(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 and school district director 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. An independent expenditure committee that makes expenditures in
connection with a municipal election 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. L. 2022: (1)(a)(II) amended, (HB 22-1060),
ch. 99, p. 474, � 4, effective July 1. L. 2023: (1)(b) amended, (HB 23-1245), ch. 417, p.
2467, � 3, effective January 1, 2024.