Passed Senate 3rd Reading

Pending House Agriculture

Summary and comments: This bill was recommended by the interim Water Resources Committee. The bill requires a new hydroelectric energy facility to be valued for the purpose of property taxation in the same manner in which new wind energy facilities and new solar energy facilities are valued for that purpose.

Passed Senate with amendment.

Pending House Agriculture

Passed Senate w/o amendments

Pending Introduction into House

Summary and comments: This bill was recommended by the interim Water Resources Committee. The water efficiency grant program is currently scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2012.

Section 1 of the bill extends the repeal until July 1, 2020, and authorizes up to $550,000 of annual appropriations from the cash fund beginning on July 1, 2010.

Section 2 annually transfers $550,000 from tier 2 of the operational account of the severance tax trust fund to the water efficiency grant program cash fund beginning on July 1, 2012.

There does not seem to be any opposition to the bill.

Passed Senate with amendments

Pending House Judiciary

Status Update 2/28/10

Summary and comments: Would require the buyer of commodity metal to photograph the seller. As amended by the Senate, the photograph would be maintained on file for 12 months. The Senate amendment would require the dealer to pay the seller by check if the amount is greater than $300, unless the payment is made via an automatic cash machine that takes a frontal picture of the seller when the transaction is paid.

The bill is included in the status of bills monitoring since many water utilities have experienced periodic rashes of theft of copper and other metals by people who sell the materials on the black market.

Passed Senate w/amendments.

Pending House Agriculture

Summary and comments: Under current law, the Groundwater Commission may alter periodically the areas contained in a designated groundwater basin. This bill will allow the commission to revise the boundaries of a designated groundwater basin to omit previously included areas only if the revision would not exclude any wells for which conditional or final permits have been issued.

According to an article in the Sterling Journal-Advocate, the bill is intended to provide assurance for owners of large capacity wells that those wells cannot be removed from a designated basin. According to committee testimony, there are approximately 7,000 high capacity wells in the 8 basins along the Front Range and in the Eastern Plains, and these wells serve irrigation needs as well as municipal and industrial uses. According to the testimony, there is no viable surface water alternative to meeting these needs. Apparently the bill has been brought as a defensive move to thwart potential litigation from surface water users who might be inclined to petition for boundary changes pursuant to at least one Colorado Supreme Court decision that held that the designations were never intended to be final.

The bill enjoyed a fairly easy trip through the Senate, but its House progress may be more bumpy. A group of surface water rights owners from the affected area have begun to raise issues and concerns about potential harm to the surface water. The hearing before House Agriculture may bring several of these issues to the forefront.

Summary and comments: The bill exempts public school wells that pump 15 gallons per minute or less, are located in a school district that serves a population of 25,000 or less, and are used only for irrigation from the "Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969".

Summary and comments: The bill defines the term "decreed consumptive use water", defines "reusable effluent" to include decreed consumptive use water, and:

*Authorizes an appropriator to use, reuse, and make a succession of uses of the return flows of reusable effluent in any place or for any beneficial use and to dispose of such water by exchange or otherwise; and

* Directs the state engineer to review contemplated uses of the return flows of reusable effluent to ensure that:

They originate from reusable effluent;

The appropriator has established an adequate measuring and accounting system to measure the volume of the return flows of reusable effluent;

The appropriator has established an adequate means of measuring transit loss between the point of introduction and the point of withdrawal of the return flows of reusable effluent; and

The appropriator can demonstrate that the return flows of reusable effluent to be withdrawn for use have previously been placed to beneficial use at least one time and discharged back to the water body after passing through a domestic wastewater facility.

Passed Senate w/amendment

Pending House Introduction

Comments Updated 2/28/10

Summary and comments: As amended by the Senate, the bill now applies only to certain activities of the executive branch of state government.

Passed Senate. with amendmetn

Pending House Introduction

Summary and comments: This bill would add a required clause to any contract between a public entity and a contractor or designer for a public works project. The new clause requires the public entity to pay the contractor on a periodic basis for any costs incurred by the contractor for work performed until the change order is finalized.

Passed Senate with amendment

Pending House Introduction

Summary and comments: This bill is a follow on from HB09-1303 enacted last session to address issues from the Colorado Supreme Court decision in the Vance case concerning produced water related to oil and gas extraction. The bill specifies that, except for coal bed methane wells, no well permit is required if the nontributary ground water being removed will not be beneficially used or beneficially used only for uses allowed under the "Oil and Gas Conservation Act".

The bill would also extend the well permitting and substitute water supply plan compliance deadlines for oil and gas wells, including coal bed methane wells, from March 31, 2010, to August 1, 2010.

The Colorado Water Congress has appointed a subcommittee to work on this bill.

Postponed Indefinitely

Summary and comments: This bill was recommended by the summer Water Resources Review Committee. It would authorizes the expenditure of up to 5% of the moneys in tier 1 of the operational account of the severance tax trust fund for the Division of Water Resources, and would allow this increase to supplant moneys that would otherwise be made available to the Division from the general fund. Eliminates theTtier 1 authorization for the Division of Wildlife to account for the increase.

There does not seem to be any opposition to the bill and it appears to be internal bookkeeping adjustments.

Summary and comments: The bill requires water providers' water efficiency plans to include specific elements, including the use of water-efficient washing machines, and, beginning in 2013, requires water providers to annually report to the Colorado Water Conservation Board the total amount of water provided to major sectors of water customers, the total number of accounts or taps served in each such sector, an estimate of the resident population and total population served by the covered entity, an estimate of the amount of water that has been saved for the year through the implementation of certain plan elements, and a description of any changes made to the plan elements.

The Colorado Water Congress has appointed a subcommittee to meet with the sponsor and supporting advocacy groups. One meeting has been held with the result that a second meeting would have been held on February 9 after the sponsors had discussed recommendations made during the subcommittee meeting was cancelled and rescheduled for March 1.

The PPRWA board of directors has voted to oppose this bill as it is written and has been introduced. Letter to Rep. Pommer re: Opposition to HB10-1051. The Colorado Municipal League is now officially in opposition to the bill.

Summary and comments: The bill would prohibit a public or private entity in the state that uses paper or electronic documents or records during the course of business that contain personal identifying information from disposing of such a document or record unless, prior to the disposal of the document or record, the affected entity, in the case of a paper document or record, shreds the document or record or, in the case of an electronic document or record, erases and renders indecipherable and irretrievable all personal identifying information contained in the document or record.

An affected entity that violates this prohibition is liable for a civil penalty. The attorney general or the district attorney of the judicial district in which the violation occurs is authorized to bring an action against an affected entity that violates the prohibition. An affected entity is required to include in its policy for the destruction or proper disposal of paper or electronic documents and records containing personal identifying information a requirement that such documents and records shall be shredded or erased and rendered indecipherable and irretrievable before the affected entity disposes of the documents or records.

Lost on House 2nd Reading

Summary and comments: The bill establishes the Colorado medical donation program for the purpose of allowing certain facilities to donate medications, medical devices, and medical supplies to eligible patients in Colorado. The program is modeled after the "Colorado Cancer Drug Repository Act" established by the General Assembly in 2005.

The bill was totally rewritten in House HHS. As the bill was amended, if a patient dies, is discharged or (if a resident in a long term care facility) has his or her medication changed or discontinued, the facility may collect the unused medications and return them to a prescription drug outlet so it can be redispensed to another patient, donated to a qualified nonprofit entity or to a practitioner authorized by law to prescribe the medication. The committee amendment contains a clause that ensures that a manufacturer of such medications is not relieved of any potential civil liability.

This bill is consistent with the informal PPRWA advocacy of pharmaceutical take back programs which will have the additional benefit of reducing the amount of unused medications finding their way into the wastewater system and into the waterways and riparian areas adjacent to streams and bodies of water.

Summary and comments: Currently, state law allows public moneys to be deposited in or invested with banks and savings and loan associations that are protected by the FDIC.

The bill permits the deposit or investment of public moneys into a credit union so long as the credit union is protected by the National Credit Union Administration.

The bill also authorizes credit unions to make loans to public entities.

The credit unions have proposed this legislaiton mulitple times over the past 20 years, and it has historically been opposed by the banks and savings and loans.

Summary and comments: Under current law, a person who goes into the yard of a foreclosed home or other unoccupied property to clean up trash, remove weeds, or water the lawn may be considered a trespasser and, if the person injures himself or herself while doing so, may have a claim against the landowner for negligence.

Section 1 of the bill specifies that persons who go onto unoccupied property on an unpaid basis to clean up trash, remove weeds, or water the lawn have the implied consent of the landowner to do so, and are owed an intermediate duty of care concerning hazardous conditions on the property that is more than is owed to trespassers, but less than is owed to guests or business customers.

Sections 2 and 3 amend the civil and criminal trespassing laws, respectively, to exempt persons who engage in such activity, but only to the extent of that activity and so long as they do no actual damage to the property.

Summary and comment: Under current law, a landowner can be held liable for injuries suffered by a trespassing minor if the land contains an attractive nuisance.

Sections 1 and 4 of the bill specify that a facility constructed for the diversion, storage, conveyance, or use of water is not an attractive nuisance with regard to a landowner's liability to a trespasser.

Sections 2 and 3 expand the definition of "recreational purpose" as to which a landowner's liability is limited under current law. Section 3 also specifies that a landowner is not liable for injuries to members of the public who use land for recreational purposes unless the landowner willfully or deliberately caused the injuries.

Summary and comment: The bill empowers the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to regulate the collection, transportation, and disposal of trap grease and yellow grease (jointly referred to as "grease").

Specifically, the bill requires persons, facilities, and vehicles engaged in the collection, transportation, storage, processing, or disposal of grease to register annually with the department, which registration shall include completing an application, paying a fee, and posting a surety bond or other debt instrument or method of financial assurance.

Individuals employed or engaged by other persons to collect, transport, store, process, or dispose of grease are not required to separately register. Registered facilities and vehicles must display department-issued decals. In addition, registrants will be required to complete manifests containing certain information related to grease collection, transportation, and disposal, maintain certain records for a period of 2 years and furnish the records to the department upon request, and submit timely annual reports to the department.

In order to administer the laws related to grease regulation, the bill requires the solid and hazardous waste commission in the department to promulgate rules by December 31, 2011, and periodically thereafter.

Persons registering as personal users are prohibited from bartering, trading, or selling their grease. A personal user is prohibited from taking grease from a registrant unless the registrant gives the personal user written permission to do so.

The bill applies to the existing provisions regarding solid waste-related inspection, enforcement, nuisance actions, violations, and civil and criminal penalties with respect to laws regulating grease.

Lost on House 2nd Reading

Summary and comment: The bill requires a water judge to consider, in decrees for water rights, leases of water for at least 10 years, or changes of use of water rights that divert at least 1000 acre-feet of consumptive use per year from one water division into another, terms and conditions to ensure that present and prospective beneficial uses of water within the water division from which water would be diverted are not impaired or increased in cost as a result of the transdivision diversion.

These requirements will be deemed to have been met if the applicant has reached a mitigation agreement with the water conservation district and conservancy districts from within whose boundaries the waters are proposed for diversion or within whose boundaries water would be purchased for exchange and the terms and conditions of the mitigation agreement are included in the decree. Districts that propose to enter into such a mitigation agreement are required to notify the public of, and hold a public meeting on, the proposed terms of the agreement.

The PPRWA Board through an email poll had voted to oppose the bill both in its original form and also with the House Agriculture amendments. The Board analysis was that the bill, if enacted, would have a disparate negative impact on water supply development in the Arkansas River Basin because of its onerous restricitions on importing water from other basins. The Board's analysis was that the bill, if enacted, would create forces that would jeopardize agriculture uses of water and would place great pressure on key aquifers.

The Board was in the final review and editing of a letter to Rep. Pace setting forth the Board's objections to the bill when Rep. Pace brought to the floor and lost the bill on 21-40 vote with 4 members excused.

Passed House 3rd Reading

Pending Introduction into Senate

Summary and comment: The bill seeks to recognize and basically adopt English common law with respect to an established right of navigation.

The bill would clarify that a guide employed by a licensed river outfitter and the guide's passengers may float on waterways that have historically been used for commercial float trips without committing civil or criminal trespass if they gain access to the waterway from public land or from private land with consent and make only incidental contact with the beds and banks of the waterway while floating and portaging.

The bill would limits a landowner's liability to such persons to damages willfully or deliberately caused by the landowner unless the person is an invitee or licensee of the landowner.

The bill would specify that a person who damages private property is liable for the damage.

The bill would specify that nothing in the law regulating river outfitters affects water rights.

Passed House with amendment

Pending Senate Business Affairs

Summary and comment: The bill would require the plumbing code adopted by the examining board of plumbers in the department of regulatory agencies to include standards for water efficiency and conservation, water-efficient fixtures and installation guidelines, and the use of locally produced materials.

Summary and comment: The bill would create the "Colorado Safe Personal Care Products Act" which prohibits a manufacturer from knowingly selling, offering for sale, or distributing for sale or use in Colorado on and after September 1, 2011, any personal care product that contains a chemical identified as causing cancer or reproductive toxicity.

The bill sets forth legislative findings and declarations regarding chemicals in consumer products and the harmful health effects of those chemicals, particularly on women of childbearing age, fetuses, and children.

The bill further establishes a process for identifying those chemicals that cannot be contained in personal care products sold or distributed in Colorado by recognizing existing lists of harmful chemicals established by authoritative bodies such as the United States environmental protection agency, the international agency for research on cancer, the national toxicology program, and the national institute for occupational safety and health.

"Personal care products", consistent with the definition of "cosmetics" in the federal "Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act", is defined to include any article intended to be rubbed, poured, sprinkled, or sprayed on, introduced into, or otherwise applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering a person's appearance.

Private citizens may file suit to enforce the act, and the prevailing plaintiff may recover an award of attorney fees and costs if a violation is found. If a manufacturer violates the act, the bill authorizes the imposition of a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation per product for the first offense and up to $10,000 per violation per product for a second or subsequent offense.

This bill has been flagged because of the interest that the PPRWA has had in the incidence of such materials being detected in the surface water system downstream of wastewater plants. Many of these suspected effects were discussed in a presentation made by Dr. HC Liang (TetraTech) at the PPRWA symposium on pharmaceuticals in the water supply.

The Colorado Medical Society has voted to monitor the bill only. There are concerns that, as written, the bill violated federal preemption of the regulation of interstate commerce and that it conflicts with federal law giving the Food and Drug Administration jurisdiction over the regulation of products being sold in the country. It is not known whether the sponsors and supporting advocacy groups will amend the bill to be a labeling bill (which is apparently the case with similar law in California).

Passed House Agriculture w/o amendment

Pending House Appropriations

Summary and comment: This is the annual bill to authorize project funding for the CWCB. Given the budget problems, it is a very abbreviated list of ongoing projects.

Passed House with amendment

Passed Senate with amendment

Pending House Consideration of Senate Amendment

Summary and comment: This is JBC bill that is part of the budget balancing package. It would have diverted most of the CWCB construction money to the general fund. Water Congress opposed those particular sections of the bill, and they were deleted. However, the deletion was over the objections of the JBC sponsor. In the Senate, the bill was amended to divert $2 million from the CWCB so now the House must consider the Senate amendments. If the House does not concur in the Senate amendments, the bill will go to a conference committee composed of the JBC to resolve the differences.