House Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, & Natural Resources (02/07/2005)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK, & NATURAL RESOURCES

Date:	02/07/2005	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:40 PM to 05:00 PM	Brophy	*
		Gallegos	X
Place:	LSB A	Harvey	X
		Hodge	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Hoppe	X
	Representative Curry	McFadyen	X
		Penry	X
This Report was prepared by		Rose	X
	David Beaujon	Solano	X
		McKinley	X
		Curry	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB05-1181 HB05-1177		Postponed Indefinitely Laid Over

01:41 PM -- House Bill 05-1181

Representative Gallegos, sponsor, described the provisions of HB05-1181 that authorizes water judges to address the effects of a change of a water right on water quality.

The following persons testified on the bill:

01:44 PM -- Bud O'hara, Pueblo Water Works, spoke in support of the bill. He also explained current law concerning the authority of water court judges to address water quality in exchanges of water rights.

01:46 PM -- Peter Nichols, Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, commented on the bill.

01:47 PM -- Melinda Kassen, Trout Unlimited, spoke in support of the bill and responded to questions from the committee about the definition of "adverse affect on water quality".

01:55 PM -- Mary Brown, Climax Molybdenum, Corp., spoke in opposition to the bill.

01:57 PM -- Diana Orf, Colorado Mining Association, described the water quality standards that apply to mining operations.

01:58 PM -- Steve Simms, Colorado Water Congress, spoke in opposition to the bill. He also explained why water quality is considered in exchanges of water rights and why it should not be considered in changes of water rights.

02:08 PM -- Bill Groffy, City of Aurora, spoke in opposition to the bill and described the city's efforts to mitigate impacts from its water transfers. He also explained that the Water Quality Control Commission is better able to address water quality impacts than the water court.

02:13 PM -- Chris Treese, Colorado River Water Conservation District, spoke in opposition to the bill.

02:17 PM -- Jerry Sonnenberg, Coloradans for Water Conservation and Development, spoke in opposition to the bill.

02:18 PM -- Mark Arnusch, Colorado Corn Growers Association, spoke in opposition to the bill.

02:20 PM -- Pat Ratliff, El Paso County Water Association, and Douglas County Water Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. She also identified potential sources of water quality impacts.
02:23 PM -- Sara Duncan, Denver Water Department, spoke in opposition to the bill.

02:27 PM

Testimony was closed. Representative Gallegos proposed amendments and responded to questions from the committee regarding the bill's fiscal impact.

02:32 PM

The meeting was recessed while an amendment was prepared.

02:39 PM

Recess ended.


BILL:	HB05-1181
TIME:	02:40:00 PM
MOVED:	McKinley
MOTION:	Moved Amendment L. 005 concerning water quality standards established by the Water Quality Control Commission (Attachment A). The motion failed on a roll call vote of 4-7.
SECONDED:	McFadyen
		VOTE
	Brophy	No
	Gallegos	Yes
	Harvey	No
	Hodge	No
	Hoppe	No
	McFadyen	Yes
	Penry	No
	Rose	No
	Solano	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	Curry	No
Not Final YES: 4 NO: 7 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB05-1181
TIME:	02:46:35 PM
MOVED:	McFadyen
MOTION:	Moved a substitute motion to refer the bill to Committee on Appropriations. The motion failed on a roll call vote of 4-7. The original motion to postpone indefinitely passed on a roll call vote of 7-4.
SECONDED:	McKinley
		VOTE
	Brophy	No
	Gallegos	Yes
	Harvey	No
	Hodge	No
	Hoppe	No
	McFadyen	Yes
	Penry	No
	Rose	No
	Solano	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	Curry	No
Not Final YES: 4 NO: 7 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB05-1181
TIME:	02:47:41 PM
MOVED:	Rose
MOTION:	Moved to postpone indefinitely. The motion passed on a roll call vote of 7-4. A substitute motion to this motion failed.
SECONDED:	Hoppe
		VOTE
	Brophy	Yes
	Gallegos	No
	Harvey	Yes
	Hodge	Yes
	Hoppe	Yes
	McFadyen	No
	Penry	Yes
	Rose	Yes
	Solano	No
	McKinley	No
	Curry	Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:49 PM

Committee discussion followed about the need for the Water Resources Review Committee to address water quality issues during the 2005 interim.

02:49 PM -- House Bill 05-1177

Representative Penry, sponsor, spoke in support of HB05-1177 concerning the negotiation of interbasin compacts. He also responded to questions from the committee regarding the Statewide Water Supply Investigation (SWSI) process and its interaction with process that would implement HB05-1177.

The following persons testified on the bill.

03:05 PM -- Russell George, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, spoke in support of the bill (Attachment B). He described history of interstate compacts and issues that he considered when developing the framework for interbasin compact negotiations. He also described the SWSI process and potential effect of the bill on existing water rights and future water uses.

03:27 PM -- Peter Nichols, Lower Arkansas Water Conservancy District, spoke in support of the bill. He also described current water supply challenges and the history of legislation to address major water supply challenges.

03:32 PM -- Chris Treese, Colorado River Water Conservation District, Colorado Water Congress, spoke in support of the bill and responded to questions from the committee regarding the need for the bill.

03:36 PM -- Frank Jaeger, Parker Water and Sanitation District, spoke in support of the bill. He also responded to questions from the committee regarding the need for a cooperative forum to find solutions to major water supply challenges.

03:43 PM -- Chips Berry, Denver Water Department, commented on the bill and identified potential problems with any recommendation of the compact committee that limits the constitutional right to appropriate unappropriated water. He also described negotiations with water interests in Grand and Summit counties to secure Denver Water's water rights in the Colorado River Basin.

03:53 PM -- Cindy French, Colorado Dairy Farmers, spoke in support of the bill. She also described the water supply challenges affecting farmers in the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District in northeast Colorado (Attachment C).

04:01 PM -- John McCloud, Upper Gunnison Water Conservancy District, spoke in opposition to the bill and identified water supply challenges affecting the Gunnison River Basin.

04:06 PM -- Alan Foutz, Colorado Farm Bureau, commented on the bill and expressed concern about membership of the round tables and other committees that will negotiate interbasin compacts.

04:11 PM -- Eric Wilkinson, Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, commented on the bill and expressed concern about recommendations from the interstate compact committee that ma impact senior water rights. He also requested that basin round table work in cooperation with the SWSI process.

04:20 PM -- Melinda Kassen, Trout Unlimited, spoke in opposition to the bill.

04:25 PM -- Jerry Sonnenberg, Coloradans for Water Conservation and Development, commented on the bill. He expressed concern about the membership of basin round tables and the Interbasin Compact Committee and the lack of clear ground rules to guide the basin round tables. He also urged that the process include protections for senior water rights.

04:31 PM -- Cat Shrier, Golder Associates, spoke in support of the bill. She described local planning efforts to address water supply issues in the state of Washington and other states (Attachment D). She also proposed amendments to the bill to provide a clearer frame work to guide basin round tables.
04:43 PM -- Mark Arnusch, Colorado Corn Growers Association, commented on the bill (Attachment E).

04:48 PM -- John Stencil, Rocky Mt. Farmers Union, spoke in support of the bill. He also expressed concern about membership of basin round tables.

04:54 PM

Representative Penry closed his remarks on the bill and responded to questions from the committee regarding the bill's fiscal note.

04:57 PM -- Russell George returned to respond to questions from the committee regarding potential funding sources to implement the bill.

04:59 PM

The bill was laid over for action only on Wednesday, February 9. The meeting will be held in LSB-A upon adjournment.

Dr. John Redifer submitted written testimony on the bill (Attachment F).

Representative Curry distributed correspondence that she received concerning HB05-1177 (Attachments G through H).