House Committee on Local Government (01/27/2009)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Date:	01/27/2009	ATTENDANCE

Time:	03:30 PM to 05:11 PM	Acree	X
		Bradford	X
Place:	HCR 0111	Liston	X
		McKinley	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Middleton	X
	Representative Peniston	Schafer S.	X
		Tipton	X
This Report was prepared by		Vigil	X
	Raegan Robb	Waller	X
		Soper	X
		Peniston	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB09-1005 HB09-1024 HB09-1079 HB09-1148		Referred to the Committee of the Whole Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole

03:32 PM

The chair, Representative Peniston, called the meeting to order.

03:34 PM -- House Bill 09-1005

Representative Marostica, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 09-1005, concerning the authority of special districts under Title 32 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, to establish special improvement districts within the boundaries of the special district. Representative Marostica explained that the bill will allow any Title 32 special district to impose a special fee on property that will benefit from specific improvements. He distributed a handout concerning the bill to the committee (Attachment A). Representative Marostica responded to questions from the committee members concerning the boundaries, voters, and board members of special districts.

03:39 PM

Dee Wisor, representing the Colorado Municipal Bond Dealers Association, testified in support of the bill, discussed the formation of Special Districts under Title 32, and explained the governance of such districts. Mr. Wisor addressed questions from the committee concerning local enclaves of homeowner associations and election procedures for adopting special improvements within a special district. He explained that special improvements are typically funded through long-term bonds and discussed different types of improvement projects that are needed within special districts.

03:45 PM

Bob Brooks, representing R.S. Wells LLC., and Clifton Gunderson, LLP., testified in support of the bill and discussed his experience in local government. Mr. Brooks explained the need to allow special districts to fund special improvements within their districts. He also talked about the authority of smaller enclaves within special districts to implement specific special improvements that are needed.


BILL:	HB09-1005
TIME:	03:50:42 PM
MOVED:	Middleton
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 09-1005 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on an 11-1 vote.
SECONDED:	Acree
		VOTE
	Acree	Yes
	Bradford	Yes
	Liston	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	Middleton	Yes
	Schafer S.	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Waller	Yes
	Soper	Yes
	Peniston	Yes
Final YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:51 PM

The committee stood in a brief recess.

04:01 PM -- House Bill 09-1024

Representative McNulty, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 09-1024, concerning the application of specified audit reporting requirements within the Colorado Local Government Audit Law to certain entities that are not required to comply with the requirements. The committee heard witness testimony on the bill on January 15th, and laid the bill over. Representative McNulty talked about issues pertaining to auditing requirements for housing authorities and explained that prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment B) addressed the concerns of housing authorities.


BILL:	HB09-1024
TIME:	04:06:24 PM
MOVED:	Waller
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment B). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Tipton
		VOTE
	Acree
	Bradford
	Liston
	McKinley
	Middleton
	Schafer S.
	Tipton
	Vigil
	Waller
	Soper
	Peniston
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: TIE


BILL:	HB09-1024
TIME:	04:06:40 PM
MOVED:	Bradford
MOTION:	Moved to refer Senate Bill 09-1024, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 8-0-3 vote.
SECONDED:	Tipton
		VOTE
	Acree	Excused
	Bradford	Yes
	Liston	Excused
	McKinley	Excused
	Middleton	Yes
	Schafer S.	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Waller	Yes
	Soper	Yes
	Peniston	Yes
Final YES: 8 NO: 0 EXC: 3 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

04:08 PM -- House Bill 09-1079

Representative Vaad, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 09-1079, concerning the annexing of adjacent municipalities to existing junior college districts. Representative Vaad explained that the bill would establish procedures for a city to be annexed in to an existing junior college district. He explained that Colorado Mountain Community College and Aims Community College are the only junior college districts in the state. He explained that junior college districts are supported by a mill levy and are not supported by state dollars like College Opportunity Program funds. He talked about the need for the town of Berthoud to be annexed into the taxing district of Aims Community College and described the procedures that would have to followed according to the bill. A city or group of cities desiring annexation would be required to obtain approval from: the board of trustees of the junior college district, a majority vote of the electorate of the junior college district, the governing body of the city or cities, and a majority vote of the electorate of the city or cities.

04:14 PM

Dr. Marsi Liddell, President, Aims Community College, testified in support of the bill and discussed the Aims campus that will be built next to the town of Berthoud across I-25. Dr. Liddell discussed the need to provide a reduced tuition rate to citizens of Berthoud by annexing the town into the taxing district of the community college. She discussed the requirement that the majority of citizens of Berthoud vote to join the taxing district of community college. Dr. Liddell discussed the budget of junior district colleges and explained her support for a prepared amendment. She responded to questions from the committee members concerning the student population and budget of the community college compared to other colleges in the state. Dr. Liddell also discussed the campus near the town of Berthoud and distributed a map of the service area and taxing district of Aims Community College to the committee members (Attachment C). She responded to questions concerning a survey of the residents of Berthoud that indicated they were open to being incorporated into the junior college district, despite a slight property tax increase.

04:21 PM

Jim White, Town Administrator, Town of Berthoud, testified in support of the bill and explained that the community embraces the incorporation into taxing district and service area of Aims Community College. Mr. White discussed development that is occurring around the Town of Berthoud within Weld County, near the college campus. Mr. White responded to questions concerning the boundaries of Berthoud in relation to the community college service area and he explained that a 6.22 mill levy would be levied by the district on citizens of Berthoud, which would equal approximately $8 per month.

04:27 PM

Dan Beal, student body president, Aims Community College, testified in support of the bill and explained that the bill would allow Berthoud students within the service area of the college to receive lower tuition. Mr. Beal distributed a letter from the Aims Community College Student Government Association (Attachment D).

04:30 PM

Dr. Nancy McCallin, President, Colorado Community College System, testified on the bill and discussed initial opposition to the bill. She explained that the introduced version of the bill would allow junior college districts to annex into the service areas covered by other community colleges. Dr. McCallin explained that she supported the bill with the adoption of a prepared amendment.

04:35 PM

Mike Kupcho, Interim President, Front Range Community College, discussed the negative impact of the introduced version of the bill, which would allow Aims Community College to annex into the service area of Front Range Community College (FRCC). Mr. Kupcho explained the budget of FRCC, which receives state funding, spoke about a prepared amendment that would allow the incorporation of Berthoud into the Aims district service area, but not into the FRCC service area.

04:38 PM

Dr. McCallin addressed questions from the committee and explained that overlapping service areas for different community colleges is rare. She talked about the need to separate the geography of community college service areas and discussed the ability for junior college districts to levy a tax to serve students within the college service area.

04:44 PM

Mr. Kupcho addressed questions from the committee members and explained the services provided by different colleges.

04:45 PM

Representative Middleton discussed prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment E), which would make the bill more specific to the boundary of the Town of Berthoud being annexed by Aims Community College. Committee discussion ensued concerning amendment L.001.


BILL:	HB09-1079
TIME:	04:46:16 PM
MOVED:	Middleton
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment E). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Schafer S.
		VOTE
	Acree
	Bradford
	Liston
	McKinley
	Middleton
	Schafer S.
	Tipton
	Vigil
	Waller
	Soper
	Peniston
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB09-1079
TIME:	04:51:43 PM
MOVED:	Middleton
MOTION:	Moved to refer Senate Bill 09-1079, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 11-0 vote.
SECONDED:	Tipton
		VOTE
	Acree	Yes
	Bradford	Yes
	Liston	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	Middleton	Yes
	Schafer S.	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Waller	Yes
	Soper	Yes
	Peniston	Yes
Final YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

04:55 PM -- House Bill 09-1148

Representative Schafer, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 09-1148, concerning the authority of the Department of Revenue (DOR) to provide information about severance tax taxpayers to the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA). Representative Schafer explained that the bill would simply codify current practice used by DOLA in the development of its employee residence reports.

04:58 PM

Bruce Eisenhauer, Deputy Director, Department of Local Affairs, explained that House Bill 09-1148 was a clean up bill to restore a clause that was deleted by House Bill 08-1083. House Bill 08-1083 modified the employee residence reporting process used to calculate the direct distribution of severance tax revenue to local governments. Mr. Eisenhauer discussed employee residence reports and the need for the accurate reporting by the oil and natural gas industry and between the departments. He responded to questions regarding the annual residence reports and the process for the industry to report to the departments. He also talked about the history of this report and the Energy Impact Assistance Advisory Committee within DOLA, which approves grant dollars to local governments for impacts connected to energy and mineral extraction.

05:04 PM

Stan Dempsey, President, Colorado Petroleum Association, testified in support of the bill and discussed the importance of the employee residence reporting process by the departments to calculate the amount of severance tax revenue allocated to local governments. He explained that the association initially opposed the bill because it was too broad. Mr. Dempsey explained that the association was in support of the bill if a prepared amendment was adopted.

05:34 PM

Representative Schafer explained prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment F) to the committee members.


BILL:	HB09-1148
TIME:	05:07:33 PM
MOVED:	Schafer S.
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment F). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Waller
		VOTE
	Acree
	Bradford
	Liston
	McKinley
	Middleton
	Schafer S.
	Tipton
	Vigil
	Waller
	Soper
	Peniston
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB09-1148
TIME:	05:10:03 PM
MOVED:	Schafer S.
MOTION:	Moved to refer Senate Bill 09-1148, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 11-0 vote.
SECONDED:	Acree
		VOTE
	Acree	Yes
	Bradford	Yes
	Liston	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	Middleton	Yes
	Schafer S.	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Waller	Yes
	Soper	Yes
	Peniston	Yes
Final YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

05:11 PM

The committee adjourned.