Colorado Water Conservation Board Construction Fund Project

The act appropriates the following amounts from the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB) construction fund to the CWCB or the division of water resources in the department of natural resources for the following projects:

• Continuation of the satellite monitoring system, $100,000 (section 1 of the act);
• Continuation of the Colorado floodplain map modernization program, $500,000 (section 2);
• Continuation of the weather modification permitting program, $350,000 (section 3); and
• Continuation of technical assistance for federal cost-share programs, $300,000 (section 4).

Section 5 directs the state treasurer to transfer up to $2,000,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the litigation fund on July 1, 2021.

Section 6 appropriates $3,000,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the department of natural resources for use by the CWCB to make a grant to the Colorado Rio Grande Restoration Foundation in furtherance of the San Luis valley confined aquifer recovery project.

Section 7 reinstates severance tax funding of the water efficiency grant program by authorizing a transfer of $550,000 in each state fiscal year commencing on or after July 1, 2020, from the grant program reserve of the severance tax operational fund, which reserve is part of the "tier 2" funding that is used only if the general assembly chooses not to spend 100% of the money in the operational fund on core departmental programs, to the water efficiency grant program cash fund. The reinstated funding is repealed on July 1, 2030, when the water efficiency grant program is scheduled to repeal.

Section 8 restores the continuous appropriation of $150,000 from the CWCB construction fund to the CWCB for the ongoing operations of a water education foundation, which is currently known as Water Education Colorado, which continuous appropriation was repealed in HB 20-1403, enacted in 2020.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)