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.
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