Joint Committee Committee on Joint Agriculture and Natural Resources (03/31/2010)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

COMMITTEE ON JOINT AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Date:	03/31/2010	ATTENDANCE

Time:	07:37 AM to 08:55 AM	Baumgardner
		Brophy
Place:	HCR 0107	Curry
		Gardner C.
This Meeting was called to order by		Gibbs
	Representative Fischer	Harvey
		Hullinghorst
This Report was prepared by		Kester
	David Beaujon	Looper
		McKinley
		Pace
		Ryden
		Schwartz
		Solano
		Sonnenberg
		Tipton
		Vigil
		Whitehead
		Hodge
		Fischer
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
CSU Water Archive Association of Public Health Organizations		Briefing only Briefing only

07:37 AM

Representative Fischer called the meeting to order. Attendance was not taken because the briefing is voluntary.

07:37 AM -- CSU Water Archive

Patty Rettig, Colorado State University Water Resources Archive, explained that the archive is a joint effort of the University Libraries and the Colorado Water Institute (Attachment A). Started in 2001, the Archive includes collections from individuals and organizations that have been involved in the development of water resources in Colorado and the West. She identified original documents in the collection including meeting minutes for irrigation districts and companies, reports and correspondence, maps, photographs, and audio tapes. The collection also includes engineering studies and legislative materials related to water. For example, the archive includes documents from Delph Carpenter who negotiated the Colorado River Compact and other interstate compacts. She also explained that Colorado State Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs recently donated documents to the archives.

07:50 AM

Ms Rettig responded to questions about documents being sought by the archives and how people can donate documents to the archives. She also described the annual "Water Tables" event that enables citizens to interact with water policy makers and helps fund the Water Archive. She also described the Colorado Agriculture Archive that is maintained by Colorado State University (Attachment B).

08:10 AM -- Association of Public Health Organizations

Tom Butts, President, Colorado Directors of Environmental Health, and Director of Environmental Health at the Tri-County Health Department, described local environmental health programs including retail food safety inspection, disease monitoring, water quality protection, and waste disposal (Attachments C, D, and E). He described implementation of Senate Bill 08-194 that seeks to create consistent infrastructure to provide essential public health services and coordinate state and local health activities. He also described health issues associated with oil and gas development and responded to questions from the committee regarding implementation of new oil and gas regulations by local health agencies and the distribution of state loans for wastewater and drinking water projects.

08:24 AM

Jackie Brown, Prowers County Health, described the challenge of providing health services in rural areas including southeastern Colorado. She also described how regional health organizations enable rural communities to provide environmental health services.

08:34 AM

Doug Farquhar, National Conference of State Legislators, described national trends in the regulation of food safety, indoor air quality, chemical safety, and other issues (Attachment F). He also described state and federal bio-monitoring and public health tracking programs.

08:46 AM

Mr. Butts described a federal grant to conduct health tracking that was obtained by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. He responded to questions about a health impact assessment conducted by local health agencies in oil and gas producing areas. He also described Colorado State University's School of Public Health that helps train future public health officials.

08:54 AM

The meeting adjourned.