A Colorado Senate committee on Thursday passed a bill that looks to prohibit governments across the state – from the Capitol to the smallest school district – from signing non-disclosure agreements with employees who settle complaints or lawsuits.

The State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee voted, 4-1, to send Senate Bill 23-53 to the body’s full chamber next week. Centennial Democrat Tom Sullivan was the lone dissent. 

Bill sponsor Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Weld County Republican, has called the measure “a good-government bill, a fundamental principle that government should be conducted in the light.” 

The committee’s approval came after member Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, offered several amendments – some of them she’s withholding to shore up until the bill hits the Senate floor – that she said would fine-tune some of the provisions precluding NDAs, as they are better known.

Amendments deal with NDAs that can be used with employees who are privy to information already protected by law, such as trade secrets, security information or even personal information as would be kept by tax authorities.

Gonzales said the bill tackles some of the issues she faced while a member of the Senate’s judiciary committee and an interim committee made up of legislators from both chambers that this summer delved into potential changes to the state’s system of disciplining judges.

She noted how NDAs used by the Judicial Department had thwarted some of the inquiries into allegations of misconduct not being properly investigated.

“Whether, when and how these NDAs are utilized is a matter of great interest to many of us,” Gonzales said.

During testimony two weeks ago, nearly a dozen people – some of them journalists – noted how NDAs muzzle the free-speech rights of government employees, many of them whistleblowers to malfeasance or fraud.

The agreements are often pressed on the employees during settlement negotiations and, according to attorneys who represent them, they ensure the public can never know what’s at the root of the reason for a taxpayer-funded payout that can easily top $100,000.

A Denver Gazette investigation last November revealed how the state had paid more than $4 million to employees who signed more than 80 NDAs in just the last three years.

Kirkmeyer’s bill directly seeks to prohibit the practice, the second time she’s tackled the subject. She was unsuccessful in 2021 with a similar bill that died in a similar committee hearing. Kirkmeyer has said the topic is too important and the Denver Gazette investigation too revealing to not make another effort.