Bill Summary for Bill Number HB13-1261

Date: 03/28/2013

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB13-1261

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Refer House Bill 13-1261 to the Committee on Appro	PASS

10:47 AM -- House Bill 13-1261

Representative Garcia introduced his and Representative Dore's bill that designates a portion of the Fort Lyon property as a transitional residential community for the homeless. They provided a handout to the committee (Attachment A).

13HseLocal0328AttachA.pdf

10:49 AM

Representative Dore discussed the history of the Fort Lyon site and the impact of his bill on rural Colorado.

10:52 AM -- Reeves Brown, Department of Local Affairs, spoke in support of the bill. He read a prepared statement from Roxanne White, Governor's Chief of Staff, who was unable to attend the hearing. He discussed the impact of the closures at Fort Lyon and the impact of the proposed project on the community.

11:00 AM -- Bill Long, Bent County Commissioner, spoke in support of the bill. He discussed the impact of the closure of Fort Lyon on the community. He described work the county has done with the various stakeholders in the proposed project. He responded to questions from the committee.

11:04 AM -- Larry Friedberg, State Architect and Roger Eidal, boiler engineer, spoke in support of the bill. The described their work assessing the status of the facility for the proposed change of use. Mr. Friedberg responded to questions from the committee regarding the cost of controlled maintenance for the facility.

11:07 AM -- Roger Eidal discussed a proposed reworking of the steam boiler system at the facility.

11:11 AM -- Larry Friedberg described the current status of the facility as it relates to the steam heating facility.

11:14 AM

Representative Garcia discussed the time from to re-purpose the facility.

11:14 AM -- Eliza Park, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, discussed the asbestos abatement at the facility. She responded to questions from the committee.

11:16 AM -- John Parvensky, Colorado Coalition from the Homeless, spoke in support of the bill. Mr. Parvensky described the work of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. He discussed the homeless population in the state. He explained the plan for the services to be provided at the Fort Lyon facility. He responded to questions from the committee regarding the number of veterans who would access services.

11:33 AM -- Cary Carner, peer mentor at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, spoke in support of the bill. He described his experience as a homeless person.

11:40 AM -- John Parvensky responded to questions from the committee regarding the integrated services that the proposed facility would provide.

11:42 AM -- Jason Crow, Colorado Board of Veterans Affairs, spoke in support of the bill. He discussed the Board's role in identifying programs to serve as many veterans as possible. He described the needs of homeless veterans. He responded to questions from the committee regarding existing programs to transition veterans back into the community.

11:50 AM -- Buck Adams, Veterans to Farmers, spoke in support of the bill. He provided a handout to the committee (Attachment B).

13HseLocal0328AttachB.pdf

11:54 AM -- Julia Erlbaum, Real Food Colorado, spoke in support of the bill. She described a proposed greenhouse project that would exist within the facility and the vocational impact of that facility as part of the Fort Lyons project.

11:57 AM -- Buck Adams described the work of Veterans to Farmers that attempts to help veterans transition from active duty via agricultural work. He responded to questions from the committee describing the experience of veterans as they go through his program.

12:02 PM -- Travis Berry, Colorado Competitive Council, spoke in support of the bill.

12:05 PM -- Meghan Storrie, Colorado Municipal League, spoke in support of the bill. She discussed the needs of municipalities for options to help deal with homelessness.

12:08 PM

Representative Dore made closing comments on the merits of the bill.

12:09 PM

Representative Garcia made closing comments on the merits of the bill.


BILL:	HB13-1261
TIME:	12:10:44 PM
MOVED:	Dore
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 13-1261 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 10-3.
SECONDED:	Navarro
		VOTE
	Dore	Yes
	Exum	Yes
	Garcia	Yes
	Gardner	No
	Ginal	Yes
	Holbert	No
	Lebsock	Yes
	Navarro	Yes
	Rankin	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Wright	No
	Singer	Yes
	Fields	Yes

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

12:16 PM

The committee adjourned.