Bill Summary for Bill Number SB09-106

Date: 01/29/2009

Final
BILL SUMMARY for SB09-106

SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Moved Amendment L. 001. The motion passed without Moved to refer SB 09-106 to the Committee on Appro	Pass Without Objection PASS

01:51 PM -- Senate Bill 09-106

Senator Isgar, sponsor, described the provisions of SB 09-106 that extends indefinitely the funding for the Water Supply Reserve Account and stipulates that the unencumbered and unexpended balance from the account is to remain in the fund. Beginning in FY 2011-12, $10 million will be transferred from the Operational Account of the Severance Tax Trust Fund to the Water Supply Reserve Account annually. The bill allows the Colorado Water Conservation Board to allocate moneys by grant or loan from the Water Supply Reserve Account to only those "covered entities" that have adopted a water conservation plan. He also responded to questions from the committee and distributed Amendment L. 001 (Attachment B). In 2005, the General Assembly enacted the Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act that establishes a process to address the state's growing water demand. This law created nine basin roundtables covering the Denver metropolitan area and eight of the state's major river basins. The Water Supply Reserve Account was created in Senate Bill 06-179 to help address Colorado's future water needs. Money in the account is divided between two subaccounts. Each roundtable has its own process and criteria for approving funding from the Water Supply Reserve Account. Once a request for funding from the Water Supply Reserve Account is approved by a basin roundtable, the request is forwarded to the Colorado Water Conservation Board for funding evaluation and final authorization.

The following persons testified on the bill:

01:56 PM -- Eric Heacox, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, spoke in support of the bill and described the approval process for grants from the Water Supply Reserve Account (Attachment C).

02:00 PM -- Travis Smith, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Rio Grande Basin Roundtable, spoke in support of the bill and described projects in the Rio Grande Basin that have received moneys from the Water Supply Reserve Account.

02:02 PM -- Steve Harris, Southwest Basin Roundtable, Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority, spoke in support of the bill and described projects that received moneys from the Water Supply Reserve Account in the Southwest Basin. He also responded to questions from the committee regarding the approval process for obtaining grants from the Water Supply Reserve Account.

02:07 PM -- Michael Preston, Southwest Basin Roundtable, spoke in support of the bill and described projects that received moneys from the Water Supply Reserve Account.

02:08 PM -- Frank Kugel, Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, Gunnison River Basin Roundtable, spoke in support of the bill and described projects in the Gunnison River Basin that received moneys from the Water Supply Reserve Account.

02:10 PM -- Gary Barber, El Paso Water Authority, Arkansas River Basin Roundtable, described the membership of the Arkansas River Basin Roundtable. He also spoke in support of the bill and described projects that received moneys from the Water Supply Reserve Account, including money zebra mussel control, and identified funding needs for water projects in the basin.

02:14 PM -- Jim Yahn, South Platte Basin Roundtable, North Sterling Reservoir and Irrigation Company, Pruett Reservoir Company, spoke in support of the bill and described the benefits of projects that received moneys from the Water Supply Reserve Account. He also described the Interbasin Compact Committee process and how it has improved relations between water users in the South Platte River Basin and relations between the basin and other water basins.

02:18 PM -- Jim Pockrandt, Colorado River Basin Roundtable, spoke in support of the bill and described the benefits of projects that received moneys from the Water Supply Reserve Account including an improvement to Dillon Reservoir and a study of water needs for oil shale development.

02:20 PM -- John McClow, Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, Gunnison River Basin Roundtable, spoke in support of the bill and described projects that received moneys from the Water Supply Reserve Account. He also described how the roundtable process has improved interbasin cooperation and identified water supply funding needs in the Gunnison River Basin.


BILL:	SB09-106
TIME:	02:22:30 PM
MOVED:	Isgar
MOTION:	Moved to refer SB 09-106 to the Committee on Appropriations, as amended. The motion passed on a vote of 5-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy	Yes
	Gibbs	Yes
	Harvey	Excused
	Kester	Excused
	Schwartz	Yes
	Hodge	Yes
	Isgar	Yes

Final YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	SB09-106
TIME:	02:22:44 PM
MOVED:	Isgar
MOTION:	Moved Amendment L. 001. The motion passed without objection. (Attachment D)
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy
	Gibbs
	Harvey
	Kester	Excused
	Schwartz
	Hodge
	Isgar

Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection