supposed to advertise that, in the hurly-burly of trying to get a bill passed. Thats probably something we should talk about, Hickenlooper said.
Although legislators talk to each other in private on a daily basis, it is rare for JBC members to avoid a scheduled public meeting and convene in private.
When reporters discovered a meeting in the governors budget office last April and walked in, JBC members left and quickly reassembled in another room upstairs. When a Colorado Statesman reporter entered that meeting, legislators left again.
JBC members struggled to draft a budget in April because the House and Senate are controlled by rival parties for the first time in a decade.
At the time, Democrats complained that Speaker of the House Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, would not give a free hand to the two JBC members he appointed to negotiate with Democrats.
Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, said the JBC process has worked well for decades.
I think that process wasnt allowed to play out the way its supposed to, Shaffer said. The best thing that leadership at this table can do is to allow our JBC members the flexibility and the authority to make difficult decisions around balancing this years budget.
McNulty said Colorado has a long record of having holding meetings and making decisions in public.
I think thats a credit to Colorado. We all should take that very seriously, McNulty said.
Last years closed-door negotiations were an improvement on previous years, said Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs.
Most years, the JBC presents the budget to the Legislature, and the other 94 lawmakers are not able to make more than trivial changes.
Last year, a lot more legislators got involved in drafting the budget, even if it happened behind closed doors, Cadman said.
I think thats a good thing, he said. I dont think there was ever any intentional move to hide anything from the press, and certainly no decisions or no votes were hidden. The budget cant be hidden, as much as wed like to hide from doing it on some days.