Skip to main content
Colorado General AssemblyToggle Main Menu
Agency NameToggle Agency Menu

s_agr_2017a_2017-04-06t13:37:40z5 Hearing Summary

Date: 04/06/2017

Location: SCR 357

Final

BILL SUMMARY for HB17-1233



SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES, & ENERGY


Votes: View--> Action Taken:
Refer House Bill 17-1233 to the Committee of the W PASS







06:03 PM -- HB 17-1233



Senator Crowder, prime sponsor, described the provisions of House Bill 17-1233 concerning protection of water historical consumptive use analysis. Under current law, if the owner of a water right brings an action to water court to change the amount of water the owner may use, the amount of water that can be changed is limited to the historical consumptive use of water under the water right. Water usage that results from participation in a government-sponsored water conservation program is not considered in determining the historical consumptive use in water divisions 4, 5, or 6. The bill applies this rule statewide to include water divisions 1, 2, 3, and 7. The bill clarifies that water conservation projects include pilot projects, and that the applicable government-sponsored program approved by a state agency are limited to those with explicit statutory jurisdiction over water conservation or water rights.



The following persons testified on the bill:



06:05 PM -- Glen Hirikata, Hirikata Farms, spoke in support of the bill and explained that he has a farm in the Lower Arkansas River Basin.



06:06 PM --
Dr. John Stulp, Water Policy Advisor for the Governor, spoke in support of the bill and stated that the purpose of the legislation is to protect water users from future quantification of their water rights due to participation in a government sponsored program. He also discussed a program near the Town of Gilcrest to address high groundwater and how it would benefit from this bill and responded to questions from the committee about groundwater and surface water use in this area.



06:18 PM -- Dianna Orf, Colorado Water Congress, spoke in support of the bill.



06:19 PM --
Chris Treese, Colorado River Water Conservation District, spoke in support of the bill and responded to questions from the committee about the implementation of previous legislation related to water conservation.



06:21 PM --
Jim Miggs, representing himself, discussed recent legislation to authorize the use of rain barrels and proposed an amendment to expand the use of precipitation harvest.



06:24 PM



The chair closed testimony, and Senator Crowder closed his remarks on the bill.


BILL: HB17-1233
TIME: 06:25:41 PM
MOVED: Donovan
MOTION: Refer House Bill 17-1233 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 6-5.
SECONDED:
VOTE
Cooke
No
Coram
No
Court
Yes
Donovan
Yes
Fenberg
Yes
Fields
Yes
Jones
Yes
Marble
Yes
Scott
No
Baumgardner
No
Sonnenberg
No
Final YES: 6 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS












Colorado legislature email addresses ending in @state.co.us are no longer active. Please replace @state.co.us with @coleg.gov for Colorado legislature email addresses.  Details