42-1-206. Records open to inspection - furnishing of copies.

(1) (a) Except as provided in part 2 of article 72 of title 24, C.R.S., and subsection (6) of this section, all records made public records by any provision of this title and kept in the office of the department shall be open to inspection by the public during business hours under such reasonable rules relating thereto as the executive director of the department may prescribe.

(b) (I) For purposes of subsections (1) to (3) and (5) of this section, "law" shall mean the federal "Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994", 18 U.S.C. sec. 2721 et seq., the federal "Fair Credit Reporting Act", 15 U.S.C. sec. 1681 et seq., part 2 of article 72 of title 24, C.R.S., and this section. The department shall prepare a requestor release form and make such form available to the department's authorized agents. The form shall include the following:

(A) A statement indicating whether the requestor will use the motor vehicle or driver records or transfer or resell such records to another person for any purpose prohibited by law;

(B) A warning that any person using motor vehicle or driver records, or obtaining, reselling, or transferring the same, for purposes prohibited by law may be subject to civil penalties under federal and state law; and

(C) An affidavit of intended use that states that such requestor shall not obtain, use, resell, or transfer the information for any purpose prohibited by law.

(II) The department or an authorized agent shall require any person, other than a person in interest as defined in section 24-72-202 (4), C.R.S., or a federal, state, or local government agency carrying out its official functions, requesting inspection of a motor vehicle or driver record from the department or agent individually or in bulk, to sign a requestor release form and, under penalty of perjury, an affidavit of intended use prior to providing the record to such person. The department or authorized agent may allow inspection of motor vehicle and driver records only as authorized under section 24-72-204 (7), C.R.S.

(2) (a) Except as provided in subsection (6) of this section, upon written application and the payment of a fee of two dollars and twenty cents per copy, or a record search for each copy requested, the department shall furnish to any person a photostatic copy of any specified record or accident report specifically made a public record by any provision of this title and shall, for the additional fee of fifty cents per certification, if requested, certify the same. Fees collected under this subsection (2) shall be used to defray the expenses of providing such copies; except that ten cents of each fee collected by the authorized agent shall be credited to the special purpose account established under section 42-1-211 and the entire fee for vehicle and manufactured home records, if collected directly by the department, shall be credited to the special purpose account established under section 42-1-211.

(b) An authorized agent of the department shall not provide the service of furnishing copies of certain records to members of the public if copies of such records are available to the public directly from the department.

(3) Repealed. / (Deleted by amendment, L. 99, p. 345, § 3, effective April 16, 1999.)

(3.5) (a) The department shall not sell, permit the sale of, or otherwise release to anyone other than the person in interest any photograph, electronically stored photograph, digitized image, fingerprint, or social security number filed with, maintained by, or prepared by the department of revenue pursuant to section 42-2-121 (2) (c) (I) (F) or (2) (c) (I) (H).

(b) Nothing in this subsection (3.5) shall prevent the department from sharing any information with a criminal justice agency as defined in section 24-72-302 (3), C.R.S.

(c) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2000, p. 1340, § 2, effective May 30, 2000.)

(d) The department of revenue shall make every effort to retrieve all copies of photographs, electronically stored photographs, or digitized images that may have been sold by the department under subsection (3), as said subsection existed prior to its repeal in 1999, of this section.

(3.7) (a) The department shall establish a system to allow bulk electronic transfer of information to primary users and vendors who are permitted to receive such information pursuant to section 24-72-204 (7), C.R.S. Bulk transfers to vendors shall be limited strictly to vendors who transfer or resell such information for purposes permitted by law. Such information shall consist of the information contained in a driver's license application under section 42-2-107, a driver's license renewal application under section 42-2-118, a duplicate driver's license application under section 42-2-117, a commercial driver's license application under section 42-2-403, an identification card application under section 42-2-302, a motor vehicle title application under section 42-6-116, a motor vehicle registration application under section 42-3-113, or other official record or document maintained by the department under section 42-2-121.

(b) The department shall promulgate rules governing annual contracts with primary users and vendors for the purpose of establishing bulk electronic transfer of information to primary users and vendors pursuant to an annual affidavit and release form and shall require that the contracts include, at a minimum:

(I) A provision for a reasonable fee that encompasses all direct costs of the department related to the bulk electronic transfer of information to that primary user or vendor;

(II) A provision that prohibits any use not otherwise authorized by law;

(III) A provision that requires the primary user or vendor to specify the designated use and recipients of the information; and

(IV) A provision that prohibits any resale or transfer of the information other than as specified in the contract or in a manner that is prohibited by law.

(c) Repealed.

(d) The department shall provide bulk electronic transfer in accordance with the limitations and restrictions regarding release of information in this section as well as section 24-72-204, C.R.S. The department shall not release photographs, electronically stored photographs, digitized images, or fingerprints filed with, maintained by, or prepared by the department through bulk electronic transfer.

(e) The department shall forward all fees collected pursuant to contracts entered into with primary users or vendors pursuant to this subsection (3.7) to the state treasurer, who shall credit the same to the highway users tax fund. The general assembly shall make annual appropriations from the general fund for the costs associated with the administration of this subsection (3.7).

(f) The executive director of the department shall promulgate rules as are consistent with current law and necessary to carry out the provisions of this subsection (3.7).

(4) Notwithstanding the amount specified for any fee in this section, the executive director of the department by rule or as otherwise provided by law may reduce the amount of one or more of the fees if necessary pursuant to section 24-75-402 (3), C.R.S., to reduce the uncommitted reserves of the fund to which all or any portion of one or more of the fees is credited. After the uncommitted reserves of the fund are sufficiently reduced, the executive director of the department by rule or as otherwise provided by law may increase the amount of one or more of the fees as provided in section 24-75-402 (4), C.R.S.

(5) Any person who willfully and knowingly obtains, resells, transfers, or uses information in violation of law shall be liable to any injured party for treble damages, reasonable attorney fees, and costs.

(6) The record of conviction and actions taken by the department for violating section 18-13-122 or 12-47-901 (1) (c), C.R.S., held by the department of revenue, shall not be a public record after the period of revocation imposed under such sections has been concluded; except that this subsection (6) shall not prevent the department from sharing such information with a criminal justice agency as defined in section 24-72-302 (3), C.R.S.

Source: L. 94: Entire title amended with relocations, p. 2107, § 1, effective January 1, 1995. L. 97: (3) added, p. 1178, § 2, effective July 1; entire section amended, p. 1051, § 3, effective September 1. L. 98: (4) added, p. 1351, § 92, effective June 1. L. 99: (3) amended and (3.5) added, p. 345, § 3, effective April 16; (3) repealed and (3.7) added, pp. 1241, 1239, §§ 4, 2, effective August 4. L. 2000: (1)(b)(I)(A), (2)(a), (3.5)(c), and (3.7)(a) amended, p. 1340, § 2, effective May 30. L. 2001: (1)(b), (3.7)(a), IP(3.7)(b), (3.7)(b)(I), and (3.7)(b)(IV) amended and (5) added, p. 587, § 2, effective August 8. L. 2003: (2)(a) amended, p. 1978, § 2, effective May 22. L. 2005: (1)(a) and (2)(a) amended and (6) added, p. 673, § 1, effective June 1; (3.5)(d) amended, p. 782, § 75, effective June 1; (3.7)(a) amended, p. 1171, § 3, effective August 8.

Editor's note: Subsection (3.7)(c)(II) provided for the repeal of subsection (3.7)(c), effective July 1, 2000. (See L. 99, p. 1239.)

Cross references: (1) For public records and the inspection, copying, or photographing thereof, see part 2 of article 72 of title 24.

(2) For the legislative declaration contained in the 1997 act amending this section, see section 1 of chapter 201, Session Laws of Colorado 1997.