Legislative Records

Do I need to have a recording of Colorado General Assembly legislative audio?

Can I just get a transcript instead?

How many hours of recorded material are there for the bill I'm interested in?

How much do legislative audio recordings cost?

How long will it take to receive my recording?

I’m interested in the legislative history of a section of the Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS). How do I find do this?

How do I request a recording of legislative audio?

Do I need to have a recording of Colorado General Assembly legislative audio?

1973-2001               Yes. Due to technical difficulties and deterioration of the tapes over time, some sessions were not recorded or are inaudible. Also, because of the rapid deterioration of both the tapes and the machines to play them on, un-transferred hearings before 2002 must be transferred to digital format by trained archival staff. If the bill in question has already been digitized, then you can contact us to schedule an appointment to listen at the Archives.

2002-2011               Maybe. It depends on your preference. You can contact us to schedule an appointment to listen to this audio for free at the State Archives. If you want to listen at home or the office, though, you will need to request a copy.

2012-present          No. Listen online on the General Assembly webpage.

Can I just get a transcript instead?

No. There are no prepared transcripts available for General Assembly proceedings at the Archives.

How many hours of recorded material are there for the bill I'm interested in?

The short answer: if it hasn't been recorded yet, we don't know.

Once we know the bill number we have to find out the committee the bill was assigned to as well as the date and time it was discussed there. Then, if applicable, we do the same for the committee in the opposite house. Using Committee Summary Reports we can find out precisely how long the bill was discussed in committee. Floor debate in the House and Senate is harder to pin down. There are no timestamped records of the proceedings, so we never know with 100% certainty how long the recording of the floor debates will be. That said, there is a reliable rule of thumb. One hour in committee usually means 10-15 minutes of floor debate.

If you have access to Daily Status Sheets and Committee Summaries you can estimate the amount of time your bill was discussed using the same process described above.

But we would be glad to provide you with an estimate of how long a recording will be.  Give our research desk a call, or make an ONLINE REQUEST.

How much do legislative audio recordings cost?

Our fees change every fiscal year.

How long will it take to receive my recording?

If the bill you are researching has been recorded, it will be 2 weeks or less.

If the bill you are researching has never been recorded, it generally takes 4-6 weeks. These requests are time-intensive projects.

All requests are handled on a first come, first served basis.

Rush services are not available.

I’m interested in the legislative history of a section of the Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS). How do I find do this?

All legislative resources at the State Archives are organized by bill number. You will need the annotation from the CRS section of interest, which will enable you to track the history of the section to session law and other relevant resources. 

How do I request a recording of legislative audio?

The only information we need to fulfill your request is the bill number. Once you have that information you can MAKE A REQUEST.