House Committee on Local Government (01/28/2015)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Date:	01/28/2015	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:36 PM to 03:55 PM	Arndt	X
		Danielson	X
Place:	HCR 0107	Keyser	X
		Klingenschmitt	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Navarro	X
	Representative Lebsock	Ransom	X
		Rosenthal	*
This Report was prepared by		Saine	X
	Damion Pechota	Singer	X
		Lebsock	X
		Fields	*
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB15-1074 HB15-1069 HB15-1085		Referred to the Committee of the Whole Referred to Finance Postponed Indefinitely

01:38 PM -- HB15-1074

Representative Vigil, sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1074 concerning an individual member of a board of the county commissioner in a legal proceeding in which the board is found liable. The bill prohibits any judgements against a board of county commissioners, arising solely from an act of the board exercising its authority as a governing body, from being enforced against one or more individual members of the board. The bill does not apply to cases where a member is individually liable for a violation of law.

01:41 PM -- Pat Ratliff, Colorado Counties, Inc., spoke in favor of the bill and distributed a handout (Attachment A). She discussed a case where a commissioner was held liable for a decision of the board acting in its official duty. Ms. Ratliff discussed the importance of a clarifying law regarding county commissioner liability.

15HouseLocal0128AttachA.pdf

Representative Klingenschmitt asked if other elected officers would be covered under the bill. Ms. Ratliff said that there is no record that other elected officials have been held individually liable.

01:49 PM

Ms. Ratliff answered questions from the committee and provided clarification regarding lawsuits against a board.

01:51 PM -- Richard Orf, Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, spoke in support of the bill.

Representative Vigil provided closing comments on the bill.


BILL:	HB15-1074
TIME:	01:53:31 PM
MOVED:	Singer
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1074 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 11-0.
SECONDED:	Saine
		VOTE
	Arndt	Yes
	Danielson	Yes
	Keyser	Yes
	Klingenschmitt	Yes
	Navarro	Yes
	Ransom	Yes
	Rosenthal	Yes
	Saine	Yes
	Singer	Yes
	Lebsock	Yes
	Fields	Yes

YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

01:54 PM -- HB15-1069

Representative Ryden, sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1069 concerning information requests to be included in recorded written instruments filed with the county clerk and recorder to claim a homestead exemption. This bill changes the required information for a recorded homestead exemption document. Specifically, the bill requires that the name of the owner of the real property be included in the document claiming a homestead exemption.

01:56 PM -- Bo Edwards, representing the Land Title Association of Colorado, spoke in favor of the bill. He provided an overview of the homestead exemption. He said that the current law does not require the homestead declaration to have the name of the owner. Mr. Edwards said that including the name of the owner will make title searches easier.

Mr. Edwards answered a question from the committee and said that bill will help non-titled spouses.

02:03 PM -- Catherine Hana, representing the Colorado Bar Association, spoke in favor of the bill.


BILL:	HB15-1069
TIME:	02:04:50 PM
MOVED:	Singer
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1069 to the Committee on Finance The motion passed on a vote of 11-0.
SECONDED:	Danielson
		VOTE
	Arndt	Yes
	Danielson	Yes
	Keyser	Yes
	Klingenschmitt	Yes
	Navarro	Yes
	Ransom	Yes
	Rosenthal	Yes
	Saine	Yes
	Singer	Yes
	Lebsock	Yes
	Fields	Yes

YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:06 PM -- HB15-1085

Representative Thurlow, sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1085 concerning the on-line publication of fiscal information by a county. The bill allows a board of county commissioners (board) to publish monthly expenditure reports and semiannual financial statements on a website maintained by the county instead of in a legal newspaper. In addition, the bill requires that salary warrants be included in the county's monthly expenditure report.

Representative Thurlow distributed a handout (Attachment B) and discussed the importance of transparency and the changes in technology to make resources more accessible.

15HouseLocal0128AttachB.pdf

Representative Ransom asked a question concerning internet accessibility.

Representative Klingenschmitt discussed the fiscal note and the amount of money that will be saved by the county for publishing the information online.

02:20 PM

Representative Thurlow answered questions from the committee concerning the access to county information online.

Representative Keyser discussed access to public information. Representative Fields discussed the history of similar bills in the House Local Government Committee and her concerns with the current bill.

02:30 PM

The committee members continued to discussed the provisions of the bill and accessibility of the internet.

Representative Thurlow said that counties can choose to publish the information either on-line or in a newspaper. He presented amendment L.001 (Attachment C). Representative Thurlow discussed amendment L.001 and changes it makes to the bill.

15HouseLocal0128AttachC.pdf

Representative Thurlow answered questions from the committee concerning amendment L.001.

02:40 PM -- Samantha Johnston, Aspen Times, spoke against the bill. She said that legal revenue does not have a large impact in their operations. In addition, Ms. Johnston discussed concerns about separating legal notices into different places, and said that this does not help transparency.

Ms. Johnston answered a question from the committee regarding internet access. She discussed the importance of making information available to people and subsidies to organizations.

Representative Thurlow answered a question from the committee regarding the option to counties on how information will be published.

02:49 PM -- Greg Romberg, representing the Colorado Press Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. He distributed a handout (Attachment D). Mr. Romberg discussed his concerns regarding dispersing public information through a variety of sources. He said that the newspaper centralizes the information in one place to make it easier to access information. He discussed the cost to county governments for publishing information in a newspaper. Mr. Romberg spoke on amendment L.001.

15HouseLocal0128AttachD.pdf

Representative Keyser asked a question concerning county governments discretion to publish information.

02:59 PM

Representative Thurlow discussed the accessibility of online information. Mr. Romberg discussed his concerns regarding the decentralization of government legal notices.

The committee members discussed the importance of information access and local newspapers.

03:08 PM -- Gerard Healey, Colorado Community Media, spoke in opposition to the bill. He discussed community media and the importance of sharing government information. Mr. Healey discussed the history of newspapers as the place of record and said the internet may not be a reliable source to consumers. He discussed the costs to the counties for publishing information on-line. He said that newspapers have to hold counties accountable for publishing the information on time.

03:17 PM

Representative Saine and Mr. Healey dialogued about the costs of publishing information in newspapers.

Representative Thurlow discussed third party verification and accountability.

Mr. Healey answered a question from the committee regarding advertisements and that publishing legal information is a statutory requirement.

03:25 PM -- Rose Pugliese, Mesa County Commissioner, spoke in favor of the bill. She said that the bill only effects financial information regarding county operations and does not effect other public information requirements. Commissioner Pugliese spoke on the costs and current methods to provide information to the public. She discussed the importance of transparency and the other state agencies that are not required to publish information in the newspaper.

03:32 PM -- Donald Rosier, Jefferson County Commissioner, spoke in favor of the bill. He discussed the importance of transparency. Commissioner Rosier discussed the cost to publish public notifications in the newspaper and the access to the Jefferson County website. He discussed the other governing bodies that are exempt from publishing information in the newspaper. He said that the internet allows information to be updated regularly.

Commissioner Rosier answered questions from the committee regarding the costs of publishing information.

03:41 PM -- Richard Orf, Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, spoke in favor of the bill. He said that this bill addresses a financial matter.

03:42 PM -- Pat Ratliff, Colorado Counties, Inc., spoke in favor of the bill.

Representative Thurlow provided a summary of the amendment. He answered questions from the committee members regarding the provisions of the amendment.

The committee members discussed the amendment.


BILL:	HB15-1085
TIME:	03:44:11 PM
MOVED:	Klingenschmitt
MOTION:	Adopt amendment L.001 (Attachment C). The motion passed on a vote of 9-2.
SECONDED:	Saine
		VOTE
	Arndt	Yes
	Danielson	Yes
	Keyser	Yes
	Klingenschmitt	Yes
	Navarro	No
	Ransom	Yes
	Rosenthal	Yes
	Saine	Yes
	Singer	Yes
	Lebsock	Yes
	Fields	No

YES: 9 NO: 2 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

Representative Thurlow provided a closing statement on the bill.

The committee members discussed the bill.


BILL:	HB15-1085
TIME:	03:52:48 PM
MOVED:	Keyser
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1085, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a vote of 5-6.
SECONDED:	Klingenschmitt
		VOTE
	Arndt	No
	Danielson	No
	Keyser	Yes
	Klingenschmitt	Yes
	Navarro	No
	Ransom	Yes
	Rosenthal	Yes
	Saine	Yes
	Singer	No
	Lebsock	No
	Fields	No

YES: 5 NO: 6 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB15-1085
TIME:	03:54:18 PM
MOVED:	Singer
MOTION:	Postpone House Bill 15-1085 indefinitely. The motion passed on a vote of 7-4.
SECONDED:	Rosenthal
		VOTE
	Arndt	Yes
	Danielson	Yes
	Keyser	No
	Klingenschmitt	No
	Navarro	Yes
	Ransom	No
	Rosenthal	Yes
	Saine	No
	Singer	Yes
	Lebsock	Yes
	Fields	Yes

YES: 7 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:55 PM

The committee adjourned.