A panel of senators voted down a proposed measure requiring legislative caucuses to disclose certain financial records.

Sponsored by Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, Senate Bill 168 would also require legislative caucuses to provide the Legislative Council with caucus members’ contact information.

The bill specifically addresses legislative caucuses based on interest, ideology, issue, or identity, not the party caucuses. The Colorado General Assembly has several such caucuses, including the Black Caucus, the Aerospace Caucus, and the Jewish Caucus.

The measure’s introduction comes six months after an ethics investigation was launched into a group of Democratic lawmakers for allegedly accepting illegal contributions to pay for a retreat in Vail.

The complaint, filed by Colorado Common Cause, alleged the nonprofit organization One Main Street paid over $25,000 for the legislators’ rooms at the Sonnenalp Hotel, as well as food and drinks.

Weissman called SB 168 “a simple transparency bill.”

Colorado voters have repeatedly approved transparency measures at the ballot, including Amendments 15 and 27, which established campaign contribution limits for candidates, and Amendment 41, which placed restrictions on gifts to state and local elected officials.

“Voters have approved things akin to this by substantial margins in the past,” Weissman told the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee. “I think we have an opportunity to statutorily fill a gap that has never been put before the voters.”

The bill lost on a 2-3 vote, with both Republican committee members and Sen. William Lindstedt, D-Broomfield, a member of the Opportunity Caucus, voting against it.

While he agreed that government transparency is important, Sen. Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, expressed worries about the implications of publicizing the names of caucus members, particularly those with “minority views,” such as the Second Amendment Caucus.

“If that support becomes public, it can carry real consequences for a lot of people,” Pelton said. “This isn’t just about transparency. It’s about making participation riskier for some people more than others.”

Sen. Katie Wallace, D-Longmont, who was one of two committee members to vote in favor of the bill, said people’s trust in their government has been eroding for years and transparency is one way to restore it.

“Coloradans deserve representation that inspires robust, earned trust in this institution,” she said. “They deserve to have faith that we will work transparently and we will fight for them. Simply put, they deserve for us to be transparent and above reproach.”

Senate Bill 168 was sponsored in the House by Rep. Yara Zokaie, D-Fort Collins.