Colorado State Archives
Legislative History Information

Customer Access to Early Legislative Recordings (1973 – 2001)
Effective August 14, 2012

The slow deterioration and growing risk of loss concerning the early audio recordings of the Legislature has been documents and discussed for many years.  The lack of funding for preservation of tapes or repair of the machines has resulted in an increased risk of destruction of the machines (which cannot be replaced) and the tapes themselves, which are the only record of these legislative hearings.

With the partial loss of functionality of two machines over the past 12 months and with the momentary complete lost of the earlier machines, it has become necessary to extend the limitation on tape access to all the magnetic tape-based legislative hearings.  This includes three years of the Lanier recordings (1998-2001), all the years of the Magnasync recordings (1982-1998), as well as the entire span of Dictaphone tapes (1973-1981).

Access to tapes recorded January 1973 - December 2001 will now be handled in the manner similar to that which is employed for the duplication of photographs and other fragile archival items.  Individuals and agencies wishing to hear these legislative sessions may request duplicated copies of individual bills, professionally transferred by trained archival staff to compact dist at a cost of $75 for the first hour of material, $65 for each additional hour.  Certifications are $25 (regardless of length). Duplicates of these recordings will then be archived, preserving those recordings for future access.  If the Bill in question has already been transferred to compact disk, then appointments may be made in the same manner as for later legislative session recordings.

As these Legislative tapes are unique and increasingly fragile, acces to them must be monitored and handled only by personnel specifically trained in audio recovery and the handling of antiquated audio equipment.  With proper care, these recordings could be duplicated as needed for preservation with the cost passed on to the customer. T his would minimize wear on the machines and tapes to preserve those bills that are transferred and reduce the risk of damage by the general pubic or untrained personnel.

Both machines and tapes have now deteriorated to the point that any but trained personnel cannot safely operate them without risking permanent loss of material on the tapes or the machines themselves.  In much the same way that trained individuals must handle fragile documents, the machines and tapes have become fragile enough that they customers can no longer be allowed to be accessed them directly.  This is a matter of preservation, as these recordings represent the only surviving record of these legislative hearings, recorded to tape as required by provisions of the Open Records Act.

Customer Access to Later Legislative Recordings (2002 – 2011)

Legislative recordings on the Dictaphone Freedom System (2002 – 2011) can either be transferred as listed above, or can be heard in person by coming in to the State Archives.  Customers can call 303-866-2358 to make an appointment to hear these recordings.  The cost to hear these recordings is $20 for setup, $10 per hour spent listening.  Customers are allowed to bring in recording equipment to listen to these hearings.

Recordings after 2011 are available online through the Colorado General Assembly’s webpage at: http://www.leg.state.co.us.