To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Kristin Zagurski, Assistant to the Town Manager
Title
Update: Legislative Update
Body
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Executive Summary
The 2018 regular session of the Colorado General Assembly is more than one-quarter over, and more than 400 bills have been introduced to date. With assistance from the Colorado Municipal League (CML) and other sources, staff is monitoring - and providing Council with regular updates on - legislative activity that is of municipal interest.
Staff does not take a position on any legislation unless so directed by Council. Staff presents summaries of potential bills of interest below for Council information. Additionally, attached are lists of all of the legislation CML is following thus far this legislative session. If Council is interested in additional information on any of these - or any other - bills, staff will provide such information in a future update.
Transportation Bills
As reported in the February 6 update, transportation funding bills have been introduced in both the House (HB 1119) and Senate (SB 001). Both bills call for November 2018 ballot questions that would provide for additional transportation funding within the State without raising taxes. CML has maintained a neutral position on both bills, which remain in committees in their respective chambers. (The House bill has a scheduled hearing before the Transportation & Energy Committee on February 21.)
Council on February 6 expressed interest in taking a support position on SB 001. The draft letter to the Douglas County legislative delegation that is attached to this memo provides the opportunity for Council to take that action. To provide a bit more detail about SB 001, following is CML’s summary of that bill:
“Senate Bill 1 repeals the provisions required by SB-267 that provide revenue generated through lease purchase agreements to be used for transportation projects. In its place, it offers at 20-year bonding proposal, subject to voter approval in 2018, similar to the Trans Bonds issued in 1999 that funded the TRex project in South Denver. The bond would be paid for by allocating 10 percent of existing sales tax revenue. The bill still maintains many of the general requirements outlined in SB-267 including requiring 25 percent of the money (to) go to state highway projects in rural areas and 10 percent of the money (to go) to transit. Any remaining money that is not required to repay the bonds would go to projects included in USDOT’s Strategic Transportation Project Investment Program and designated to tier 1 funding.”
Follow the link from the attached list of CML-followed bills for the full text of this legislation.
Water Bills
Mussel-free Colorado Act
At Council’s February 6 meeting, staff highlighted the Mussel Free Colorado Act (HB 1008) and its importance to the Town and its water partners - especially in light of the Town’s storage ownership in Chatfield and Rueter-Hess Reservoirs.
Council expressed interest in taking a support position on this bill, which CML and the South Metro Water Supply Authority also are supporting. The draft letter attached to this memo provides the opportunity for Council to take this action. To provide a bit more detail about HB 1008, following is CML’s summary of that bill:
“HB-1008 creates several new funding and enforcement mechanisms to support Colorado’s Division of Parks and Wildlife’s Aquatic Nuisance Species Program. Specifically, the bill:
• Authorizes the Division of Parks and Wildlife to seek reimbursement for motor vehicles or water craft impounded for (being) suspected of aquatic nuisance species
• Requires the purchase of a special aquatic nuisance stamp for boat use in Colorado, costing $25 resident, $50 nonresident
• Increases penalties related to aquatic nuisance species and for failing to purchase a stamp
• Combines the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation Aquatic Nuisance Species Fund and the Division of Wildlife Aquatic Nuisance Species Fund into a single fund”
As presently written, the bill applies to motorboats and sailboats. Castle Rock Water Director Mark Marlowe has prepared a memo with additional details on this bill and on the below bill; his memo is attached to this report.
Aquifer Storage and Recovery Plans
There is a second piece of water legislation that Castle Rock Water staff recommends supporting. House Bill 1199 would have the State Groundwater Commission create rules to allow aquifer storage and recovery in designated groundwater basins.
The Town owns water rights in the Lost Creek that are in a designated groundwater basin and wishes to be able to store renewable water in that area and then use its wells to recover that water.
CML is neutral on this legislation and has not prepared a summary. Additional details are available in the attached memo from Mark Marlowe.
Attachment
Attachment A: Draft Letter to Douglas County Legislative Delegation
Attachment B: Memo from Mark Marlowe Regarding Water Bills
Attachment C: CML Followed Bills as of February 14