Bill Summary for Bill Number HB12-1133

Date: 02/16/2012

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB12-1133

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Moved to postpone House Bill 12-1133 indefinitely. Moved to refer House Bill 12-1133 to the Committee	TIE FAIL

03:36 PM -- House Bill 12-1133

Representatives Lee and Hullinghorst, prime sponsors, presented House Bill 12-1133. The bill creates an economic gardening pilot program within the Governor's Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT). This program provides strategic technical assistance to stage-two emerging companies using advanced software and science concepts. The pilot program ends on September 1, 2020. Under this bill, OEDIT will select no more than seven experienced contractors to create partnerships. The supervisor of each partnership will select regional companies to participate in the pilot program. Each of the regions will have an equal number of company participants, with a maximum of seven.

Under this bill, each company selected will receive:

free or low-cost assistance with marketing, accounting and legal services;
free or low-cost market research; and
assistance with peer networking.

On or before February 1, 2013, and each year thereafter through the life of the program, OEDIT will report to the legislature describing the pilot program's status.

03:43 PM

Representative Williams asked about some of the components of the program, such as whether the program will teach entrepreneurs to retool during tough economic times. Representative Swalm asked about the 0.5 FTE in the fiscal note.

03:57 PM -- Chris Gibbons, Director of Business/Industry Affairs for the City of Littleton, testified in favor of the bill. He explained that economic gardening was developed in Littleton and gave some background on the economic gardening model. Mr. Gibbons addressed earlier questions from the committee. Mr. Gibbons distributed some handouts (Attachment C). Elizabeth Schwartz, representing ADA Environmental Solutions, Inc. in Littleton, also testified in favor of the bill.

04:20 PM

The sponsors gave some closing remarks.


BILL:	HB12-1133
TIME:	04:28:15 PM
MOVED:	Liston
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 12-1133 to the Committee on Finance. The motion failed on a vote of 5-6.
SECONDED:	Swalm
		VOTE
	Balmer	Excused
	Holbert	No
	Miklosi	Absent
	Priola	No
	Singer	Yes
	Soper	Yes
	Swerdfeger	No
	Szabo	No
	Tyler	Yes
	Williams A.	Yes
	Wilson	Yes
	Swalm	No
	Liston	No

YES: 5 NO: 6 EXC: 1 ABS: 1 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB12-1133
TIME:	04:29:03 PM
MOVED:	Swalm
MOTION:	Moved to postpone House Bill 12-1133 indefinitely. The motion failed on a 6-6 vote.
SECONDED:	Holbert
		VOTE
	Balmer	Excused
	Holbert	Yes
	Miklosi	No
	Priola	Yes
	Singer	No
	Soper	No
	Swerdfeger	Yes
	Szabo	Yes
	Tyler	No
	Williams A.	No
	Wilson	No
	Swalm	Yes
	Liston	Yes

YES: 6 NO: 6 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: TIE