Coloradans across the political spectrum support strong disclosure laws.
Colorado has some of the strongest campaign finance disclosure laws in the country. This means that state campaigns must tell the Colorado Secretary of State about the origin of every dollar that they receive—and how their campaign spends this money. This information is available to the public via the Colorado Secretary of State’s campaign finance database.
In 2002, Colorado voters added campaign finance disclosure requirements into our state constitution through Amendment 27. Colorado Common Cause led the campaign to author, qualify, and pass this amendment—which also included provisions limiting campaign contributions and spending. In 2016 we secured another disclosure victory with the passage of Senate Bill 1282, which requires candidates running for school board to abide by the same disclosure laws as other candidates running for state office in Colorado.
Although we have done much to ensure that Coloradans can “follow the money” in our state elections, we still have work to do. Since the disastrous Citizens United ruling, dark money has increasingly infiltrated state and local races in Colorado. This money comes from nonprofit organizations who are not obligated to release their donors to the public—making the money they spend untraceable to flesh-and-blood humans.
We will continue to fight to ensure that all money spent on elections in Colorado is disclosed and readily available to the public.