Date: 02/03/2009

Final
BILL SUMMARY for HB09-1067

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
Moved amendment L.001. The motion passed without
Refer House Bill 09-1067, as amended, to the Commi		Pass Without Objection
PASS



10:43 AM -- House Bill 09-1067 - Concerning Donations of Water Rights for Taxation Purposes

Representative Pommer, prime sponsor, explained the provisions of the bill and discussed amendment L.001 (Attachment A). Representative Pommer began by saying the bill establishes an instream flow incentive state income tax credit. The bill specifies that the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) will approve the credits by issuing certificates to water rights owners who permanently transfer water rights to the CWCB. The bill establishes a credit equal to one-half of the value of the donated water right, as determined by a qualified appraisal, with a maximum value of $250,000. The total amount of credits allowed on an annual basis is limited to $2,000,000.

09HouseFin0203AttachA.pdf

The committee discussed the CWCB's program that has been in place and its performance in terms of past year donations. Representative Pommer continued to discuss the credit saying that amendment L.001 makes the credit refundable and eliminates the transferability provisions in the introduced version of the bill. The bill also specifies that the credit will not be allowed in a particular income tax year if Legislative Council's revenue forecast projects General Fund revenue will not be sufficient to maintain the 6% limit on the annual growth in General Fund appropriations. The bill also provides the Department of Revenue with rulemaking authority to administer the tax credit.

The committee continued the discussion on the refundable provisions in amendment L.001. At this time, some questions were generated and the Chairmen opened the hearing to testimony to address some of the concerns.

The following persons testified:

11:02 AM -- Ms. Linda Bassi, Colorado Water Conservation Board and the Department of Natural Resources, testified in support of the legislation. Ms. Bassi gave the committee a brief overview of the board's water right's donation program and the board's process for evaluating donations. Ms. Bassi closed by saying that water rights donations are very valuable to the state and responded to committee questions.

The committee discussed the administration of the credits through the Department of Revenue.

11:16 AM -- Mr. Phillip Horwitz, Department of Revenue, responded to committee questions and discussed the administration of the credits in the legislation.


11:17 AM

The bill was placed on the table for action and amendment L.001 was offered. At this time Representative Pommer distributed a copy of the Healthy Rivers, Healthy Economy Study by Environmental Defense (Attachment B) and asked that copies be made available for the committee.

09HouseFin0203AttachB.pdf
BILL:HB09-1067
TIME: 11:18:17 AM
MOVED:Benefield
MOTION:Moved amendment L.001. The motion passed without objection by those members present.
SECONDED:Kefalas
VOTE
Apuan
Benefield
Gerou
Kefalas
Kerr A.
Lambert
Roberts
Summers
Swalm
Frangas
Judd
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection
BILL:HB09-1067
TIME: 11:20:09 AM
MOVED:Benefield
MOTION:Refer House Bill 09-1067, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. The motion passed on a 9-2 vote.
SECONDED:Summers
VOTE
Apuan
Yes
Benefield
Yes
Gerou
Yes
Kefalas
Yes
Kerr A.
Yes
Lambert
No
Roberts
Yes
Summers
Yes
Swalm
No
Frangas
Yes
Judd
Yes
Final YES: 9 NO: 2 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS



11:22 AM

Adjourn.