Bill Summary for Bill Number HB15-1330

Date: 04/20/2015

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB15-1330

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON STATE, VETERANS, & MILITARY AFFAIRS

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Refer House Bill 15-1330 to the Committee on Legis	PASS

03:08 PM -- HB15-1330

The committee took a brief recess.

03:14 PM

The committee returned to order. Representative Foote, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 15-1330. Beginning January 1, 2017, this bill requires Legislative Council staff (LCS) to include an estimate of the social cost of carbon in the fiscal note for certain electricity generation measures. The bill specifies that the social cost of carbon consists of:

an estimate of the increase or decrease in carbon emissions that results from the measure; and

a monetization of the change in carbon emissions, which may be expressed as a range.

The bill defines "electricity generation measures" as any bill or concurrent resolution expected to cause a significant increase or decrease in the generation of electricity from a renewable or nonrenewable source by or on behalf of a qualifying retail utility subject to Colorado's renewable energy standard. The bill requires executive agencies to cooperate and share relevant information with LCS to support the preparation of these social cost of carbon estimates.

03:20 PM

Representative Foote responded to questions from the committee.

03:30 PM -- Marc Carey, representing LCS, came to the table to respond to committee questions about the fiscal note, economic modeling, and the effect of the bill on legislative staff.

03:38 PM

Discussion about economic modeling continued.

03:41 PM -- Dianna Orf, representing the Colorado Mining Association and the Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, testified in opposition to the bill. Ms. Orf expressed skepticism that LCS can apply computer models effectively to accurately predict the social cost of carbon. She responded to questions from the committee.

03:50 PM

Discussion about economic modeling continued.

03:53 PM -- Eric Patterson, representing himself, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Patterson spoke about economic effects of climate change.

03:57 PM -- Frank Swain, representing Conservation Colorado, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Swain expressed his opinion that the bill represents a necessary and appropriate step to measuring the detrimental effects of carbon emissions. He indicated that such measuring meant is required if the state has any chance of tackling the problem of climate change.

04:00 PM -- Will Tour, representing Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, testified in support of the bill. Mr. Tour stated that the best decisions are made when decision makers have the most information. He spoke about the direct impacts of climate change. He responded to questions from the committee.


BILL:	HB15-1330
TIME:	04:07:50 PM
MOVED:	Foote
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1330 to the Committee on Legislative Council. The motion passed on a vote of 6-5.
SECONDED:	Salazar
		VOTE
	Foote	Yes
	Humphrey	No
	Lontine	Yes
	Neville P.	No
	Primavera	Yes
	Tate	No
	Thurlow	No
	Tyler	Yes
	Willett	No
	Salazar	Yes
	Ryden	Yes

Final YES: 6 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS