Colorado Legislative Update - June 15, 2020
Monday June 15th, the legislature finally called it quits for the year by adjourning sine die, which in Latin means “without a day.” The Governor now has 30 days to either sign, veto, or pass into law without signature any legislation that passed this session. Once the Governor’s signing window is closed we will provide a final wrap up document.
The number of bills that were left in play after the 72-day COVID19 emergency recess dwindled drastically due to the $3.3 billion dollar revenue shortfall, despite a few new bills being introduced here and there. Here is your bill tracking sheet:
https://coloradocapitolwatch.com/bill-analysis/3824/2020/0/
I appreciate all of you for hanging in with me through this on-again and off-again session!
Monday June 15th, the legislature finally called it quits for the year by adjourning sine die, which in Latin means “without a day.” The Governor now has 30 days to either sign, veto, or pass into law without signature any legislation that passed this session. Once the Governor’s signing window is closed we will provide a final wrap up document.
The number of bills that were left in play after the 72-day COVID19 emergency recess dwindled drastically due to the $3.3 billion dollar revenue shortfall, despite a few new bills being introduced here and there. Here is your bill tracking sheet:
https://coloradocapitolwatch.com/bill-analysis/3824/2020/0/
I appreciate all of you for hanging in with me through this on-again and off-again session!
March 31, 2020
Yesterday, the Colorado General Assembly convened for a few minutes in each chamber to extend the Covid-19 emergency recess. At the state legislature, as with the rest of the country, it is unclear when they will be able to take up regular business again. Today should have been Day 83, but instead is now its 16th day of recess. The legislature is in jeopardy of not completing work on the vast majority of bills introduced this session, with 432 left in limbo at this time.
There is almost certainly no way to start working again until the pandemic begins to subside, given the need for the public to participate in the lawmaking process and the large number of at-risk citizens participating as legislators, lobbyists, nonpartisan legislative staff, and stakeholders.
The House and Senate must reconvene to pass several constitutionally-required bills for the state to function: the annual budget (Long Bill); and the school finance bill. (A third constitutional requirement, the rule review bill, has already been passed and signed by the Governor). June 30th, the last day in the state fiscal year, is the presumptive deadline for these critical bills to pass.
If the state Supreme Court says the legislature cannot hit the “pause” button, and they cannot reconvene in time, every single bill that has not passed through the legislature will die.
At that point, the Governor or the General Assembly itself would likely call a special session once the state of emergency has been lifted. The scope of legislation would depend on the Call issued by the Governor or the Legislature, and bills would be required to fall under those topics.
Brett Moore,
OnTheBallot Consulting
Yesterday, the Colorado General Assembly convened for a few minutes in each chamber to extend the Covid-19 emergency recess. At the state legislature, as with the rest of the country, it is unclear when they will be able to take up regular business again. Today should have been Day 83, but instead is now its 16th day of recess. The legislature is in jeopardy of not completing work on the vast majority of bills introduced this session, with 432 left in limbo at this time.
There is almost certainly no way to start working again until the pandemic begins to subside, given the need for the public to participate in the lawmaking process and the large number of at-risk citizens participating as legislators, lobbyists, nonpartisan legislative staff, and stakeholders.
The House and Senate must reconvene to pass several constitutionally-required bills for the state to function: the annual budget (Long Bill); and the school finance bill. (A third constitutional requirement, the rule review bill, has already been passed and signed by the Governor). June 30th, the last day in the state fiscal year, is the presumptive deadline for these critical bills to pass.
If the state Supreme Court says the legislature cannot hit the “pause” button, and they cannot reconvene in time, every single bill that has not passed through the legislature will die.
At that point, the Governor or the General Assembly itself would likely call a special session once the state of emergency has been lifted. The scope of legislation would depend on the Call issued by the Governor or the Legislature, and bills would be required to fall under those topics.
Brett Moore,
OnTheBallot Consulting
March 21, 2020
One week ago, Saturday March 14th, the state legislature went into recess due to the coronavirus threat. They passed House Joint Resolution 20-1007 stating that the legislature will return on March 30th to reevaluate the situation. That was the 67th legislative day of the 120-day session.
The House and Senate also passed House Joint Resolution 20-1006 requesting guidance from the State Supreme Court regarding the nature of the 120-day session. The question is, if in a state of emergency, it is required the 120 days be counted consecutively (which would mean an end date of May 6th) or if only days on which the Senate or the House of Representatives are convened are counted.
Many of the legislative priorities, including constitutional mandates such as passing an annual budget, await a response from the state's highest court. For now, the fate of the 465 bills (out of 563 introduced) still working their way through the legislative process are in limbo, including the 34 bills your state association is monitoring. CACD is currently tracking the following bills on behalf of the conservation districts: LINK
All of the bills CACD has been working on have been put on hold by the recess, including the State Budget (originally scheduled to be introduced this coming Monday, March 23rd) and HB20-1115 Sales Tax Exemption For Farm Fencing Material, a bill that CACD introduced this year out of the Delta Conservation District.
Please review the bill tracking sheet and send any comments you have to your CACD Watershed Board Member or CACD Executive Director Bobbi Ketels. We remain ready to re-engage when the legislature reconvenes.
The latest budget forecast is speculating that the state will have little new revenue to spend on this year's budget, fiscal year 2020-21 starting July 1st. We will work diligently to prevent any cuts to existing conservation district budgets. Unfortunately, record low oil prices and the slowing of new oil and gas permits due to SB19-181 will likely lead to a lack of severance funds for Matching Grants and Conservation Techs moving forward. We will continue to work with our partners at Colorado Department of Agriculture to address these needs.
We will continue to pass along more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, please stay safe and healthy.
One week ago, Saturday March 14th, the state legislature went into recess due to the coronavirus threat. They passed House Joint Resolution 20-1007 stating that the legislature will return on March 30th to reevaluate the situation. That was the 67th legislative day of the 120-day session.
The House and Senate also passed House Joint Resolution 20-1006 requesting guidance from the State Supreme Court regarding the nature of the 120-day session. The question is, if in a state of emergency, it is required the 120 days be counted consecutively (which would mean an end date of May 6th) or if only days on which the Senate or the House of Representatives are convened are counted.
Many of the legislative priorities, including constitutional mandates such as passing an annual budget, await a response from the state's highest court. For now, the fate of the 465 bills (out of 563 introduced) still working their way through the legislative process are in limbo, including the 34 bills your state association is monitoring. CACD is currently tracking the following bills on behalf of the conservation districts: LINK
All of the bills CACD has been working on have been put on hold by the recess, including the State Budget (originally scheduled to be introduced this coming Monday, March 23rd) and HB20-1115 Sales Tax Exemption For Farm Fencing Material, a bill that CACD introduced this year out of the Delta Conservation District.
Please review the bill tracking sheet and send any comments you have to your CACD Watershed Board Member or CACD Executive Director Bobbi Ketels. We remain ready to re-engage when the legislature reconvenes.
The latest budget forecast is speculating that the state will have little new revenue to spend on this year's budget, fiscal year 2020-21 starting July 1st. We will work diligently to prevent any cuts to existing conservation district budgets. Unfortunately, record low oil prices and the slowing of new oil and gas permits due to SB19-181 will likely lead to a lack of severance funds for Matching Grants and Conservation Techs moving forward. We will continue to work with our partners at Colorado Department of Agriculture to address these needs.
We will continue to pass along more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, please stay safe and healthy.
Below is the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts Bill Tracker for 2020. Positions are set by the CACD Legislative Committee based on the updated Policy Book, with advocacy and lobbying activities carried out accordingly.
The Colorado General Assembly meets for 120 days each year, from January to May. An average of 650 bills are introduced each legislative session, including the Long Bill, the annual budget bill containing general and severance funding for conservation activities under the Department of Agriculture.
Please review and share. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact us at 719-686-0020.
If you do not see a bill on here that you feel has an impact on conservation districts and landowners we invite you to reach out us.
The Colorado General Assembly meets for 120 days each year, from January to May. An average of 650 bills are introduced each legislative session, including the Long Bill, the annual budget bill containing general and severance funding for conservation activities under the Department of Agriculture.
Please review and share. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact us at 719-686-0020.
If you do not see a bill on here that you feel has an impact on conservation districts and landowners we invite you to reach out us.
2019 CACD Legislative Wrap-Up Report
The Colorado Association of Conservation Districts (CACD) is celebrating another successful year of lobbying the Colorado General Assembly on behalf of the state’s 76 conservation districts. This year’s session ran from January 4ththrough May 3rd, with the governor’s 30 day signing period closing on June 3rd.
335 House Bills and 263 Senate bills were introduced during the session, for a total of 598 bills. This is slightly below the 10 year average of ~640 bills run each year.
CACD tracked 34 bills concerning natural resources, conservation, private property rights, and water issues this year. CACD supported the following bills:
-House Bill 19-1006: Wildfire Mitigation Wildland-urban Interface Areas
-House Bill 19-1082: Water Rights Easements
-Senate Bill 19-040: Establish Colorado Fire Commission
-Senate Bill 19-207: FY 2019-20 Long Bill
The CACD Legislative Committee bases its decisions on what bills to track based on the CACD policy book, which is composed of policies pushed up to the state association through the resolution process. I’d like to thank CACD Board members Scott Jones, George Fosha, Jim Cecil, Steve Mcendree, Nick Charchalis, and Gary Thrash for their contributions to the policy committee this year!
All 4 of these bills were signed by the governor. We supported the Long Bill, the state budget for 2019-2020 fiscal year, containing direct district funding and grant funds, which was signed by the Governor on April 18th. Additionally, we supported 2 wildfire bills; HB-1006 and SB-40 in collaboration with the Jefferson Conservation District, with the approval of our legislative committee, and on behalf of other districts across the state with forest and wildland interface lands.
House Bill 1082 was born out of CACD’s November 2017 annual meeting, where the districts approved a resolution seeking clarification of state statute regarding ditch easements and the right to improve or maintain a ditch. As a result of this resolution, CACD presented the issue to the 2018 interim legislative Water Resources Review Committee, and subsequently worked with Representatives Marc Catlin (R-Montrose) and Donald Valdez (D-La Jara), and Senator Don Coram (R-Montrose) to craft and run House Bill 1082. The bill clarifies a ditch right-of-way to include the right to maintain, repair, and improve the ditch. Prior to this legislation, it was not clear if and when improvements were allowed, creating confusion and leading to litigation. The bill was signed into law by Governor Polis on March 28, 2019.
CACD opposed one bill: Senate Bill 19-181: Protect Public Welfare Oil and Gas Operations. CACD has policy supporting all-of-the-above energy development as well as policy protecting private property rights, which SB-181 endangered on both counts, leading to an opposed stance. The governor signed this bill into law on April 16th.
There have been some concerns coming from the Districts regarding SB-181 and the bill's potential to reduce severance tax revenues, but thus far it has not had an impact on district funding. The districts are in an advantageous position because the funding lines of $483,767 for Direct Assistance and $225,000 in grants (for the District Conservation Technician program or matching grants) are general funded and not subject to changes in severance tax revenue. So, to the extent we can continue to lobby for those dollars in the Annual Long bill, $758,767 is guaranteed state funding. $450,000 of the potential total annual budget comes from severance taxes (if revenues are sufficient) and are also used for matching grants and/or conservation techs, if available. That funding line for the 2019-2020 Budget year is projected to come in at $404,673, and $386,982 for 2020-2021 budget year, so within striking distance of being fully funded. Any effects that SB-181 may or may not have on severance revenue will not be known for a few years.
Additionally, we monitored an additional 29 bills that may have impacts on the districts, all of which can be found at the following tracking link: https://coloradocapitolwatch.com/bill-analysis/3749/2019/0/
2018 Resolution Progress
Dust Bowl Priority Area: CACD will participated in a meeting in Las Animas November 13th. CACD will help spread the word of the upcoming meeting.
Tax Exemption Fencing Supplies: working with Rep. Marc Catlin to draft a bill for the 2020 session.
Wildlife Priority Area Designation for CRP working with the state technical committee, write a letter to them, and FSA.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act for Ag Equipment: "Right to Repair" bill coming in 2020 legislative session, will work to make sure ag/rural interests represented there. Check with the Department of Ag (already taken to NACD and it was defeated, stating this needed to be handled on a state or regional level). Larry Lempka is a source of info. CACD Board Member: Jim Cecil.
Off-Road Bicycles and E-Bikes: Letter to Colorado Parks and Wildlife asking for a fee for bicycles to be on state lands - communicate with Senator Ray Scott and Rep. Perry Will. Possible media strategy.
COMPLETED:
Soil Health: currently participating in soil health conversations with CDA, CSCB, and Soil Health Collaborative, and will support under the umbrella of CSCB, within CACD policy Guidelines.
Federal Legalization of Hemp: already in progress through new Farm Bill
CACD Encourage NRCS Staffing
CACD Dues Increased
Health Insurance/Liability Insurance: Bobbi has communicated with insurance providers. (Make sure Mancos is ok with changing to action item).
Looking ahead to 2020, the Interim Water Resources Committee has put forth 4 bills:
Require Public Input on Water Demand Management Program
Study Emerging Technologies for Water Management
Add Water Well Inspectors Identify High-Risk Wells
Study Strengthening Water Anti-Speculation Laws
We will continue to do our level best to execute all of your priorities at the state capitol, but will in return, ask the districts to be more involved as we move forward. We have a number of measures we will discuss in the general meeting today that will require legislation.
And like on every farm, ranch, riparian or forest area, we would love to make all the improvements at once, but we are forced to prioritize. We appreciate your help in this process, and I thank you for the opportunity to represent your interests at the state capitol.