Bill Summary for Bill Number HB12-1282

Date: 03/12/2012

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB12-1282

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Moved to refer House Bill 12-1282 to the Committee	PASS

01:35 PM

Representative Bradford, committee chair, called the meeting to order.

01:37 PM -- House Bill 12-1282

Vince Matthews, Director of the Colorado Geological Survey (CGS) within the Department of Natural Resources, addressed the committee to discuss the duties of the CGS and distributed handouts to the committee concerning the CGS Land Use Program (Attachment A), geologic hazards in Colorado (Attachment B), and a Guide to Swelling Soil (on file at the Legislative Council Staff office and at the State Archives). Director Matthews explained that current law requires the CGS to conduct a geologic evaluation for any proposed subdivision under review by a board of county commissioners. He explained that the bill allows the CGS to determine if a plan can be exempt from the current evaluation requirement. Director Matthews addressed questions from the committee concerning land use decisions for municipalities and counties and explained that the bill only addresses subdivision plans in unincorporated areas of counties.

01:45 PM

Larry Carrillo, representing the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG), addressed the committee to explain that the AIPG was neutral on the bill and discussed the need for more time to resolve some issues with the bill.

01:48 PM

Eric Heil, representing the Colorado Chapter of the American Planning Association, testified in support of the bill and discussed the need to improve the review process of county subdivisions. Mr. Heil addressed questions from the committee concerning the number of subdivisions that were submitted to the CGS for review during 2011 and the impact of the bill on state revenue raised by each geologic evaluation.

01:52 PM

Andy Karsian, representing Colorado Counties Inc., testified in support of the bill and discussed certain cases where county subdivision plans could have been exempt from the current review requirement in state law for geologic evaluations by the CGS.

01:53 PM

Representative Ramirez, prime sponsor of House Bill 12-1282, made closing comments on the bill.


BILL:	HB12-1282
TIME:	01:54:30 PM
MOVED:	Szabo
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 12-1282 to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a vote of 11-0.
SECONDED:	Conti
		VOTE
	Balmer	Yes
	Conti	Yes
	Fields	Yes
	Gardner B.	Yes
	Labuda	Yes
	Lee	Yes
	Pace	Yes
	Soper	Yes
	Swerdfeger	Yes
	Szabo	Yes
	Bradford	Yes

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

01:55 PM

The committee stood in a brief recess.