Water projects funding bill includes PAWSD loan

The Colorado Legislature has two and one-half weeks left this session to complete our work.

If we finish early, as we did the last three years, we could end on May 2 instead of the required adjournment of May 7.

I still have several bills moving through the process and will keep pushing to have them done by the earlier date. This week, I’m going to talk about some of the bills I’m still working on.

First up this week on Senate Second reading will be HB08-1103. This is a bill that was proposed by the State Audit Committee that I serve on. It was one of four Audit Committee bills that I agreed to be the Senate sponsor of. A recent audit that was performed on the Division of Oil and Public Safety within the Department of Labor and Employment revealed deficiencies in their oversight responsibilities concerning public schools, amusement parks, explosives and boilers. We drafted bills concerning each area and I agreed to carry the one on regulation of amusement rides.

The audit revealed that the division’s role relating to oversight and enforcement was unclear in the statutes and therefore the division had not developed a comprehensive program for monitoring and enforcement of regulations of carnivals and amusement parks. The general public assumes that when you take your family to an amusement park that there are some sort of regulations to protect the public. They expect the rides to be safe and assume that periodic inspections take place. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. And while most of the large amusement parks in the state, as well as the state fair, do have inspections and have good safety records, we don’t have a process to assure the public that all operators are complying with safety standards. This bill will require the division to promulgate rules concerning regulation, inspection, reporting and enforcement.

Last Wednesday, I presented House Bill 1114 in Senate Health and Human Services Committee. For the past two years, I have been involved in a process to change the way the state reimburses nursing homes for services provided to Medicaid recipients. The state has been using a cost-based reimbursement system that over time has produced great funding inequities. Many of the nursing homes on the bottom end of the reimbursement were small rural homes that have large percentages of Medicaid recipients. If these homes go out of business, and some have, the patients often end up in a facility that receives higher state reimbursement but is located hundreds of miles from family or friends. This is unfortunate for the resident and costs the state more money. The new funding methodology will provide much needed equity and result in better care for our seniors.

Last Thursday was a big day for the Senate Agriculture Committee. We held confirmation hearings for the Colorado Tourism Office Board (CTO), the Colorado Agriculture Commission and heard four important bills. The CTO Board members were confirmed in the Agriculture Committee because Sen. Jack Taylor (Steamboat Springs) and I both serve on the board. I was the sponsor of three of the bills that were heard.

House Bill 1346 is the annual Water Projects Funding Bill proposed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board. One of the projects being funded this year is the Dry Gulch Reservoir project land purchase. This loan, of over $11 million, is being made to the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District water activity enterprise.

Also up in Senate Ag was House Bill 1379, which allows the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission additional time to promulgate rules concerning the consultation process with other state agencies which were required in legislation passed in the 2007 legislative session. The extension is until July 16, 2008.

The third bill is Senate Bill 226 concerning the prohibition of aquatic nuisance species in Colorado. You may recall a few weeks ago some press about the Zebra Mussel being found in Colorado. I mentioned it in one of my columns. This is the legislation that we are bringing forward in an attempt to stop the spread of this species and its potentially devastating economic, environmental and social impacts. We drafted and re-drafted all week and by the time the committee met I think we had a pretty good bill. It will be a comprehensive approach using education, inspection and enforcement.

Investing in tomorrow’s workforce

After several long days debating the 2008-2009 state budget, I am happy with what we accomplished in the Senate to ensure a balanced budget that truly helps the citizens of Colorado.

The budget bill came over from the House of Representatives in almost identical form to what had been proposed by the Joint Budget Committee. Only four of the over seventy proposed amendments had been adopted by the House. After the budget was approved in the House it was introduced in the Senate last Monday. On Monday and Tuesday both the Democrats and Republicans met in their respective caucuses to go through the proposed budget bill to determine what amendments they would propose to the bill on second reading on the floor of the Senate.

As caucus chair my role was to lead the debate on the budget and any proposed amendments. On Wednesday we debated the amendments all day and into the evening on the floor of the Senate. Like the House, we only passed a few amendments that were small adjustments to the overall budget. This is not too surprising or unusual. 

Given the number of mandated programs, there is little flexibility in the budget.  In addition, the bi-partisan Joint Budget Committee works for months on the discretionary items. I feel good about the budget we passed. It is fiscally responsible and reflects solid investments in education, economic development and health care. Below I’ve highlighted some significant budget items:

• Our children are our future, and in recognition of that, we made additional investments on their behalf. We were able to eliminate the waiting list for soon to be preschoolers, provide 50,000 more children with health care, and provide $7.2 million more in grant funding for college-bound students.

• We also provided additional funds for disabled persons, some of whom had been on a waiting list for services for years. The number of disabled persons on that waiting list was actually larger than the number actually receiving services. 

• Medicaid reimbursement provider rates have been so low in the past that many doctors were not willing to accept Medicaid patients. In an effort to provide qualifying patients with the services they need, we increased provider rates by $43 million. This will allow more Medicaid patients access to doctors. 

I understand that our plans to make Colorado a better place to live cannot be accomplished unless we give our children the right tools they need to succeed. This year’s budget invests in our education so that every child can receive a solid start in schools that keep them safe, healthy and ready to compete in the 21st century economy from the time they enter preschool until they graduate college. The budget provides 22,000 additional full-day kindergarten slots. We also added 70 new school counselors to work with those students through graduation. In higher education, $63 million was made available to keep college within reach of every Coloradan who wants to attend, $10 million in need-based aid and $53 million to expand the College Opportunity Fund to more than 30,000 students.

In addition to investing in tomorrow’s workforce, we also need to invest in the technologies that will lead us into the 21st century. We worked to invest in our economy by creating incentives that would lure new companies to our state. Some major renewable energy companies have already announced plans to relocate to Colorado. Many of these companies bring with them high-paying jobs and will promote many other spin-off businesses.  Our goal is to be prepared for a growing global economy that cuts red tape for businesses, streamlines systems and invests in new technologies. 

Recognizing that few of these businesses will be moving to southwest Colorado, we must not forget our more traditional industries of agriculture and tourism. I will continue to promote both, and won’t let my colleagues forget either.    

In the home stretch at the Capitol

We’re in the home stretch here at the Capitol in Denver with just a little over 5 weeks left in the 2008 legislative session. 

Last week, the House had the budget bill, also referred to as the “Long Bill,” and next week we will debate it in the Senate.  As the Majority Caucus Chair, I will conduct the caucus meetings where we go through the budget department by department and consider amendments. 

While the House was doing the Long Bill we were trying to pass the House bills that had come over to the Senate as most of them were on deadline.  One of the bills that was passed was House Bill 1236 which I am carrying with Rep. Kathleen Curry, the House Agriculture Committee chair. 

HB08-1236 is a bill that was brought to us by the Commissioner of Agriculture. Colorado has a strong agricultural economy that is driven primarily by livestock.  The Colorado Department of Agriculture has numerous regulatory programs to protect livestock and public health and maintains many records concerning ownership, movement and health.  The department, however, has no method of protecting the confidentiality of these records that contain personal information on thousands of farmers and ranchers in Colorado. This bill provides the tools necessary for the commissioner to assure confidentiality of information.  The Colorado Press Association had some concerns as the bill came over from the House, but we worked with their lobbyist (yes, even those who complain about lobbyists have to hire them sometimes) and were able to resolve their issues through an amendment I offered in the Agriculture Committee.  This bill, also referred to as the Livestock Information Security Act, is one of the most important agriculture bills that I have carried in the legislature and I appreciate the Colorado Department of Agriculture and my good friend Commissioner John Stulp for bringing the issue forward.

I also got permission from Senate leadership last week to carry a “late bill” concerning the Zebra Mussel.  The Divisions of Wildlife and State Parks reported in January that this new invasive species has been found in Lake Pueblo.  This is the first occurrence of this species in Colorado, and one of the first few occurrences in the Western United States.  A closely related species, the Quagga Mussel, was found at Lake Mead and at Lake Havasu last year.

The Zebra Mussel is a freshwater mussel that is believed to have originated in eastern Russia.  It spread throughout most of northern Europe in the 20th century and was first found in the United States in 1988, having most likely arrived in the ballast water of a transoceanic ships. Since then the mussels have spread throughout the Great Lakes and much of the Mississippi River system.  

These invasive mussels are a very big concern for Colorado because in other states they have caused millions of dollars of damage to water infrastructure as well as to fish populations and water recreation.  They multiply at incredible rates and clog up pipes and water facilities, foul intakes on boat motors and cover shorelines with sharp and foul smelling shells. 

To address this threat the Department of Natural Resources will be putting into place policies to minimize the spread of these mussels.  The legislation I am introducing will provide the statutory framework and funding to assist them in that effort. The Division of Wildlife will be assessing the impacts on our fish populations and estimating the economic costs to our water treatment plants, power plants, and agricultural industry.  It is very important to get the word out to everyone to do their part to drain, clean and dry their boats to prevent the movement of this menace. 

I will keep you posted over the following months on the continued actions of the state to address this important issue.