Senate Committee on Finance (05/05/2015)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

SENATE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

Date:	05/05/2015	ATTENDANCE

Time:	07:09 AM to 09:11 AM	Holbert	X
		Johnston	X
Place:	SCR 356	Kerr	X
		Hill	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Neville T.	X
	Senator Neville T.

This Report was prepared by
	Kori Donaldson
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB15-1348 HB15-1372 HB15-1386 HB15-1260 HB15-1309 HB15-1332 HB15-1377 HB15-1387 HB15-1379 HB15-1388 HB15-1390		Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole Referred to Appropriations Referred to Appropriations Referred to Appropriations Referred to Appropriations Referred to Appropriations Referred to the Committee of the Whole - Consent Calendar Referred to the Committee of the Whole - Consent Calendar Referred to Appropriations Postponed Indefinitely Referred to the Committee of the Whole

07:09 AM -- HB15-1348

The committee was called to order. A quorum was present. Senators Balmer and Heath, co-prime sponsors, returned to the committee to continue the presentation of House Bill 15-1348. Witness testimony on the bill was heard on April 30. Senator Johnston distributed and explained Amendment L.007 (Attachment A), which is strike-below amendment. Senators Balmer and Heath responded to a question from the committee about the amendment and about stakeholder involvement in writing the amendment. Members of the committee commented on the merits of the bill and the amendment.

15SenateFin0505AttachA.pdf


BILL:	HB15-1348
TIME:	07:18:24 AM
MOVED:	Hill
MOTION:	Adopt Amendment L.007 (Attachment A). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert
	Johnston
	Kerr
	Hill
	Neville T.


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


BILL:	HB15-1348
TIME:	07:19:02 AM
MOVED:	Hill
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1348, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 3-2.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	No
	Johnston	Yes
	Kerr	No
	Hill	Yes
	Neville T.	Yes


Final YES: 3 NO: 2 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

07:21 AM -- HB15-1372

Senators Balmer and Heath, co-prime sponsors, next presented House Bill 15-1372. The reengrossed bill raises the statutory limit on the rate of Fixed Utility Fund assessments for electric and natural gas utilities to 0.25 percent of gross revenue. The current 0.2 percent assessment limit continues to apply to telecommunications utilities, and assessments collected from telecommunications companies are deposited into a new Telecommunications Utilities Fund.

07:21 AM -- Mr. Doug Dean, representing the Public Utilities Commission, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Dean provided a summary of the available revenue as compared to the amount appropriated from the Fixed Utility Fund since FY 2005-06 (Attachment B).

15SenateFin0505AttachB.pdf


BILL:	HB15-1372
TIME:	07:25:08 AM
MOVED:	Holbert
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1372 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 5-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	Yes
	Johnston	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Hill	Yes
	Neville T.	Yes


Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

07:26 AM -- HB15-1386

Senators Heath and Scott, co-prime sponsors, presented House Bill 15-1386, which creates a sales and use tax exemption for recycling and composting equipment purchased after January 1, 2015. For sales taxes paid in 2015, the taxpayer can claim a refund from the Department of Revenue between January 1 and April 1, 2016. Vendors will not collect sales taxes on equipment purchased in 2016 or 2017.


BILL:	HB15-1386
TIME:	07:27:29 AM
MOVED:	Hill
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1386 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 5-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	Yes
	Johnston	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Hill	Yes
	Neville T.	Yes


Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

07:27 AM -- HB15-1260

Senator Scott, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1260, which increases the percentage of the wildfire mitigation state income tax deduction from 50 percent to 100 percent of the costs incurred while performing wildfire mitigation on their property. The tax deduction cannot exceed $2,500 per income tax year or the total amount of the taxpayer's federal taxable income, whichever is less. The increased income tax deduction will be available for tax years 2016 through 2024.

07:29 AM -- Mr. Ted Leighty, representing the Colorado Association of Realtors, testified in support of the bill.


BILL:	HB15-1260
TIME:	07:31:14 AM
MOVED:	Hill
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1260 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 5-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	Yes
	Johnston	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Hill	Yes
	Neville T.	Yes


Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

07:32 AM -- HB15-1309

Senator Crowder, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1309. The bill, as amended by the House Health, Insurance and Environment Committee, allows dental hygienists to receive a permit from the Colorado Dental Board to perform interim therapeutic restorations.


BILL:	HB15-1309
TIME:	07:33:36 AM
MOVED:	Hill
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1309 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 5-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	Yes
	Johnston	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Hill	Yes
	Neville T.	Yes


Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

07:34 AM -- HB15-1332

Senator Crowder, prime sponsor, next presented House Bill 15-1332. The bill, as amended by the House Finance Committee, creates a state income tax credit for a taxpayer who purchases and installs the equipment necessary to generate electricity using hydroelectricity or wind resources. To qualify, the taxpayer must be an end-user electric customer of a cooperative electric association or municipal electric utility. In addition, the power generation system must be located on the taxpayer's side of the meter.

07:35 AM -- Mr. Chris Votoupal, representing the Distributed Wind Energy Association, testified in support of the bill.


BILL:	HB15-1332
TIME:	07:37:49 AM
MOVED:	Hill
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1332 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 3-2.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	No
	Johnston	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Hill	Yes
	Neville T.	No


Final YES: 3 NO: 2 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

07:38 AM -- HB15-1377

Senators Donovan and Grantham, co-prime sponsors, presented House Bill 15-1377. Current law allows for the operation of shared, renewable energy generation facilities using solar technologies, also known as community solar gardens (CSGs). Output from CSGs counts against an investor-owned utility's distributed generation requirement under Colorado's renewable energy standard. This reengrossed bill expands upon this concept by allowing the generation from shared generation facilities using other renewable energy technologies, including small wind, small hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass, to count against the retail distribution requirements for a cooperative electric associations (CEA) under certain circumstances.

07:40 AM -- Mr. Geoff Hier, representing the Colorado Rural Electric Association, testified in support of the bill.


BILL:	HB15-1377
TIME:	07:41:10 AM
MOVED:	Hill
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1377 to the Committee of the Whole with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. The motion passed on a vote of 5-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	Yes
	Johnston	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Hill	Yes
	Neville T.	Yes


Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

07:42 AM -- HB15-1387

Senator Steadman, co-prime sponsor, presented House Bill 16-1387. Beginning July 1, 2015, the bill prohibits a medical marijuana business that receives a retail marijuana establishment license from transferring any of its medical marijuana inventory to the new retail marijuana establishment.


BILL:	HB15-1387
TIME:	07:44:54 AM
MOVED:	Hill
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1387 to the Committee of the Whole with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. The motion passed on a vote of 4-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	Yes
	Johnston	Excused
	Kerr	Yes
	Hill	Yes
	Neville T.	Yes


Final YES: 4 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

07:46 AM -- HB15-1390

Senator Holbert, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1390, which increases the unpaid balance limit for the current tiered maximum finance charges allowed on certain supervised loans and consumer credit sales.

07:47 AM -- Mr. Rich Jones, representing the Bell Policy Center, testified in opposition to the bill. Mr. Jones responded to questions from the committee.

07:50 AM -- Ms. Libby Wittman, representing One Main Financial, testified in support of the bill.


BILL:	HB15-1390
TIME:	07:54:36 AM
MOVED:	Holbert
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1390 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 4-1.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	Yes
	Johnston	No
	Kerr	Yes
	Hill	Yes
	Neville T.	Yes


Final YES: 4 NO: 1 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

07:55 AM -- HB15-1379

Senator Hill, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1379. The bill, as amended by the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee, allows people who are not residents of Colorado to apply to the Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) in the Department of Revenue (DOR) for the authorization to hold a Permitted Economic Interest (PEI) in a regulated medical or retail marijuana business.

07:57 AM -- Mr. Christian Sederberg, representing Vicente Sederberg, testified in support of the bill.


BILL:	HB15-1379
TIME:	07:59:38 AM
MOVED:	Hill
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1379 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 5-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	Yes
	Johnston	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Hill	Yes
	Neville T.	Yes


Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

08:00 AM

The committee recessed.

08:25 AM -- HB15-1388

The committee returned to order. Senator Kerr, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1388, which creates the Securitizing Contributions for Retirement Earnings Act (act). The act permits the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) to issue bonds for the Colorado Public Employees' Retirement System (PERA) School and State retirement plan divisions. Prior to the issuance of any bonds, the Governor and the State Treasurer must validate the bonds, by filing for a judicial examination and receiving a non-appealable determination that the issuance of bonds will not violate the Colorado Constitution. The act sets forth the specific terms for judicial review. The Governor and the State Treasurer must also conclude that issuing the bonds will permit the State and School retirement plan divisions to reduce the unfunded actuarially accrued liability sooner than if the bonds were not issued. The Attorney General (AG) and Office of the State Controller (OSC) are also required to make certain certifications prior to the issuance of bonds.

Senator Kerr distributed an article "Securitizing Contributions for Retirement Earnings (SCORE) Act" (Attachment C). He also distributed and explained Amendment L.012 (Attachment D). He responded to questions from the committee about the amendment and discussed previous efforts to introduce legislation to allow CHFA to issue bonds on behalf of PERA.

15SenateFin0505AttachC.pdf

15SenateFin0505AttachD.pdf

08:37 AM -- Mr. Walker Stapleton, State Treasurer, Mr. Jon Forbes, Deputy State Treasurer, and Mr. Henry Sobanet, Director, Governor's Office of State Planning and Budgeting, testified in support of the bill. Treasurer Stapleton discussed various misconceptions about the bill. Mr. Sobanet distributed and explained a 40-year funding forecast for PERA's state division (Attachment E). He discussed whether a study should be conducted prior to authorizing CHFA to authorize bonds on behalf of PERA.

15SenateFin0505AttachE.pdf

08:45 AM -- Ms. Lynea Hansen, representing the Colorado Coalition on Retirement Security, testified in support of the bill.

08:47 AM -- Mr. Greg Smith, Executive Director of PERA, testified in support of the bill. Committee members received a packet of information about PERA (Attachment F). Mr. Smith discussed the information included in Attachment F and responded to questions about PERA Board discussions about the possible issuance of bonds. He responded to a question about why CHFA will issue bonds on behalf of PERA.

15SenateFin0505AttachF.pdf

08:52 AM -- Mr. Tom Boasberg, Superintendent, Denver Public Schools, testified in support of the bill.

08:56 AM

Senator Johnston distributed and explained Amendment L.007 (Attachment G).

15SenateFin0505AttachG.pdf


BILL:	HB15-1388
TIME:	08:57:04 AM
MOVED:	Johnston
MOTION:	Adopt amendment L.007 (Attachment G). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert
	Johnston
	Kerr
	Hill
	Neville T.


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


BILL:	HB15-1388
TIME:	08:58:48 AM
MOVED:	Johnston
MOTION:	Adopt Amendment L.012 (Attachment D), lines 4 through 19. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert
	Johnston
	Kerr
	Hill
	Neville T.


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


BILL:	HB15-1388
TIME:	09:05:34 AM
MOVED:	Kerr
MOTION:	Adopt amendment L.010 (Attachment H). The motion passed without objection. 15SenateFin0505AttachH.pdf
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert
	Johnston
	Kerr
	Hill
	Neville T.


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


BILL:	HB15-1388
TIME:	09:07:29 AM
MOVED:	Kerr
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1388, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a vote of 2-3.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert	No
	Johnston	Yes
	Kerr	Yes
	Hill	No
	Neville T.	No


YES: 2 NO: 3 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB15-1388
TIME:	09:10:13 AM
MOVED:	Hill
MOTION:	Postpone House Bill 15-1388 indefinitely using a reversal of the previous roll call. There was no objection to the use of the reverse roll call, therefore, the bill was postponed indefinitely. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Holbert
	Johnston
	Kerr
	Hill
	Neville T.


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

09:10 AM

The committee adjourned.