SB 24-129

Senate Bill 24-129, which has been signed into law and will take effect on August 7, 2024, aims to protect the privacy of members in nonprofit organizations by prohibiting public agencies from requiring or disclosing personal information about these members. This means that public agencies cannot ask nonprofits for lists of their supporters or financial contributors, nor can they share such data with others. If a public agency violates this law, affected nonprofits and their members can sue the agency for damages starting at $2,500 per violation. The bill ensures that private information remains confidential, safeguarding the privacy of nonprofit members while also allowing them to seek legal recourse if their rights are breached.

Official Summary

With certain exceptions, the act prohibits a public agency from: Requiring any person to provide the public agency with data that may identify a member of a nonprofit entity (member-specific data) or compelling the disclosure of member-specific data; Disclosing member-specific data to any person; or Requesting or requiring a current or prospective contractor or a current or prospective grantee of a grant program administered by the public agency to provide a list of nonprofit entities to which the current or prospective contractor or grantee has provided financial or nonfinancial support. A nonprofit entity or any of its members affected adversely by a public agency's violation of the act's provisions may initiate a civil action against the public agency in district court for injunctive relief, damages, or such other relief as is appropriate. Notwithstanding existing laws concerning governmental immunity, a court may award damages against a public agency that violates the act's provisions as follows: Not less than $2,500 for each reckless violation; and Not less than $7,500 for each intentional violation. A court may also award the costs of litigation to a complainant that prevails in such an action. The act prohibits a custodian of public records (custodian) from requiring a nonprofit entity to produce member-specific data that is contained in public records if such records are not subject to inspection and copying pursuant to the "Colorado Open Records Act". A custodian must deny any request to inspect, copy, or reproduce any member-specific data in the possession of a public agency and provided to the public agency by a nonprofit entity. A custodian must not require a nonprofit entity to produce records and information relating to the identification of individual employees of nonprofit entities with whom the public entity contracts for services or of individual employees of subcontractors of such nonprofit entities. APPROVED by Governor May 28, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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