Legislative update for the week of Feb. 2

Proposed House bills

Craig — HB15-1119

Bill description: Concerning a requirement that a local government that bans hydraulic fracturing compensate oil and gas royalty owners affected by the ban.

Committee: House State Veterans and Military Affairs, House Appropriations

Status: Introduced in House

House sponsor: Rep. Perry Buck, R-Denver

Senate sponsor: None

HB15-1121

Bill description: Concerning agreements between landowners and wind energy developers, and, in connection therewith, clarifying the rights and duties of parties to those agreements and the effects of recording an agreement in county land records.

Committee: House Transportation and Energy

Status: Introduced in House

House sponsor: Rep. Jon Becker, R-Denver

Senate sponsor: Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling

HB15-1127

Bill description: Concerning reducing civil liability for businesses that permit the carrying of concealed handguns.

Committee: House State, Veterans and Military Affairs

Status: Introduced in House

House sponsor: Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt, R-Denver

Senate sponsor: Sen. Leroy Garcia, D-Denver

Proposed Senate bills

SB15-032

Bill description: The bill allows a person who legally possesses a handgun under state and federal law to carry a concealed handgun in Colorado.

Committee: Senate Judiciary

Status: Introduced in Senate

House sponsor: None

Senate sponsor: Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Denver

SB15-044

Bill description: The bill reduces the minimum percentage of renewable energy required of investor-owned utilities from 20 percent to 15 percent for the years 2015 through 2019 and from 30 percent to 15 percent for the years 2020 and thereafter. The bill also reduces the minimum amounts for cooperative electric associations from 20 percent to 15 percent for the years 2020 and thereafter.

Committee: Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy

Status: Introduced in Senate

House sponsor: Rep. Daniel Thurlow, R-Grand Junction

Senate sponsor: Sen. Ray Scott R-Denver

SB15-046

Bill description: The bill allows these utilities to count each kilowatt-hour of electricity obtained through retail distributed generation as 3 kilowatt-hours for purposes of meeting the 2020 standard.

Committee: Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy

Status: Introduced in Senate

House sponsor: None

Senate sponsor: Sen. Kevin Grantham, R-Denver

SB 15-064

Bill description: The bill states basic tenets of Colorado water law concerning water as a transferable property right, acknowledges that the federal government has maintained deference to state law with respect to water rights, and prohibits the United States forest service and the federal bureau of land management from placing conditions on special use permits for, or rights-of-way on federal land.

Committee: Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy

Status: Introduced in Senate

House sponsor: None

Senate sponsor: Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling

SB 15-086

Bill description: The bill repeals the requirement that before any person who is not a licensed gun dealer transfers possession of a firearm to a transferee, he or she must require that a criminal background check be conducted of the prospective transferee and must obtain approval of the transfer from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

Committee: Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs

Status: Introduced in Senate

House sponsor: Rep. Janak Joshi, R-Denver

Senate sponsor: Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Denver

SB 15-092

Bill description: The bill requires the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to take its plans for regulating carbon emissions by electric utilities PUC to determine rate impacts.

Committee: Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs

Status: Introduced in Senate

House sponsor: None

Senate sponsor: Sen. John Cooke, R-Denver

SB15-093

Bill description: The bill allows the owner of mineral rights to obtain compensation from the local government for the full diminution in the fair market value of the owner’s interest caused by the regulatory impairment of the local government when the impairment is at least 60 percent of the right.

Committee: Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy

Status: Introduced in Senate

House sponsor: None

Senate sponsor: Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling

Contact Janelle O’Dea at 970-875-1795 or jodea@CraigDailyPress.com or follow her on Twitter @jayohday.