Scored Vote Descriptions

House Bill 1280: Protect Leased Instream Flow Water Rights

(House Vote #1, Senate Vote #1)

HB 1280, sponsored by Representative Randy Fischer and Senator Gail Schwartz, protects water right holders who choose to lease or loan their water to the state. this bill removes penalties in the current law that previously made this choice undesirable. The water rights help keep additional water in our rivers and streams when they need it most and in crucial areas for habitat protection. HB 1280 passed the House 59-6 and the Senate 32-2; the Governor signed the bill on April 21st. YES was the pro-environment vote.

House Bill 1141: Require Sufficient Water Supply

(House Vote #2, Senate Vote #2)

HB 1141, sponsored by Representative Kathleen Curry and Senator Bob Bacon, requires developers to prove to local governments that they have an adequate water supply for a development project of 50 units or more before they can be granted a development permit to build the project. This bill will result in significant improvement in the way planning is conducted in Colorado. The bill passed 46-18 in the House and 24-10 in the Senate. YES was the pro-environment vote.

House Bill 1160: Net Meter Munis & Rural Electric Utilities

(House Vote #3, Senate Vote #3)

HB 1160, sponsored by Representative Judy Solano and Senators Brandon Shaffer and Jim Isgar, is a critical step towards bringing the new energy economy home. The first in the Go Solar package to pass this session, this bill requires cooperative electric associations and municipal utilities to allow customers to return energy to the grid, ensuring that all Coloradans receive a fair price for the clean energy they produce and send onto the grid. After much work with rural electric providers and with support for the Governor’s Energy Office, the bill passed with strong bi-partisan support in both chambers. The bill passed 63-1 in the House and 30-3 in the Senate. YES was the pro-environment vote.

House Bill 1350: Facilitate Financing Renewable Energy Projects

(House Vote #4, Senate Vote #4)

HB 1350, sponsored by Representative Alice Madden and Senator Chris Romer, gives cities and counties the tools that they need to create unique programs for clean energy home financing that will clear hurdles to investment in renewable systems or large-scale energy efficiency upgrades by eliminating the upfront cost. This bill passed with strong bi-partisan support in both chambers. The bill passed 63-1 in the House and 32-3 in the Senate. YES was the pro-environment vote.

House Bill 1164: New Solar Energy Technologies

(House Vote #5, Senate Vote #5)

HB 1164, sponsored by Representative Judy Solano and Senator Gail Schwartz, created a framework for more large solar power plants to be built in Colorado. The bill authorizes the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to encourage utility-scale solar in order to utilize our vast solar resources to obtain clean power that matches more closely with daily electricity demand. The bill also authorizes the PUC to give full consideration to the costs of carbon when evaluating utility proposals for how Colorado will meet its energy needs. Despite strong ideological opposition around whether it made sense to plan for the costs of global warming pollution, after almost four hours of cumulative debate, 1164 passed both chambers. The bill passed 43-21 in the House and 24-10 in the Senate. YES was the pro-environment vote.

House Bill HB 1161: Strengthen Mining Reclamation Standards

(House Vote #6, Senate Vote #6)

With a local fight against a proposed new uranium mine that stood to threaten the public health and livelihood of citizens in northern Colorado in the backdrop, local legislators including Representatives John Kefalas and Randy Fischer, and Senator Steve Johnson took the reins and devoted their sessions to HB 1161. The measure addresses pollution from a new technology-in-situ leach uranium mining-in two ways. First, it protects groundwater by requiring mining companies to clean-up after themselves and restore groundwater quality to its pre-mining condition or to state standards. Second, it closes a loophole in state mining law by requiring all uranium mining operations to be characterized as a “designated mining operation,” and therefore subject to strong environmental and public health protections. The bill passed the House 49-16, and after a narrow majority in the Senate beat back an amendment offered by Senator Tom Wiens to significantly weaken the water protection standard, the bill then passed 32-2. YES was the pro-environment vote.

House Bill 1387: Low Income Energy Assistance Funding

(House Vote #7, Senate Vote #7)

HB 1387, sponsored by Representative Bernie Buescher and Senator Jennifer Veiga, generates funding for low-income energy assistance through the surplus in the operating account of the severance tax trust fund. The assistance supports both short-term cash assistance programs and long-term energy efficiency programs. The bill provides $7.5 million in cash assistance and $7.5 million in long-term energy efficiency per year to low-income Colorado households. The bill passed 52-13 in the House and 34-1 in the Senate. YES was the pro-environment vote.

House Bill 1270: CIC’s Allow Energy Efficiency Measures

(House Vote #8, Senate Vote #8)

HB 1270, sponsored by Representative Andy Kerr and Senator Ron Tupa, was another step forward in overcoming barriers to individual participation in this new energy economy. The legislation extends an existing law that bars Homeowner’s Associations (HOAs) from limiting the use of solar devices to also prohibit HOAs from restricting energy efficiency measures. The bill covers measures homeowners may take to cut down their energy use including wind-electric generators, shade structures such as awnings, shutters, attic fans, swamp coolers, and clotheslines. In so doing, the bill encourages homeowners to invest in technologies to go green, helps lower their utility bills and encourages small businesses that produce renewable and efficiency technologies. The bill passed 45-20 in the House and 34-0 in the Senate. YES was the pro-environment vote.

Senate Bill 55: Increase Air Pollutant Fees

(House Vote #9, Senate Vote #9)

SB 55, by Senator Bob Hagedorn and Representative Alice Madden, will protect Colorado’s air quality by maintaining oversight efforts. Colorado’s air quality is of concern to all Coloradans. Ozone pollution is linked to public health concerns such as asthma attacks, shortness of breath and chest pain. The Stationary Sources Program of the State Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) is responsible for regulating emissions of air pollutants from sources such as power plants and other industrial emitters. SB 55 increases fees to ensure that the APCD will be able to adequately respond to state’s air emission challenges. The bill passed the House 45-20 and the Senate 22-13. YES was the pro-environment vote.

House Bill 1069: Motor Vehicle Public Land Prohibition

(House Vote #10, Senate Vote #10)

With Division of Wildlife officers reporting habitat destruction on public lands by illegal off-road vehicles (OHV) as one of their primary concerns, an average growth rate of OHV registrations more than doubling from 2000 to 2006, sportsmen’s concerns about game movement due to disturbance, and the OHV users community concerned about their public image, the Division of Wildlife began a series of meetings to assess the need for better OHV travel regulations enforcement on Federal lands. The resulting House Bill 1069, sponsored by Representative Kathleen Curry and Senator Lois Tochtrop, allows Division of Wildlife and Colorado State Parks officers along with county sheriffs to enforce off-road vehicle travel regulations on Federal lands. The bill passed the House 43-22 and the Senate 23-8. YES was the pro-environment/pro-sportsmen vote.

House Bill 1369: Incentives for Donations of Water Rights

(House Vote #11)

HB 1369, by Representative Jack Pommer and Senator Dan Gibbs, would have provided financial incentives for water right holders who choose to permanently donate their water to the state for instream flow purposes. The bill had broad support from the water users community, and immense support in the House, where it passed by a vote of 51-10, unfortunately the bill failed by one vote out of the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs committee. YES was the pro-environment vote.

House Bill 1107: Energy Efficiency for Munis and Coops

(House Vote #12)

Last year the Colorado legislature passed HB 1037 that required investor owned utilities to invest in efficiency programs for their customers. HB 1107, sponsored by Representative Claire Levy and Senator Jennifer Veiga, complements last year’s bill by requiring rural electric cooperatives and municipally owned utilities to invest two percent of their retail receipts in cost-effective energy efficiency programs for their customers. HB 1107 passed narrowly out of the house 33-32, but the rural electric cooperatives succeeded in defeating the measure in the Senate Committee on State Affairs where it died 2-2, leaving Colorado with a patchwork energy policy in a key area. YES was the pro-environment vote.