Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources (02/11/2009)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Date:	02/11/2009	ATTENDANCE

Time:	09:59 AM to 11:43 AM	Brophy	X
		Gibbs	X
Place:	SCR 353	Harvey	E*
		Kester	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Schwartz	X
	Senator Isgar	Hodge	X
		Isgar	X
This Report was prepared by
	David Beaujon
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
SB09-158 SB09-124 SB09-119 SB09-117		Amended, Referred to Appropriations Amended, Referred to Finance Referred to the Committee of the Whole Referred to the Committee of the Whole

10:00 AM -- Senate Bill 09-158

Senator Isgar, sponsor, described the provisions of Senate Bill 09-158 that requires the Department of Natural Resources to carry out a study of federal and state landowner conservation programs that offer monetary compensation to landowners who set aside lands or adopt specific land management strategies.

The following persons testified on the bill:

10:04 AM -- Doug Robotham, Assistant Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, described the benefits of incentives for private land conservation programs including the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). He also spoke in support of the bill and identified potential amendments to the bill including an exemption from the Colorado Open Records Act (Section 24-72-101, C.R.S., et seq) for certain information collected by the study (Attachment A).

10:14 AM -- Terry Fankhauser, Colorado Cattlemen's Association, described the benefits of CRP and other incentives for private land conservation programs. He also explained that additional federal moneys may become available for private land conservation incentives and he spoke in support of the bill. He also spoke in support of the conceptual amendment proposed by Mr. Robotham.

10:17 AM -- Troy Bredenkamp, Colorado Farm Bureau, described the benefits of incentives for private land conservation programs. He also spoke in support of the bill and the conceptual amendment proposed by Mr. Robotham.


BILL:	SB09-158
TIME:	10:19:35 AM
MOVED:	Isgar
MOTION:	Moved to refer Senate Bill 09-158 to the Committee on Appropriations, as amended. The motion passed on a vote of 7-0
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy	Yes
	Gibbs	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Kester	Yes
	Schwartz	Yes
	Hodge	Yes
	Isgar	Yes

Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: TIE


BILL:	SB09-158
TIME:	10:19:51 AM
MOVED:	Isgar
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to require the Colorado Department of Natural Resources to consider new federal or state incentive programs and to exempt from the Colorado Open Records Act certain information gathered by the department while conducting the study. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy
	Gibbs
	Harvey
	Kester
	Schwartz
	Hodge
	Isgar

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


BILL:	SB09-158
TIME:	10:21:20 AM
MOVED:	Harvey
MOTION:	Moved a conceptual amendment to require that funding for the study come from moneys appropriated to the Species Conservation Trust Fund by the General Assembly in 2009. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy
	Gibbs
	Harvey
	Kester
	Schwartz
	Hodge
	Isgar

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

10:21 AM -- Senate Bill 09-124

Senator Isgar, sponsor, described the provisions of Senate Bill 09-124 that extends the funding for the Department of Agriculture to promote agricultural energy-related projects and research until FY 2011-12, also known as Advancing Colorado's Renewable Energy (ACRE) program. Under current law, this funding would cease at the end of FY 2008-09.

The following persons testified on the bill:

10:26 AM -- Tom Lipetzky, Director of the Markets Division in the Colorado Department of Agriculture, described the ACRE program that is administered by his division and identified ACRE projects that received money appropriated in HB 06-1332 (Attachment B). He also spoke in support of the bill and responded to questions from the committee.

10:38 AM -- Bill Metcap, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Colorado Corn Growers, Colorado Association of Conservation Districts, spoke in support of the bill and responded to questions about the benefit of the ACRE program. He also distributed a letter from Mr. Brian Nuefeld, Director of the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts that describes the benefits of the ACRE program (Attachment C).

10:39 AM -- Mr. Dallas Gilbert, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, describe how he used ACRE money to pay for a wind generation facility on his poultry farm. He also spoke in support of the bill.

10:48 AM -- John Covert, Colorado Harvesting Energy Network, described the benefits of the ACRE program and spoke in support of the bill.

The following persons submitted written testimony on Senate Bill 09-124:

Jeffrey A. Bornmann, Chief Executive Officer, San Juan Energy submitted written testimony in support of Senate Bill 09-124 (Attachment D).
Misty George, Project Manager, Southeast Colorado Resource Conservation and Development, Inc., submitted written testimony in support of Senate Bill 09-124 (Attachment E).


BILL:	SB09-124
TIME:	10:57:11 AM
MOVED:	Isgar
MOTION:	Moved to refer SB 09- 124 to the Committee on Finance, as amended. The motion passed on a vote of 7-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy	Yes
	Gibbs	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Kester	Yes
	Schwartz	Yes
	Hodge	Yes
	Isgar	Yes

Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	SB09-124
TIME:	10:58:13 AM
MOVED:	Schwartz
MOTION:	Moved to amend Page 2 of the printed bill, line 11, after "promote" insert "THE FEASIBILITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF" , after "energy related projects" insert ".", strike "and", line 12, strike "research.". The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy
	Gibbs
	Harvey
	Kester
	Schwartz
	Hodge
	Isgar

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

11:04 AM -- Senate Bill 09-119

Senator Harvey, sponsor, described the provisions of Senate Bill 09-119 that clarifies that the provisions of the Colorado Water Quality Control Act do not limit or impair the ability to enforce penalties for the discharge of hazardous substances or waste.

The following persons testified on the bill:

11:10 AM -- Geoff Blue, Department of Law, described a recent Boulder district court decision that determined the state does not have the same authority to prosecute illegal discharges of hazardous waste into state waters as it does to prosecute discharges onto land. This case involved an employee of the University of Colorado (CU) who discharged hazardous waste into a stream but could not be charged with a criminal violation of the law. Mr. Blue also spoke in support of the bill.

11:13 AM -- Mike Melito, Department of Law, described the "loop hole" in the law that prevented the state from charging the CU employee with a criminal violation. He responded to questions from the committee regarding the penalty that would have been applied to the employee if the loophole did not exist at the time of the violation. He also described the bill's fiscal impact to the Department of Law and the penalties for illegal dumping of sewage and other pollutants on land and water. He also spoke in support of the bill.

11:28 AM -- Jen Boulton, Colorado Audubon, Colorado Trout Unlimited, spoke in support of the bill.


BILL:	SB09-119
TIME:	11:29:44 AM
MOVED:	Harvey
MOTION:	Moved to refer SB 09-119 to the Committee of the Whole, without amendment, and with a recommendation that it be added to the consent calendar. The motion passed on a vote of 7-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy	Yes
	Gibbs	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Kester	Yes
	Schwartz	Yes
	Hodge	Yes
	Isgar	Yes

Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

11:29 AM -- Senate Bill 09-117

Senator Isgar, sponsor, described the provision of Senate Bill 09-119 that continues the regulation by the Department of Agriculture of the slaughter, processing, and sale of meat animals until July 1, 2018 and discontinues the regulation of locker plants for the storage of food. The bill directs that fines collected for violations be deposited in the General Fund rather than the Inspection and Consumer Services Cash Fund. It also makes other changes to the regulation of the slaughter, processing, and sale of meat animals. He also described the provisions of Amendment L. 002 that strike everything below the enacting clause (Attachment F).

The following person testified on the bill:

11:37 AM -- Julie Zimmerman, Director of the Inspection and Consumer Service Division of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, described the provisions of Amendment L. 002 and spoke in its support (Attachment G). She also responded to questions from the committee concerning the amendment.


BILL:	SB09-117
TIME:	11:40:40 AM
MOVED:	Isgar
MOTION:	Moved SB 09-117 to the Committee of the Whole, as amended, and with a recommendation that it be added to the consent calendar. The motion passed on a vote of 7-0.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy	Yes
	Gibbs	Yes
	Harvey	Yes
	Kester	Yes
	Schwartz	Yes
	Hodge	Yes
	Isgar	Yes

Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	SB09-117
TIME:	11:41:08 AM
MOVED:	Isgar
MOTION:	Moved Amendment L. 002 that strikes everything below the enacting clause. The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Brophy
	Gibbs
	Harvey
	Kester
	Schwartz
	Hodge
	Isgar

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

11:43 AM

The meeting adjourned