2022 legislative session

Lobbyist Report

CPA’s contract lobbyist, Jennifer Mello of August Policy Strategies, provided this overview report on the 2022 session.  Mello summarizes major bills from the session (not just those where CPA took a position or monitored), outlines the Colorado budget for 2022-23, and looks ahead to interim committees, ballot initiatives, and races to watch.  Mello also provided this primary report analyzing the results of the June 28th Colorado primary.

CPA Report

This report from CPA staff provides an overview of CPA activities in the 2022 session. It highlights key successes, challenges and implications for future advocacy efforts. In short, CPA successfully lobbied for bill changes that promoted transparency, obtained an exemption on fees that could have resulted in millions of dollars in annual costs to newsrooms, pushed CORA/CCJRA reform to work toward a stronger bill and lost on an small-business advertising bill due to budget constraints, while making significant inroads with legislators and partners. CPA also provided support for national initiatives, filed an amicus brief on a key case, successfully suppressed challenges to public notices, worked with stakeholders on public notice placement issues, and more.

2022 PRIORITIES

For reference, below are the key priorities CPA identified for the 2022 legislative session, as well as resources developed in support of the Supporting Local News bill.

Key Proactive Priorities

 Supporting Local News (HB22-1121)This bill provides tax credits to small businesses for advertising in local news outlets and to individuals who subscribe or donate to local news organizations. See the dedicated bill page for bill language, FAQs, fact sheets and more, 

➢ Open Records Reform: CPA is working with sponsors on a bipartisan bill that would align timeframes and other regulations around criminal records under CCJRA with CORA requirements, require more transparency from agencies on cost estimates, address email retention, and bring down or eliminate costs for requests in the public interest (including those from news media).

Key Defensive Priorities

  Recycling bill: A forthcoming Enhanced Producer Responsibility bill that would require producers of certain goods to take responsibility for the recycling costs of their products. Early drafts have included newspapers and magazines. Based on 2022 rates in British Columbia (the only active program that includes newsprint), this could result in a fee that would raise the effective price of newsprint by 50%, which would be extremely detrimental to members. We are working with proponents to add newspapers to exempted products, which already include books. Like books, newspapers are products, not packaging. Further, it is a product that is 100% biodegradable with high recycling rates. For decades, newspapers have worked to make their products increasingly environmentally friendly and have been at the forefront of proactive programs in that regard. According to the EPA’s own data, newspapers comprise less than 1.7% (down from 4.6%in 1995) of municipal solid waste. We are hopeful that the bill’s proponents will see the logic in excluding newspapers and will keep members apprised of the status of this bill.

  Public notices Public notices are an important component of transparency into government activity and many business activities of public interest. We are committed to not only defending these notices but proactively promoting their role in keeping the public informed.

Email updates: March 3rd, March 11, March 31