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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Legislative Review Committee - 02/17/2009 -C City Manager’s Office f City Hall300LaPorte Ave.F.rt CoLLins /_•~fl’~%tIrJ.:;,_dPj$IIIIIIIIII_IIIIII____.%~fax Legislative Review Committee Meeting Minutes February 17,2009 The meeting convened at 4:00 p.m. Present:Doug Flutchinson,Kelly Ohlson,Ben Manvel,Darin Atteberry,Steve Roy, Wendy Williams,Tess Heffeman The meeting summary of the February 3,2009 Legislative Review Committee was approved. Legislation Update:The Committee discussed a number of new bills under consideration by the Legislature.Tess Heffernan also provided an update on several bills discussed previously.Items in italics indicate updates added after the February 17 LRC meeting. HB 1213 Housing Development Grants (Gagliardi) Creates the housing development grant fund,to be administered by DOLA.The fund would consist of all moneys appropriated to it by the general assembly,collected from federal grants,and other contributions,grants and donations received from other governmental entities,individuals,private organizations or foundations. Position:Support HB 1282 -Electronic Device Recycling Task Force (Fischer) Creates a task force within the CDPHE to make recommendations regarding the implementation of an electronic device recyling program by December 2009. o Position:Support o Passed the Health and Human Services Committee 11-0;on to Appropriations SB 180 Collective Bargaining (Tochtrop) Grants firefighters and law enforcement officers the right to form,join,or assist a union,negotiate collectively or express a grievance through representatives of their choice and engage in other activity for the purpose of collective bargaining. Mandates that employees must join/pay for the union as a condition of employment. Includes arbitration provisions that state that if an agreement can’t be reached,the options must be given to the voters to decide at a special election. Position:Oppose Mayor Hutchinson testified at the Committee hearing Feb 18.Bill has been laid over until Thursday,Feb 26. 0 HB 1258 Limit Muni Extraterritorial Condemnation (Gardner,B.) Regulates the exercise of eminent domain by a home rule municipality in connection with the acquisition by condemnation of property located outside the municipality’s territorial boundaries to require that such condemnation be permitted only upon satisfaction of each of a number of conditions (bill summary goes on for 1 2 pages of requirements.) Position:Oppose o The bill was postponed indefinitely. 1272 Ltd Gaming Amend 50 Comm College Funding (Massey,Tapia) Implements “Amendment 50”.The provisions in this bill dealing with the share of the gambling ftnds that will go to “current recipients”are seriously flawed.The current recipients’share would shrink overtime,while the share for the new recipients -community colleges and the gaming cities/counties -would increase.The Colorado Historical Society is a major recipient of gambling dollars and the City has received CHS grants for some of its own buildings such as the Nix Farm barn,DTC Depot,and trolley barn. o Passed Education Committee 13-0;2”reading Wed Feb 18 o Position:pending additional information SB 156 Plastic Bag Reduction (Veiga) Prohibits large retail stores from using plastic bags by 2012.Originally required customers be charged 6 cents/bag until that date;provision deleted. Passed Bus,Labor &Technology 4-3. No position taken “Laid over daily”status on 2,”reading (as of Feb 24) 1070 Lands Prohibited from URAs (Fischer) Ben Manvel testified at the first of three Committee hearings on this bill.Steve Roy discussed the latest amendments being considered by Rep Fischer:removing the arbitration language (keeping the existing arbitration statutes)and adding an amendment allowing ag or vacant land but not generating TIF off those portions unless all taxing entities agree.Committee members determined that if these changes are made,the City will support the bill. o The final Committee hearing was held Februaty 21t.The bill had been amended to keep the arbitration statutes as discussed above,however no changes were proposed to the definitions of ag and vacant land. o The bill failed 8-4. SB 143 Camera Radar (Bacon,Hullinghorst) Passed Transportation Committee.Two amendments added -one a “housekeeping”item and the other requiring revenues to be used directed towards the camera radaryrogram,traffic safety and traffic regulation. The bill based 2”andfinal readings in the Senate with amendments.Further discussion planned for March 3,2009 LRC meeting for Council input. 2 r SB 003 Motor Vehicle Emissions Programs (Bacon &Fischer) Beginning in 2010 moves Weld and Larimer counties from the basic emissions program of the automobile inspection and readjustment program to the enhanced emissions program. o Position:support o The bill passed Committee 4-3 on February 19.Thanks to Lucinda Smith for tes4fring in support. SB 142 Annexation of Rights of Way (Toctrop) Requires that a municipality annexes the entire portion of a right of way where a portion of an area to be annexed adjoins the right of way. o Postponed indefinitely SB 75 Low Speed Elec Self Propelled Vehicles (Marostica) Authorizes the operation of low-speed electric vehicles (NEV5)on roads with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less. o Position:Neutral o Passed Committee with amendments;on to Appropriations SB 145 Automatic Suspension Condenm Proceedings Requires proceedings seeking condemnation of property to be automatically suspended until the completion of a specified period (180 days)starting with the publication of the notice of intent to condemn property. o Position:opposed o Postponed indefinitely SB 99 State Procurement Supplier Databases Would allow the State Purchasing department to develop a fee for vendors who have state cooperative agreements.City Purchasing has no problem with the State imposing such a fee built into their cooperative agreement.We do have a problem with a provision to charge local public procurement units an additional fee. o Position:Opposed o Passed Committee 3-2.On to Appropriations o Jim O’Neill still working to get local public units exempted HB1094 Cell Phone Prohibitions for Drivers Prohibits drivers under 18,school bus drivers,and carriers regulated by the PUC from using cell phones while the vehicle is in motion.Otherwise,permits use of a cell phone with a hands-free accessory. Passed Committee.On to Appropriations HB 1114 Devolve State Commuter Hwys to Loc Govs (Vaad) Requires removal of all state highways or portion of highways within an MPO that are determined to be commuter highways from the state highway system as of a specified date. o Postponed indefinitely SB 95 Construction Contract Prompt Pay (Tapia) Ft Collins has standard contract language which protects both the City and Contractors.This bill would require a complete rewrite of that language.It would make it more difficult to manage projects.Time frames demanded in the legislation may make ensuring construction was done properly impossible before payment must be made.The problem this bill is trying to address does not exist in the vast majority of local governments. o Position:opposed Passed Committee 3-2.On to Appropriations.Hoping school board lobbies will oppose it. HB 1105 Colorado Innovation Investment Tax Credit (Kefalas) Creates the Colorado innovation investment tax credit for an equity investment in a qualified small business that is in the aerospace,bioscience,clean energy,or information technology industry. Position:support o Passed Finance,on to Appropriations. SBIOS “FASTER” MBR (formerly VMT)and tolling gutted.Vehicle registration fees made it through. Position:support Passed Senate,now on to House. SB 51 Renewable Energy Financing Act (Carroll,M.) Expand opportunities for financing retrofits,other aspects of renewable energy. Original version of bill mandated utilities rebate a portion of their revenue for this purpose;amended to exempt municipal utilities from this requirement. Passed Local Government 4-3,now to Appropriations 2009 Legislative Policy Agenda:Tess suggested that the Policy Agenda not be mailed to legislators at this point in time,given that the session is well underway and we have been in close contact with our representatives on our positions.Staff plans to re-evaluate the format of the Policy Agenda later this year,and possibly add an Executive Summary for distribution to legislators in the future. Other Business: Darin Atteberry showed the Committee a recent promotion by a local bar and noted that CSU and the City are planning to convene a group to discuss possible amendments to local and/or state liquor laws. r The Committee briefly discussed the process used when there is an urgent call to take a position on a bill,as was the case last week with SB 85. The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.