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First Regular Session | 75th General Assembly
Colorado General Assembly

PUBLIC
BILL SUMMARY For HB18-1051

SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES, & ENERGY
Date Mar 1, 2018       Location SCR 357

HB18-1051 - Referred to the Committee of the Whole - Consent Calendar
02:00:59 PM  
Senator Coram and Senator Merrifield, co-prime sponsors, discussed the provisions of House Bill 18-1051 concerning statutory provisions for unattended fires.  Under current law, the penalty for leaving a campfire unattended or failing to extinguish a campfire is a class 2 petty offense punishable by a fine of $50.  The reengrossed bill specifies that anyone who knowingly or recklessly fails to attend to a campfire or fails to thoroughly extinguish a campfire before leaving the site commits the offense of leaving a campfire unattended.  For a person who leaves a campfire unattended in a forested or grassland area, or on Colorado Parks and Wildlife land (CPW), the bill changes the penalty to a class 3 misdemeanor, punishable by a minimum $50 fine and a maximum of six months in jail, or a $750 fine, or both.  In addition, the bill removes the requirement that counties post certain notices related to unattended campfires. The bill applies to offenses committed on or after July 1, 2018.
02:04:13 PM  
Mike Morgan, Director, Division of Fire Prevention and Control in the Department of Public Safety, spoke in support of the bill.  He also responded to questions from the committee about the bill.  
02:07:08 PM  
Eric Bergman, Colorado Counties, Inc.,  spoke in support of the bill and announced that the Colorado Municipal League also supports the bill.  He also distributed a fact sheet on the bill [Attachment E] and responded to questions from the committee about the bill as amended in the House of Representatives.
02:09:29 PM  
Dianna Orf, Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, spoke in support of the bill.
02:10:46 PM  
Carrie Thompson, Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, responded to questions from the committee about the amendments to the bill that were adopted by the House of Representatives.  She also discussed the levels of penalties for arson that are specified in Colorado statute.  

(Staff resumed recording the hearing during Ms. Thompsons testifmony after inadvertently leaving it paused following a recess).
02:30:00 PM  
The chair closed testimony and Senator Coram and Senator Merrifield closed their remarks.

02:33:44 PM
 Motion Refer House Bill 18-1051 to the Committee of the Whole and with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar.
Moved Coram
Seconded
Cooke Yes
Coram Yes
Donovan Yes
Fenberg Yes
Fields Yes
Garcia Yes
Jones Yes
Marble Yes
Scott Yes
Baumgardner Yes
Sonnenberg Yes
Final YES: 11   NO: 0   EXC: 0   ABS:  0   FINAL ACTION:  PASS