2014
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 14-1002
       
       BY REPRESENTATIVE(S) Coram, Mitsch Bush, Sonnenberg,
       Becker, Buck, Buckner, Conti, Court, Dore, Duran, Everett, Exum,
       Fields, Fischer, Foote, Garcia, Gerou, Ginal, Hamner, Holbert,
       Hullinghorst, Humphrey, Joshi, Kagan, Kraft-Tharp, Labuda,
       Landgraf, Lawrence, Lebsock, Lee, May, McCann, McLachlan,
       McNulty, Melton, Moreno, Murray, Navarro, Nordberg, Pabon,
       Peniston, Pettersen, Primavera, Priola, Rankin, Rosenthal, Ryden,
       Saine, Salazar, Schafer, Scott, Singer, Stephens, Swalm, Szabo,
       Tyler, Vigil, Williams, Wilson, Wright, Young, Ferrandino;
       also SENATOR(S) Schwartz, Brophy, Roberts, Guzman, Heath,
       Newell.
       
          CONCERNING A SPECIAL EXEMPTION FROM
       INTERSTATE HIGHWAY WEIGHT LIMITS FOR DIVISIBLE
       TRUCK LOADS CARRYING FOREST PRODUCTS. 
       
          WHEREAS, In Colorado, improving the health of our forests plays 
       an important role in mitigating catastrophic wildfires, promoting healthy
       watersheds, and providing for our citizens biomass energy, a reliable,
       inexpensive renewable energy; and
       
          WHEREAS, In the wake of devastating wildfires in the summers of
       2012 and 2013, a catastrophic flood in September of 2013, and years of
       pine beetle infestations, Colorado's forests are filled with dead and dying
       wood that needs to be removed to restore the health of our forests; and
       
          WHEREAS, Our forest products industries, including timber and
       biomass energy, provide market-driven economic solutions for improving
       Colorado's forest health by thinning the overcrowded forests and
       removing dead and dying wood; and
       
          
       
       
       
          WHEREAS, Removing economic roadblocks for our forest products
       industries can thus help Colorado recover from the catastrophic wildfires,
       floods, and pine beetle infestations that have plagued our state in recent
       years; and
       
          WHEREAS, One of the economic roadblocks faced by our forest
       products industries is the federal maximum weight limit imposed on
       interstate highways for divisible loads; and 
       
          WHEREAS, Under federal law, trucks hauling divisible loads may
       only haul up to 80,000 pounds on Colorado's interstate highways as a
       result of the freeze imposed by the federal "Intermodal Surface
       Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991", Pub.L. 102-240, as amended; and
       
          WHEREAS, Because of the maximum weight limit imposed on
       interstate highways, companies hauling forest products are required to
       transport smaller loads than the maximum capacity of their trucks, thus
       requiring the companies to use more trucks and incur greater fuel costs;
       and
       
          WHEREAS, A company providing biomass energy in Colorado,
       estimates that increasing the maximum weight limits on interstate
       highways would save the company between 20 and 30 percent of its
       current fuel costs; now, therefore,
       
          Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Sixty-ninth
       General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein:
       
          That we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly, urge
       Congress to pass legislation creating a special exemption from the federal
       maximum weight limit on interstate highways for forest product
       industries.
       
          
       
       
       
       
       
       
          Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to
       members of Colorado's, Arizona's, New Mexico's, Oregon's, Utah's, and
       Wyoming's congressional delegations.
       
       
       
       
       _________________________________________________________
       Mark Ferrandino                       Morgan Carroll
       SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE                    PRESIDENT OF
       OF REPRESENTATIVES                        THE SENATE
       
       
       
       
       ___________________________  ____________________________
       Marilyn Eddins                        Cindi Markwell
       CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE                SECRETARY OF
       OF REPRESENTATIVES                        THE SENATE