Date: 05/02/2006

Final
BILL SUMMARY for SB06-228

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
Refer the bill to the Committee of the Whole. The
PASS
TIE



01:36 PM -- Senate Bill 06-228

Representative May, bill sponsor, explained the provisions of SB 06-228 and the purposes of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). The bill addresses the cost of elections and specifies the amount the SCFD will pay to participate in coordinated elections.


01:43 PM

Mary Ellen Williams, SCFD, spoke in support of the bill. She provided a history of the SCFD and spoke to the statutory limitation on the amount the district can spend on district election costs. She explained how counties currently provide information to the SCFD on the costs of elections and how the district's share of the costs of those elections is calculated. She further provided information on how the agreement in the bill was reached between the SCFD and the counties in the district.

In response to a committee question, Representative May further explained current law that places a cap on the amount the SCFD can spend on administrative costs.


02:01 PM

David Broadwell, City and County of Denver, spoke in support of the bill. He advocated the formula in the bill so that each county pays its own fair apportioned share of the costs of a coordinated election.


02:04 PM

Jim Windholz, SCFD, spoke in support of the bill concurring with the testimony of Mr. Broadwell.


02:06 PM

Nancy Doty, Arapahoe County Clerk's Office, spoke in opposition to the bill. She indicated the bill is bad for counties and spoke to the need for SCFD to hold elections in conjunction with general elections. She also questioned the SCFD's budget-preparedness for elections and noted that while the SCFD is limited on the amount it can spend on administrative costs, the SCFD could have asked the legislature for an exemption from that limitation. She also disputed other testimony and noted that if the bill is passed, SCFD's portion of election reimbursement costs will be halved. She further explained how counties bill out for the costs of coordinated elections and noted that there is a contractual agreement between Arapahoe County and the SCFD that cannot be violated. She noted there will not be another SCFD election for another 8 years and asked for more time to discuss the issue.


02:12 PM

Peg Ackerman, Colorado County Clerks, spoke in opposition to the bill and provided further detail on how the agreement between the SCFD and county clerks for paying the share of coordinated election costs was reached.

In response to a committee question, Ms. Doty explained how Arapahoe County determines its election costs. Ms. Doty further explained the differences in election costs from county-to-county.

Representative May and Ms. Doty responded to committee questions regarding the degree to which the formula in the bill addresses money owed the counties by SCFD. She also responded to committee questions regarding the number of questions on each ballot in Arapahoe County and the cost of each question per voter. In response to an additional question Ms. Doty indicted that should the bill pass, SCFD would, in effect, be allowed to skip out on the amount it currently owes Arapahoe County from the 2004 election.


02:33 PM

Ms. Williams responded to committee questions regarding the amount SCFD owes Arapahoe County and the amount it has already paid, and when the balance will be paid. She indicated that an earlier draft of the bill provided that the formula would be applied to the past debt (thereby reducing the amount currently owed Arapahoe County) but that while this bill allows for a deduction of election costs, the SCFD it plans to pay the full balance of costs owed at the end of the year.

Representative May clarified that the reason that SCFD has not paid all of its election bill is because of the statutory cap on the amount that can be paid in administrative costs. He further responded to a committee question regarding payment for SCFD campaigns. Ms. Williams noted that as a government entity, SCFD is prohibited from paying for campaigns.
BILL:SB06-228
TIME: 02:41:55 PM
MOVED:Merrifield
MOTION:Refer the bill to the Committee of the Whole. The motion carried on a 7-4 roll call vote.
SECONDED:Berens
VOTE
Berens
Yes
Cerbo
Yes
Curry
Yes
Decker
Yes
Massey
Yes
Merrifield
Yes
Soper
No
Stafford
No
Stengel
No
Lindstrom
No
Hodge
Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS
Representative May provided closing comments on the bill.


02:43 PM

The committee recessed.