Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources (04/15/2010)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Date:	04/15/2010	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:32 PM to 02:31 PM	Brophy	X
		Gibbs	E
Place:	SCR 353	Harvey	*
		Kester	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Schwartz	X
	Senator Hodge	Whitehead	X
		Hodge	X
This Report was prepared by
	Lauren Ris
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB10-1250 HB10-1221 HB10-1214		Amended, Referred to Appropriations Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole Amended, Referred to Appropriations

01:32 PM -- House Bill 10-1250

Senator Hodge, bill sponsor, presented House Bill 10-1250 which appropriates funds from the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) for FY 2010-11 for water-related projects and restores funding to the Flood Response Fund. She explained that the Construction Fund provides low-interest loans for water projects and that revenues for the revolving loan fund come from interest earned on outstanding loans, the fund's cash balance in the state treasury, and royalty distributions from federal mineral leases.

01:34 PM -- Jennifer Gimbel, Director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, spoke in support of the bill. She indicated that Colorado Water Congress and Denver Water both support the bill. She described the projects that would be funded in the bill and answered questions from the committee.

01:38 PM

Senator Whitehead discussed Amendment L.001 which authorizes three consecutive annual payments of $12 million from Severance Tax Trust Fund, commencing June 30, 201, to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for Colorado's allocation of water in the Animas-La Plata Project (Attachment A). He discussed the importance of this project to Southwest Colorado and the State of Colorado. He also explained that any water not purchased by the state would revert to the tribes.

01:43 PM

Ms. Gimbel spoke in support of Amendment L. 001 and discussed who would benefit from the water allocation and how the CWCB would allocate this water.

01:49 PM -- Doug Kemper, Colorado Water Congress, spoke in support of the bill and amendment L.001.


BILL:	HB10-1250
TIME:	01:50:30 PM
MOVED:	Hodge
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment A). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy
	Gibbs	Excused
	Harvey
	Kester
	Schwartz
	Whitehead
	Hodge
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB10-1250
TIME:	01:50:50 PM
MOVED:	Hodge
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 10-1250 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 6-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy	Excused
	Gibbs	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Kester	Yes
	Schwartz	Yes
	Whitehead	Yes
	Hodge	Yes
Final YES: 6 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

01:50 PM -- House Bill 10-1221

Senator Schwartz, bill sponsor, presented HB 10-1221 which extends the River Outfitter Licensing Program until September 1, 2019, as recommended by the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) 2009 Sunset Review, with some modifications. The House Agriculture Committee held a sunset hearing for the River Outfitter Licensing Program on January 19, 2010.

01:54 PM -- Kris Wahlers, Coordinator for the Colorado State Parks River Outfitters Program, spoke in support of the bill. He discussed a recommendation made by DORA that was not included in the introduced bill regarding establishing a separate drift-float guide category to distinguish between fishing guides and whitewater rafting guides. He explained the difficulty in categorizing flat water for fishing guides.

01:57 PM -- Dave Costlow, Colorado River Outfitters Association, spoke in support of the bill.

01:59 PM

Senator Schwartz provided closing comments.


BILL:	HB10-1221
TIME:	02:00:06 PM
MOVED:	Schwartz
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.003 (Attachment B). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy
	Gibbs
	Harvey
	Kester
	Schwartz
	Whitehead
	Hodge
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB10-1221
TIME:	02:00:57 PM
MOVED:	Schwartz
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 10-1221, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 6-1.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy	No
	Gibbs	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Kester	Yes
	Schwartz	Yes
	Whitehead	Yes
	Hodge	Yes
Final YES: 6 NO: 1 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:01 PM -- House Bill 10-1214

Senator Schwartz, bill sponsor, presented House Bill 10-1214 concerning the Pet Overpopulation Fund. Senator Schwartz answered questions from the committee.

02:06 PM -- Gary Sherman, founder of Adopt a Pet Foundation, spoke in support of the bill and described the origin of the idea for the adopt a shelter pet license plate. He explained that sufficient number of signatures have been gathered for the license plate.

02:14 PM -- Jayme Nielson, Pet Overpopulation Fund, spoke in support of the bill. She described the history of the fund and the average donations that the fund receives, where the funding would go, and how it would help shelters to spay and neuter animals as mandated by law.

02:17 PM -- Melissa Petrucelli, New Hope Cattle Dog Rescue, spoke in support of the bill. She discussed the mission and work performed by her organization. She described some of the treatments that dogs in the shelter have needed and the cost of these services. She also discussed the costs associated with the requirement that animals be spayed and neutered before they are adopted.

02:22 PM -- Dr. Kate Anderson, State Veterinarian and administrator for the Pet Animal Care Facility Act (PACFA) program, spoke in support of the bill and explained how the Pet Overpopulation Fund is administered.

02:24 PM -- Diana Hamilton, President of the Valley Humane League, spoke in support of the bill and discussed the differences in animal control in the San Louis Valley and the difficulties small shelters face there.


BILL:	HB10-1214
TIME:	02:27:11 PM
MOVED:	Schwartz
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.005 (Attachment C). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy
	Gibbs
	Harvey
	Kester
	Schwartz
	Whitehead
	Hodge
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB10-1214
TIME:	02:28:34 PM
MOVED:	Schwartz
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.006 (Attachment D). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy
	Gibbs
	Harvey
	Kester
	Schwartz
	Whitehead
	Hodge
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB10-1214
TIME:	02:29:21 PM
MOVED:	Schwartz
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 10-1214, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 5-1.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy	Yes
	Gibbs	Yes
	Harvey	Excused
	Kester	Yes
	Schwartz	Yes
	Whitehead	Yes
	Hodge	No
Final YES: 5 NO: 1 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS