House Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, & Natural Resources (03/23/2015)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK, & NATURAL RESOURCES

Date:	03/23/2015	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:33 PM to 02:20 PM	Arndt	X
		Becker J.	X
Place:	HCR 0107	Brown	X
		Buck	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Coram	X
	Representative Vigil	Danielson	X
		Dore	*
This Report was prepared by		Ginal	X
	Meghan O'Connor	Lebsock	X
		Mitsch Bush	X
		Saine	X
		Becker K.	X
		Vigil	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB15-1277		Referred to Appropriations

01:33 PM -- HB 15-1277

Representative Vigil, sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1277, which authorizes $5 million to be transferred from the Severance Tax Operational Fund to the Species Conservation Trust Fund (SCTF) to fund programs submitted by the Executive Director of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) designed to conserve native species that have been listed as threatened or endangered under state or federal law, or are likely to become candidate species as determined by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Current law provides a mechanism for balancing spending from the Operational Fund by making proportional reductions to the fund's Tier 2 programs when insufficient funds exist to fully fund those programs and still meet the account's statutory reserve requirement. Tier 2 programs include water-related programs, agriculture-related programs, clean and renewable energy development, soil conservation, the control of invasive species, low-income energy assistance, and the SCTF.

The following persons testified on the bill:

01:35 PM -- Bill Levine, Budget Director, Department of Natural Resources, spoke in support of the bill and distributed a chart outlining the various projects that are funded through the Severance Tax Operational Fund (Attachment A). Mr. Levine described the various programs that will receive funds from the Severance Tax Operational Funds and discussed the difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 programs. Mr. Levine responded to questions from the committee regarding the funding for Tier 2 programs, the Low Energy Assistance Program (LEAP), and the statutory transfers into Tier 1 and Tier 2 programs from the Severance Tax Operational Fund.

150323 AttachA.pdf

01:51 PM -- Linda Bassi, Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), described various projects approved by the CWCB that will be funded through the SCFT, including the Gunnison River Basin Selenium Management Plan, Upper Colorado River Basin Non-native Species Control Program, and Colorado River lease of water for instream flows for endangered Fish recovery purposes. Ms. Bassi responded to questions from the committee regarding the programs.

02:00 PM -- Jeff Versteeg, Director, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), provided background information on the SCTF fund to the committee and described the programs approved by the CPW, including Native Terrestrial Wildlife Conservation, Native Aquatic Wildlife Conservation, Colorado Natural Areas Program, and Colorado Resource Stewardship Program. Mr. Versteeg described work done by CPW to control plague in the Gunnison prairie dog and efforts to conserve other species that are on the endangered species list or are likely to considered endangered species. Mr. Versteeg responded to questions from the committee regarding the programs.

02:12 PM -- Doug Robotham, The Nature Conservancy, spoke in support of the bill.

02:15 PM -- Jen Boulton, Trout Unlimited and the Colorado Audoban, spoke in support of the bill.

02:16 PM -- Chris Treese, Colorado River Water Conservation District, spoke in support of the bill.

02:18 PM -- Dianna Orf, Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, spoke in support of the bill.

02:19 PM

The testimony phased was closed and Representative Vigil closed his comments on the bill.


BILL:	HB15-1277
TIME:	02:19:39 PM
MOVED:	Vigil
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1277 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 13-0.
SECONDED:	Ginal
		VOTE
	Arndt	Yes
	Becker J.	Yes
	Brown	Yes
	Buck	Yes
	Coram	Yes
	Danielson	Yes
	Dore	Yes
	Ginal	Yes
	Lebsock	Yes
	Mitsch Bush	Yes
	Saine	Yes
	Becker K.	Yes
	Vigil	Yes

Final YES: 13 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:20 PM

The committee adjourned.