House Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, & Natural Resources (01/28/2009)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK, & NATURAL RESOURCES

Date:	01/28/2009	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:32 PM to 03:58 PM	Gardner C.	*
		Hullinghorst	X
Place:	HCR 0107	Labuda	X
		Looper	X
This Meeting was called to order by		McKinley	X
	Representative Curry	McNulty	*
		Pace	X
This Report was prepared by		Solano	X
	Lauren Ris	Sonnenberg	X
		Tipton	X
		Vigil	X
		Fischer	X
		Curry	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB09-1142 HB09-1051		Postponed Indefinitely Amended, Referred to Finance

01:32 PM -- House Bill 09-1142

Representative Fischer, bill sponsor, presented House Bill 1142 concerning the election of a director of a water conservancy district. He explained that the bill modifies the number of registered voters that must sign a petition to elect a director of a water conservancy district in lieu of the court appointing a director. The bill changes the number of petition signatures to 750 or ten percent of the number of registered electors. Representative Fischer referenced memorandum prepared by Legislative Council Staff (Attachment A). He commented that a similar bill was heard last year and that previous testimony focused on the fact that elections are expensive. He explained that districts all have different sized budgets, some of which are very large. He stated that he believes that the current number of signatures required to hold an election are an insurmountable hurdle. Representative Fischer answered questions from the committee regarding the elimination of the requirement that directors own property in the district and indicated that he has an amendment that would address this issue. Questions from the committee also concerned exceptions for smaller conservancy districts, percentage requirements for petition signatures by county, other ways to get on the board, and whether these avenues have been pursued.

The following individuals testified:

01:48 PM -- Ken Baker, Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District, testified against the bill. He distributed a memorandum (Attachment B) on behalf of Ralph "Terry" Scanga, General Manager for the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District regarding staff time and resources needed to hold elections to the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District Board. He commented that, in his view, elections are not needed to ensure that high quality people sit on water conservancy district boards. He also stated that having directors' applications reviewed by judges ensures the merits and qualifications of the board of directors. Mr. Baker answered questions about his history with the water conservancy district and term limits for directors.

02:00 PM -- Robert Felmlee, Senhas Valley Water Conservancy District, testified against the bill. He explained that his district does not support this bill. He distributed a handout (Attachment C).

02:02 PM -- Larry Clever, General Manager for the Ute Water Conservancy District testified against the bill. He explained that the current system ensures that the judge considers the individual's water knowledge in appointing individuals to sit on the board of directors. He also stated that in his experience, water conservancy district boards are efficient because they do not have to consider political interests. He said that he supports the requirement that the directors own real property because this ensures that they are taxpayers in the district. He estimated that elections in his district to cost $100,000 which could otherwise be used to purchase water. He also indicated that the Colorado Water Congress does not support this bill.

02:08 PM -- Scott Holwick, St. Vrain and Left Hand Water Conservancy District, testified against this bill. He explained that his district's budget is about $350,000 per year and that it is used primarily for water projects in the basin and for purchasing monitoring equipment. Mr. Holwick stated that he would prefer money was not used to cover the cost of elections. He stated that he has never had an election called for in his district. He answered questions from the committee about the extent to which there is public involvement in water conservancy district meetings. He said that meetings are open to the public and that people with a vested interest in water projects attend regularly. He also stated that applicants to the district board are considered by three justices in this district.

02:17 PM -- Greg Hertzkey, Central Colorado Water Conservancy District, testified against HB 1142. He commented on the importance of institutional memory on district boards which he thought may be affected if elections became more frequent. He explained the process for applicants appointed by the judge for his district, which he deemed to be thorough.

02:20 PM -- Troy Bredenkamp, Colorado Farm Bureau, testified against the bill. He began by saying that he echoed the testimony from the previous witnesses, especially related to the budgetary constraints districts face. He mentioned that there are several other boards that do not hold elections in the state including the University of Colorado Board of Regents. He also indicated support for the property ownership requirement.

02:22 PM -- Gina Jenett, Fort Collins citizen, testified in support of this bill. She discussed the Northern Conservancy District's Board and distributed a handout (Attachment D) that described the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District's income sources and expenditures. She also described the number of years that board members have served on the Northern Conservancy District board. Ms. Jenett explained that she thought it was important to have directors held accountable for their decisions by their electors. She commented that she did not think that technical knowledge was important for directors to have and that Northern Conservancy District's Board has a large staff with expertise in a variety of relevant issue areas. Ms. Jenett answered questions from the committee concerning the background requirements currently in statute for the board of directors for water conservancy districts.

02:32 PM -- Jeanette Hillery, Colorado League of Women Voters, testified in support of the bill. She noted that the bill only makes it easier to petition individuals to a board and does not drastically change the process. She said that in her view this makes the process more equitable.

02:35 PM -- Phillip Doe distributed a handout (Attachment E) with his full testimony. Representative Curry expressed concern about some of the points Mr. Doe made. Mr. Doe commented that the bill brings a democratic process to the directors of water conservancy districts that is otherwise lacking.


BILL:	HB09-1142
TIME:	02:42:46 PM
MOVED:	Fischer
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.00 1 (Attachment F ). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Hullinghorst
		VOTE
	Gardner C.
	Hullinghorst
	Labuda
	Looper
	McKinley
	McNulty
	Pace
	Solano
	Sonnenberg
	Tipton
	Vigil
	Fischer
	Curry

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

02:45 PM
Representative Fischer provided closing comments. He acknowledged the cost of elections as one of the prices of democracy. He took questions from the committee regarding representation on the board as currently required by statute. Representative Curry also provided closing comments. She suggested that the committee and the water community sit down and determine how to make the process more satisfactory in larger districts. She also indicated that she would like to get meaningful feedback from the committee. Representative Curry commented that the statute does need to be updated and that the signature requirements are probably too high.


BILL:	HB09-1142
TIME:	02:53:23 PM
MOVED:	Sonnenberg
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 09-1142, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a 10-3 roll call vote.
SECONDED:	Labuda
		VOTE
	Gardner C.	No
	Hullinghorst	Yes
	Labuda	Yes
	Looper	No
	McKinley	No
	McNulty	No
	Pace	No
	Solano	No
	Sonnenberg	No
	Tipton	No
	Vigil	No
	Fischer	Yes
	Curry	No

Not Final YES: 3 NO: 10 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB09-1142
TIME:	02:54:27 PM
MOVED:	Solano
MOTION:	Moved to lay HB 09-1142 over until May 15. A substitute motion was offered to postpone the bill indefinitely. See vote sheet below.
SECONDED:	Gardner C.
		VOTE
	Gardner C.
	Hullinghorst
	Labuda
	Looper
	McKinley
	McNulty
	Pace
	Solano
	Sonnenberg
	Tipton
	Vigil
	Fischer
	Curry

Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: TIE


BILL:	HB09-1142
TIME:	02:54:57 PM
MOVED:	McKinley
MOTION:	Moved a substitute motion to postpone House Bill 09-1142 indefinitely. The motion passed on a 12-1 roll call vote.
SECONDED:	Solano
		VOTE
	Gardner C.	Yes
	Hullinghorst	Yes
	Labuda	Yes
	Looper	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Pace	Yes
	Solano	Yes
	Sonnenberg	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Fischer	No
	Curry	Yes

Final YES: 12 NO: 1 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:56 PM -- House Bill 09-1051

Representative Baumgardner, bill sponsor, presented House Bill 1151 concerning the use of federal mineral lease revenues to pay for construction projects in areas impacted by production of energy resources. The bill requires the federal mineral lease revenues that are currently distributed to local governments by the executive director of the department of local affairs through grants to be instead used to pay for recommended roadway and bridge construction projects. The bill also requires the executive director and the transportation commission to develop a prioritized list of road and bridge construction projects. Representative Baumgardner also described a strike below amendment (Attachment G)and the differences between this amendment and the introduced bill.

03:00 PM -- Kevin Bommer, Colorado Municipal League (CML), testified against the introduced version of the bill because the CML opposes creating preferences in statute that direct grant dollars be focused in one area. He also indicated that the CML does not support the strike below amendment. He distributed a handout (Attachment H) which describes how federal mineral lease revenues are currently allocated. Mr. Bommer described the impact that Senate Bill 08-218 had in changing the distribution of Federal Mineral Lease revenues and indicated that these revisions were the result of a lot of hard work and took into account the interests of a variety of stakeholders. Mr. Bommer said that the most injured party as a result of the strike below would be higher education. He ended by saying that the CML could not support this bill in light of their previous work and support of Senate Bill 08-218. Mr. Bommer answered questions from the committee.

03:08 PM

Amendments L.002 (Attachment I) and L.003 (Attachment J) were distributed to the committee for later consideration.

03:11 PM -- Bruce Eisenhauer, Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), testified against the bill. He described how funding is currently distributed through grant programs and explained how the competitive grant programs are administered through DOLA and the requirements for grant applicants. Mr. Eisenhauer testified that this bill would erode funds available to the grant programs. He explained that DOLA was part of the negotiations for Senate Bill 08-218 and that DOLA did not want to be part of upsetting the work and progress that was made through this previous bill. He answered questions from the committee concerning the differences in grant criteria for western slope communities.

03:23 PM -- Aaron Diaz, Director of the Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, testified in support of the bill with the strike below amendment, L. 001. He described a socioeconomic study that showed that Moffat County will double in size in the next 26 years and that there will be a $300 million dollar shortfall in capital fund dollars that can be used to mitigate the impacts of this projected growth. He explained that the bill with the amendment would provide more flexibility for using federal mineral lease revenue and would be beneficial for the region. Mr. Diaz answered questions from the committee regarding production or development impact fees assessed to counties in the region.

03:26 PM -- Mike Braaten, Government Affairs and Energy Coordinator with the City of Rifle, spoke about the bill with the strike below amendment, L. 001, and amendment L.003. He indicated that he opposes the strike below without the amendment, but with the amendment that he supports it. He explained that the bill with the amendments puts in place the metrics from Senate Bill 08-218 regarding the distribution of funding to counties. The committee discussed Amendment L.003 (Attachment J).

03:30 PM -- Chris Mendez, Colorado Counties, Inc. explained that his organization originally opposed the bill and that he had not had a chance to look at the strike below amendment, L. 001, or to speak to counties about the amendment.


BILL:	HB09-1051
TIME:	03:33:46 PM
MOVED:	McNulty
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment G ). The committee recessed for 5 minutes and reconvened at 3:40PM. Upon reconvening, the motion passed on an 8-4 roll call vote.
SECONDED:	Sonnenberg
		VOTE
	Gardner C.	Yes
	Hullinghorst	No
	Labuda	No
	Looper	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Pace	Yes
	Solano	Excused
	Sonnenberg	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Vigil	No
	Fischer	No
	Curry	Yes

Not Final YES: 8 NO: 4 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	HB09-1051
TIME:	03:41:40 PM
MOVED:	McNulty
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.003 (Attachment J ). The motion passed on a 9-4 roll call vote.
SECONDED:	Tipton
		VOTE
	Gardner C.	Yes
	Hullinghorst	No
	Labuda	No
	Looper	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Pace	Yes
	Solano	No
	Sonnenberg	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Vigil	Yes
	Fischer	No
	Curry	Yes

Not Final YES: 9 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	HB09-1051
TIME:	03:43:09 PM
MOVED:	Pace
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.002 (Attachment I ). A substitute amendment, L. 004, was offered. See vote sheet below.
SECONDED:	Gardner C.
		VOTE
	Gardner C.
	Hullinghorst
	Labuda
	Looper
	McKinley
	McNulty
	Pace
	Solano
	Sonnenberg
	Tipton
	Vigil
	Fischer
	Curry

Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: TIE


BILL:	HB09-1051
TIME:	03:45:00 PM
MOVED:	McNulty
MOTION:	Moved substitute amendment L.004 (Attachment K ). Representative Pace indicated that he approved the substitute amendment. The motion passed on an 8-5 roll call vote.
SECONDED:	Tipton
		VOTE
	Gardner C.	Yes
	Hullinghorst	No
	Labuda	No
	Looper	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Pace	Yes
	Solano	No
	Sonnenberg	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Vigil	No
	Fischer	No
	Curry	Yes

Not Final YES: 8 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:49 PM

Representative Baumgardner provided closing comments. The committee discussed the bill as amended and the previous Senate Bill 08-218. Members discussed their opinions on the bill.


BILL:	HB09-1051
TIME:	03:50:57 PM
MOVED:	Sonnenberg
MOTION:	The motion passed Moved to refer House Bill 09-1051, as amended, to the Committee on Finance. The motion passed on an 8-5 roll call vote.
SECONDED:	Gardner C.
		VOTE
	Gardner C.	Yes
	Hullinghorst	No
	Labuda	No
	Looper	Yes
	McKinley	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Pace	Yes
	Solano	No
	Sonnenberg	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Vigil	No
	Fischer	No
	Curry	Yes

Final YES: 8 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:58 PM

The committee adjourned.