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> Home > Colorado Legislative Session 2008 Colorado Legislative Session 2008
The 2008 Session of the Colorado Legislature runs from January through the beginning of May. As environmental bills are introduced, we will post information here.
Here are some news articles related to Colorado legislative activities and potential legislation.
February 21, 2008 Measure would protect rights of landowners who lend water
Landowners who want to lease or donate water to keep streams flowing can do so without fear of risking their water rights under a bill approved in a House committee Wednesday.
House panel approves proof of water supply
DENVER - Developers would have to take extra steps to prove they have a good water supply before they get building permits under a bill approved by a House panel Tuesday. Homebuilders opposed House Bill 1141 by Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison. But Curry said the bill is necessary to make sure cities and counties have enough information about water supplies before they approve a development.
Mining requirements tightened
DENVER - Nunn rancher Robin Davis left the state Capitol smiling Wednesday afternoon. Davis, whose land would be near a proposed uranium mining operation, had watched the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee pass a bill tightening uranium mining requirements in Colorado by an 11-2 margin.
February 11, 2008 The cheapest energy is that which isn't consumed
Are energy costs taking up an increasing part of your budget? If so, you're not alone. Increasingly throughout Colorado, energy costs are eating up a growing portion of household budgets, causing hardship especially for low- and moderate-income families. Last year Colorado took an important step to addressing this issue by passing legislation that directs investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy to expand energy-efficiency programs for their customers. http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_8224916
Bill Requires HOAs to Allow Energy Efficient Devices
State Rep. Andy Kerr (D- Lakewood) is proposing a bill that requires Homeowners' Associations to allow energy-saving devices like clotheslines and solar panels. He speaks with Ryan Warner.
February 6, 2008
Home-based power bill on track with Isgar’s OK
DENVER - Lawmakers have settled their differences over a plan to credit utility customers for producing their own power.
Roberts tapped for panel State Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, has been appointed to a special panel on Colorado’s constitution. The top Republican in the House, Mike May, appointed Roberts on Tuesday to the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Reform. The panel of six – three from the House and three from the Senate – will consider ways to reform the state constitution. Senate President Peter Groff wants the group to finish its work in time for the full Legislature to take action this year. A majority of Democrats want to require rural electric cooperatives to buy power from customers who generate electricity at home using solar panels or small windmills. But Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, had introduced a competing bill.
February 5, 2008 "Homegrown" power gets boost from 2 measures
One bill decrees that the retail rate be paid. The other lets utilities recoup some costs.
Colorado lawmakers took two steps Tuesday toward treating more uniformly people who produce their own power through solar panels or wind turbines. First, House Bill 1160, which would require power providers to give customers who produce excess energy at their homes or businesses the retail rate for that juice, passed the House on second reading. "It's truly a really good first step for allowing customers to generate their own power," said Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton, the bill's sponsor.
A fairer royalty split
Bill would bolster higher ed, impacted communities
If you enjoy puzzles, then you could spend hours sorting out (and then trying to make sense of) the convoluted ways that Colorado's severance tax and mineral lease revenues are parceled out among state and local agencies.
January 21, 2008
'House TV' to air today
Broadcast will allow cable customers to view the Colorado Legislature in action.
Starting at 1 p.m. this afternoon, Coloradans around the state will be able to view - live - the Colorado House of Representatives from the comfort of their living rooms. For the first time in Colorado, the goings-on of the House will be broadcast via cable Channel 165, but only to those Coloradans whose local cable provider is Comcast.
State policymakers probably are not going to bankroll any sweeping health care reforms through a tax increase, Gov. Bill Ritter told a group of supporters Saturday morning. “The voters of this state are not ready for that conversation, because they think health care costs too much,” Ritter told nearly 50 people at Traders Coffee and Tea near St. Mary’s Hospital.
Easement program valued
By Michael Dowling and Doug Robotham
Over several decades, Colorado has built one of the nation's most effective land-conservation systems to protect its diverse and dramatic landscapes. Local governments, nonprofit land trusts, and citizens' groups pioneered public open- space funding and developed innovative financial incentives that, together with philanthropic contributions, have protected more than 2 million acres of private lands with important conservation values. Only California and Maine have protected more land.
Act cautiously on mining bills
A pair of bills introduced in the Colorado legislature that would impose new restrictions on mining in Colorado — especially uranium mining — has aroused concern among hard-rock miners that they may be forced to curtail existing operations. One bill would essentially require mining companies, before they started their operations, to prove they could leave the groundwater they would use in the process as clean as they found it. Another would affirm local governments' power to regulate water quality and health standards — even to the point of banning certain types of mining entirely, as Summit County did by forbidding cyanide heap-leach mining.
REUTEMAN: Severance tax increase a wild card for Ritter
The prime political conflict of 2008 for Gov. Bill Ritter may well be a November ballot proposal to increase taxes paid by the oil and gas industries for the minerals they extract. I got the clear sense last week, when Ritter visited the Rocky the day before his State of the State speech, that he was leaning in the direction of increasing the severance tax as well as reforming the way severance taxes are distributed.
Oil, gas panel plans tighter operating rules
The Colorado Oil and Gas Commission is proposing new basic operating rules for the energy industry as part of its comprehensive plan to add health and environment components to the permit process. The mandate to consider health and wildlife protection issues came from the legislature — but it doesn't include the operating issues under consideration, such as requiring pit liners and raising reclamation bonds, say industry officials.
Keep off-road vehicles on appropriate tracks
State Rep. Kathleen Curry is revving up her legislative engine to take on off-road vehicle users who ignore restrictions on where they can ride. The fact that her measure has already won the support of state and federal agencies that deal with public lands, as well as responsible off-road-vehicle groups, shows that the measure is both necessary and sensible.
Thanks to Davis Earned Media for news clippings! Other Sites of interest
Colorado Action Network -A statewide network of conservation organizations runs this monthly email alert system. Sierra Club Currents - A short, twice weekly email with environmental news from the field. Find Your RepresentativesFind Your Elected Officials
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