How to Fill Out and Submit a Colorado CORA Request Form

Colorado does not publish a single statewide CORA request form. To file a Colorado Open Records Act request, you either use the specific form or online portal that the agency holding the records has posted, or you send that agency’s records custodian a written request (letter or email) that identifies the records you want. The law cares about what your request contains, not what it looks like.

Is There an Official Statewide Form

No. Each covered agency designs its own process. The format ranges from a fillable PDF to an online submission system. Some state agencies, like the Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration, require all requests to go through their online portal and will not process requests submitted any other way.¹ The Office of Information Technology maintains its own system as well.² Cities and counties usually post a downloadable form or an email address for the clerk’s office.

Check the agency’s website under headings like “CORA,” “open records,” or “public information.” If no form exists, a plain email or letter containing the right information is legally equivalent. You are not required to use a specific form, show identification, or explain why you want the records.

What Your Request Must Include

Whether you’re filling in blanks on an agency form or writing from scratch, every request should contain the same core pieces:

Your name and contact information. An email address or phone number so the custodian can send fee estimates, follow-up questions, or the records themselves.
A clear description of the records. Name the document type (emails, contracts, inspection reports), the people or departments involved, and a date range. “All emails between the city manager and the planning director regarding the Elm Street rezoning application from January through June 2025” works. “Any and all records related to zoning” does not.
Your preferred format. Specify digital delivery by email, physical copies for pickup, or in-person inspection. Agencies cannot charge a per-page fee for records delivered electronically, so asking for digital copies is usually the cheapest route.³
A spending cap. State the maximum amount you’re willing to pay. The custodian should contact you for approval before exceeding it, which prevents surprise invoices.

Specificity is your most useful drafting tool. Custodians treat broad requests as a reason to invoke the seven-day extension built into the statute, and the resulting back-and-forth to narrow scope costs you time. If you don’t know exactly what records exist, start narrow and file follow-up requests once you see what the agency produced.

Finding the Right Records Custodian

Every covered agency has an official custodian — the officer or employee responsible for maintaining its public records.⁴ Sending your request to the wrong office is the most common reason for delay, because the agency has no obligation to route a misdirected request internally.

Search the agency’s website for “CORA,” “open records,” or “records request.” Many agencies list a dedicated CORA officer or records manager inside the clerk’s office or legal department. If nothing turns up, call the main number and ask who handles open records requests.

How to Submit Your Request

The method you choose matters because it establishes the date the agency received the request, which starts the response clock. The strongest options:

Online portal. Produces an immediate confirmation and often a tracking number.
Email. Creates a timestamped record. Send it to the designated CORA address, not a general inbox.
Certified mail with return receipt. The most formal option, and the return receipt proves when the agency physically received the request.

Keep a copy of what you submitted and every confirmation you received. If the agency later says it never got the request or misses its deadline, your submission record is what holds it accountable.

What Happens After You Submit

The custodian must respond within three working days of receiving your request. Responding means providing the records, making them available to inspect, or giving you a written explanation of why it cannot.⁵

The custodian can extend that deadline by up to seven additional working days, but only if extenuating circumstances exist and only if the custodian puts that finding in writing within the original three-day window. The statute limits extenuating circumstances to situations like a very large volume of records or a broadly worded request that cannot reasonably be fulfilled in three days.⁵ If your request names a single, specifically identified document, the agency cannot invoke extenuating circumstances at all.

Fees You May Be Charged

An agency can impose research and retrieval fees only if it published a written fee policy on its website or elsewhere before receiving your request.³ Without a posted policy, no staff-time charges apply.

Where a policy exists, the ceilings are:

The first hour of research and retrieval is free.
After the first hour, the maximum hourly rate is $41.37, effective July 1, 2024, and holding at that level until the next statutory adjustment on July 1, 2029.⁶
Physical copies are capped at $0.25 per standard page. Electronic delivery carries no per-page fee.³

Records produced through computer output (database queries and similar extractions) can carry a separate fee based on the agency’s actual system costs.

If the Agency Denies Your Request

Ask for a written explanation that cites the specific statute or regulation the custodian relied on. You are entitled to one under C.R.S. § 24-72-204(4).

Before suing, you must send the custodian written notice of your intent to file in district court. During the fourteen days after that notice, the custodian is required to meet with you in person or by phone to try to resolve the dispute. If the matter isn’t resolved, you can file an application in the district court where the records are located. If you have an urgent need, you can shorten the notice period to three business days by explaining the factual basis for the expedited need in your written notice, and no meeting is required.⁷

If you prevail in court, the judge will order inspection and award you court costs and reasonable attorney fees. The custodian can recover its own fees from you only if the court finds your lawsuit was frivolous, vexatious, or groundless.⁸

Records CORA Does Not Cover

Two categories commonly tripped up by requesters do not run through a CORA form at all. Court records fall under the Colorado Supreme Court’s Rule 2, a separate process modeled on CORA but administered by the judicial branch.⁹ Arrest records, incident reports, and other law enforcement files are governed by the criminal justice records statute at C.R.S. § 24-72-301 and are specifically excluded from CORA’s definition of public records.¹⁰ Submitting a CORA request for either kind of record will get you pointed back to the correct process, costing you time.

1
Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration. Colorado Open Records Act (CORA)
2
Office of Information Technology. CORA – Colorado Open Records Requests
3
Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-205 – Copy, Printout, or Photograph of a Public Record
4
FindLaw. Colorado Code 24-72-202 – Definitions
5
FindLaw. Colorado Code 24-72-203 – Public Records Open to Inspection
6
Colorado General Assembly. Colorado Open Records Act Maximum Hourly Research and Retrieval Fee
7
FindLaw. Colorado Code 24-72-204 – Allowance or Denial of Inspection
8
Justia Law. Colorado Code 24-72-204 – Allowance or Denial of Inspection
9
Colorado Judicial Branch. Rule 2 – Public Access to Administrative Records of the Judicial Branch
10
Colorado General Assembly. Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) – Colorado Law Summary