Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

COMMITTEE ON JOINT AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Date:01/15/2014
ATTENDANCE
Time:09:47 AM to 10:55 AM
Becker
X
Brophy
*
Place:HCR 0107
Buck
X
Coram
X
This Meeting was called to order by
Garcia
E
Senator Schwartz
Guzman
X
Harvey
X
This Report was prepared by
Jones
*
David Beaujon
Lebsock
X
McLachlan
*
Mitsch Bush
E
Rankin
X
Roberts
*
Saine
*
Scott
X
Sonnenberg
X
Tochtrop
X
Vigil
X
Fischer
X
Schwartz
X
X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call
Bills Addressed: Action Taken:
Joint Budget Committee
Fiscal Note introduction
Office of Legislative Legal Service
State Auditor's Office		Briefing only
Briefing only
Briefing only
Briefing only


09:49 AM -- Joint Budget Committee

Senator Hodge, Joint Budget Committee member, explained that the House and Senate Agriculture Committees have oversight of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Natural Resources. The Department of Agriculture performs a range of services including regulatory and inspection services relating to agriculture; investigations and hearings; standardizing, grading, inspecting, labeling, handling, storing, and marketing agricultural products; and agricultural related policy analysis. The Department’s FY 2014-15 appropriation represents 0.18 percent of statewide operating appropriations and 0.10 percent of statewide General Fund appropriations (Attachment A). Senator Hodge also identified the FY 2014-15 budget priorities for the department including a $250,000 General Fund appropriation for 4-H and Future Farmers of America programs at the annual Colorado State Fair and additional moneys for noxious weed management. Committee discussion followed about the impact of noxious weeds on agriculture and other elements of Colorado's economy. Senator Schwartz announced that a letter from the joint committee would be drafted to request the federal government control noxious weeds on federal lands in Colorado. Senator Jones announced that the Department of Agriculture released a statement explaining how it could better manage noxious weeds with an additional appropriation of $700,000 (Attachment B).

140115 AttachA.pdf140115 AttachA.pdf140115 AttachB.pdf140115 AttachB.pdf

09:58 AM

Representative Duran discussed the budget request for the Colorado State Fair. Senator Tochtrop explained that the Audit Committee completed a financial and compliance audit of the Colorado State Fair Authority for the years ended June 30, 2013 and 2012 that was discussed at the January 15, 2014 Audit Committee meeting.

10:05 AM

Senator Hodge explained that the Department of Natural Resources is responsible for developing and managing Colorado's natural resources. The department’s FY 2013-14 appropriations represent 1.3 percent of statewide operating appropriations and 0.4 percent of statewide General Fund appropriations (Attachment C). She also identified FY 2014-15 budget priorities for the department including new personnel for the Water Resources Division; additional legal services for enforcement within the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission; and refinancing of the coal regulatory program in the Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety to replace the loss of federal funding for the program. She also discussed flood impacts to Colorado State Parks and flood impact mitigation measures of the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the Division of Water Resources.

140115 AttachC.pdf140115 AttachC.pdf

10:14 AM

Committee discussion followed about the budget request for noxious weed control and proposed $10 million cuts to the Division Parks and Wildlife budget that includes a $500,000 reduction in grants for the Fishing is Fun Program and $1 million reduction in funding for aquatic nuisance species control.







10:20 AM -- Fiscal Note introduction

Clare Pramuk, Fiscal Analyst, Legislative Council Staff, described the role of Fiscal Note Staff and identified recent changes to the format of fiscal notes.

10:22 AM

Alex Schatz, Fiscal Analyst, Legislative Council Staff, explained how fiscal notes are used to determine where a committee of reference refers a bill.


10:23 AM -- Office of Legislative Legal Service

Tom Morris, Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS), described the role of his office in the drafting of bills and amendments and he identified other services provided by the office (Attachment D).

140115 AttachD.pdf140115 AttachD.pdf

10:26 AM

Jennifer Berman, OLLS, introduced herself.

10:26 AM

Duane Gall, OLLS, introduced himself.

10:27 AM -- State Auditor's Office

Kerri Hunter, Office of the State Auditor, described the role of the State Auditor's Office and provided an update of outstanding audit recommendations made regarding the Department of Agriculture, Department of Natural Resources, and Colorado Energy Office. Staff distributed the Annual Report of Audit Recommendations Not Fully Implemented, October 2013 to the committee that is available on the Office of the State Auditor's website. This report outlines recommendations that had not yet been fully implemented by the departments as of June 2013. She explained that these recommendations were made as a result of financial, performance, and information technology (IT) audits.

10:32 AM

Greg Fugate, Office of the State Auditor, described the types of problems identified by financial, performance, and IT audits. He also responded to questions from the committee about the 2010 performance audit of the Department of Agriculture's Anhydrous Ammonia Program.

10:42 AM

Cynthia Hochmiller, discussed the performance audit of Department of Agriculture's Anhydrous Ammonia Program and outstanding audit recommendations for the Department of Natural Resources.







10:46 AM

Ms. Hunter discussed the audit report for the Colorado State Fair that was released on January 14, 2014.

10:55 AM

The committee adjourned.