House Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, & Natural Resources (04/23/2012)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK, & NATURAL RESOURCES

Date:	04/23/2012	ATTENDANCE

Time:	02:20 PM to 06:11 PM	Brown	X
		Coram	X
Place:	HCR 0107	Fischer	X
		Jones	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Looper	X
	Representative Sonnenberg	McKinley	X
		Ryden	X
This Report was prepared by		Scott	*
	Lauren Ris	Vaad	X
		Vigil	X
		Wilson	X
		Baumgardner	X
		Sonnenberg	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB12-1320 HB12-1278		Postponed Indefinitely Amended, Referred to Appropriations

02:20 PM -- House Bill 12-1320

Representative Acree, bill sponsor, described the House Bill 12-1320, which would repeal funding in the Governor's Energy Office and redirects it to the Department of Human Services. Representative Acree asked that the bill be postponed indefinitely.


BILL:	HB12-1320
TIME:	02:22:04 PM
MOVED:	Brown
MOTION:	Moved to postpone House Bill 12-1320 indefinitely. The motion passed on a vote of 10-0.
SECONDED:	Looper
		VOTE
	Brown	Yes
	Coram	Excused
	Fischer	Yes
	Jones	Yes
	Looper	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	Ryden	Yes
	Scott	Excused
	Vaad	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Wilson	Yes
	Baumgardner	Excused
	Sonnenberg	Yes

YES: 10 NO: 0 EXC: 3 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:23 PM -- House Bill 12-1278

Representative Fischer, bill sponsor, presented HB 12-1278 concerning groundwater in the South Platte Basin, and strike-below amendment L.007 (Attachment A). He discussed the fiscal impact of the amendment described in a Legislative Council Staff memorandum (Attachment B). The bill was first heard in committee on February 22, 2012.

The following individuals testified:

02:32 PM -- Doug Kemper, Colorado Water Congress, spoke in opposition to the bill and discussed subsection (b) of the legislative declaration. He also discussed other approaches to address groundwater issues in the South Platte River Basin including the Interbasin Compact Committee and the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) Construction Fund Bill. Mr. Kemper answered questions from the committee.

02:50 PM

Representative Fischer responded to questions from the committee concerning why the project was not proposed through the CWCB Construction Fund Bill funding process.

02:57 PM -- Jim Yahn, North Sterling and Prewitt Reservoir, spoke in opposition to the bill and discussed the need for storage and funding the study in the bill through the CWCB Construction Fund Bill.

03:12 PM -- Joe Frank, Lower South Platte Water Conservation District, spoke in opposition to the bill and discussed the language in the legislative declaration and some factors relating to groundwater issues in the South Platte Basin that are not addressed in the bill.

03:26 PM -- Jennifer Gimbel, CWCB Director, spoke about some funding that they have put towards groundwater in the South Platte Basin in the CWCB Construction Fund Bill, Senate Bill 12-165. She also discussed public meetings that have been held on the issue. She explained that there is $500,000 in the CWCB Construction Fund Bill for a groundwater study in the South Platte. She described how the funding process works for the CWCB Construction Fund and the Perpetual Base Account. Ms. Gimbel answered questions from the committee.

03:55 PM -- Kevin Rein, Division of Water Resources, responded to questions from the committee.

04:03 PM -- Bob Longenbaugh, representing himself, spoke in support of the bill and distributed Attachments C and D.

04:26 PM -- Reagan Waskom, Colorado Water Institute, spoke in support of the bill and discussed the resources available through the institute to conduct the study.

04:30 PM -- Gene Kammerzell, Weld County Farm Bureau, spoke in support of the bill and discussed the need for information to address groundwater issues.

04:37 PM -- Bob Winter, Colorado Farm Bureau, spoke in support of the bill and distributed Attachment E containing his testimony.

04:48 PM -- Glen Fritzler, representing himself, spoke in support of the bill and talked about groundwater damage to his property.

04:59 PM -- Charles Sylvester, Land and Water U.S.A., spoke in support of the bill and discussed how the South Platte River has been engineered in such a way that is harmful to farmers and property owners in the South Platte Basin. He distributed Attachment F.

05:10 PM -- Larry Cerrillo, representing himself, spoke in support of the bill.

05:12 PM -- Harry Strohauer, Strohauer Farms, Inc. spoke in support of the bill.

05:23 PM -- Brad Grasmick, Central Colorado Water Conservation District, spoke in support of the bill.

05:26 PM -- John Meininger, representing himself, spoke in support of the bill.

05:39 PM -- Nicholas Coglazier, Colorado Farm Bureau, spoke in support of the bill.


BILL:	HB12-1278
TIME:	05:41:55 PM
MOVED:	Fischer
MOTION:	Moved Amendment L.007 (Attachment A) as amended. The motion passed on a vote of 9-4.
SECONDED:	Wilson
		VOTE
	Brown	Yes
	Coram	No
	Fischer	Yes
	Jones	Yes
	Looper	No
	McKinley	Yes
	Ryden	Yes
	Scott	No
	Vaad	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Wilson	Yes
	Baumgardner	No
	Sonnenberg	Yes

YES: 9 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

Jennifer Gimbel, CWCB, explained the projects in the CWCB projects bill.


BILL:	HB12-1278
TIME:	05:54:36 PM
MOVED:	Sonnenberg
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment on page 3, line 32, to strike "whether and" and on line 36 to strike "whether and." The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Brown
		VOTE
	Brown
	Coram
	Fischer
	Jones
	Looper
	McKinley
	Ryden
	Scott
	Vaad
	Vigil
	Wilson
	Baumgardner
	Sonnenberg

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB12-1278
TIME:	05:50:10 PM
MOVED:	Wilson
MOTION:	Moved Amendment L.008 (Attachment G) amendment to L.007. The motion failed on a vote of 5-8.
SECONDED:	Ryden
		VOTE
	Brown	No
	Coram	No
	Fischer	No
	Jones	No
	Looper	Yes
	McKinley	No
	Ryden	Yes
	Scott	No
	Vaad	No
	Vigil	Yes
	Wilson	Yes
	Baumgardner	No
	Sonnenberg	Yes

YES: 5 NO: 8 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB12-1278
TIME:	06:09:41 PM
MOVED:	Fischer
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 12-1278, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 9-4.
SECONDED:	Ryden
		VOTE
	Brown	Yes
	Coram	No
	Fischer	Yes
	Jones	Yes
	Looper	No
	McKinley	Yes
	Ryden	Yes
	Scott	No
	Vaad	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Wilson	Yes
	Baumgardner	No
	Sonnenberg	Yes

Final YES: 9 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS