HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Legislative Review Committee - 02/21/2023 -
City Manager’s Office
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300 LaPorte Ave.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
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Legislative Review Committee Minutes
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
3:00-4:00PM
Council Information Chambers (CIC) in City Hall
300 LaPorte Ave
In-person with Zoom option
Councilmembers present: Mayor Arndt, Councilmember Canonico (chair)
Councilmembers absent: Councilmember Peel (excused)
Staff present: Ginny Sawyer, Tyler Marr, Megan Valliere, John Duval, Eric Potyondy, Honore Depew,
John Phelan, Jessica Jones
Guests present: Ed Bowditch (lobbyist), Jennifer Cassell (lobbyist), Kevin Jones (Fort Collins Chamber of
Commerce)
1. Approval of minutes from January 24, 2023 meeting
a. The Mayor moved to approve the minutes from the January 24th, 2023, meeting.
Councilmember Canonico seconded. Motion passed 2-0.
2. Bill review
a. The Legislative Review Committee reviewed bills that LRC members, City staff, and
lobbyists are monitoring. The following table details the specific bills that LRC discussed.
Bill/Bill Topic Introduced
Y/N
Prime
Sponsors
LRC Discussion Action Taken,
Recommendation
or Consensus from
LRC
HB23-1039 -
“Electric
Resource
Adequacy
Reporting”
Y Rep. Bird
Sens.
Rodriguez
and Winter
CAMU and PRPA indicated that
they are okay with this bill due
to the incorporation of some
language requested by PRPA.
N/A
HB23-1057 -
“Amenities For
All Genders In
Public Buildings”
Y Reps. Karen
McCormick
and Vigil
Sen. Jaquez
Lewis
This bill requires that all new
public facilities include gender
neutral restrooms.
N/A
HB23-1101 -
“Ozone Season
Transit Grant
Y Reps. Vigil
and Bacon
Sen. Winter
This bill is meant to increase the
flexibility of grant dollars
available through the ozone
Based on
conflicting
information about
Program
Flexibility”
season transit grant program.
The bill has passed the House
and should be scheduled for
hearing in the Senate soon.
whether Fort
Collins would be
eligible for grant
funding given our
fare free model,
Jen and Ed will
work on sharing
our interest in
clarification or a
friendly
amendment to
ensure our
eligibility with our
delegation
members.
HB23-1115 -
“Repeal
Prohibition Local
Residential Rent
Control”
Y Reps.
Mabrey and
Velasco
Sen.
Rodriguez
Would remove the prohibition
on local governments from
enacting rent control for
residential properties/units.
N/A
HB23-1127 -
“Customer’s
Right to Use
Energy”
Y Rep. Winter
Sen. Baisley
No longer relevant – postponed
indefinitely in House Committee
on Energy & Environment.
N/A
HB23-1131 -
“Majority of
Unit Owners
Required for
Home Owners’
Association
Budgets”
Y Rep.
Weinberg
No longer relevant – postponed
indefinitely in House Committee
on Transportation, Housing &
Local Government.
N/A
HB23-1134 -
“Require Electric
Options in Home
Warranties”
Y Reps. Joseph
and Kipp
Sen. Cutter
This bill passed the House and
was introduced in Senate last
week. Its purpose is to reduce
gas appliance use.
N/A
HB23-1148 -
“Temporary
Prohibition on
Rule-making
After Rule
Adopted”
Y Rep. Evans
Sen. Pelton
Councilmember Canonico
indicated some curiosity about
this bill, and Ed shared that it is
unlikely tomake it out of the
House Committee on State,
Civic, Military, & Veterans
Affairs.
N/A
HB23-1161 -
“Environmental
Standards For
Appliance”
Y Reps. Kipp
and Willford
Sen. Cutter
Has been introduced in the
house but not yet heard in
committee. Would update
N/A
standards for certain appliances
and fixtures sold in the state.
HB23-1166 -
“Repeal Retail
Delivery Fees”
Y Rep. Pugliese
Sen. Will
No longer relevant – postponed
indefinitely in House Committee
on Transportation, Housing &
Local Government
N/A
HB23-1169 -
“Limit Arrest For
Low-level
Offenses”
Y Rep. Bacon This bill would prohibit law
enforcement from arresting
people based on petty offenses.
CML and many municipalities
are paying attention to this bill
since it violates home rule
authority/local control and may
cause concerns related to public
safety.
The group
directed Jen and
Ed to share our
opposition with
members of our
delegation, and
they said they
would write up
fact sheets and do
so.
HB23-1190 -
“Affordable
Housing Right of
First Refusal”
Y Reps.
Boesenecker
and Sirota
Sen. Winter
Would create a right of first
refusal for local governments or
their agents to purchase multi-
family dwelling units to use for
affordable housing. Rep.
Boesenecker has shared that he
would greatly appreciate a
support position from Fort
Collins. The bill may be heard in
committee week of 02/27.
N/A
SB23-011 -
“Minor Driver’s
Education
Requirements”
Y Sen. Winter
Reps.
Boesenecker
and Lindsay
Would provide a tax credit for
parents of minors who take a
driver’s ed program, good for
up to $1000.
N/A
SB23-016 -
“Greenhouse
Gas Emission
Reduction
Measures”
Y Sen. Hansen
Reps.
McCormick
and Sirota
Would require local
government to expedite the
process to install new
transmission lines. It also
includes increased GHG
reduction goals at smaller
intervals (every five versus ten
years). When the bill was
discussed at CAMU, people
suggested keeping a lot of the
content but removing language
related to adding new goals
since the state will be
completing a GHG inventory
later this year.
N/A
SB23-035 -
“Middle Income
Housing
Authority Act”
Y Sens. Bridges
and Moreno
Rep. Herod
Clarifies powers of the existing
middle-income housing
authority and expands the
number of people on the board
of directors.
N/A
SB23-058 - “Job
Application
Fairness Act”
Y Sens.
Danielson
and Jaquez
Lewis
Reps.
Willford and
Young
Would prohibit employers from
inquiring about an applicant’s
age, date of birth, or transcripts
that indicate date of graduation
from an education institution
on an employment application.
N/A
SB23-097 -
“Motor Vehicle
Theft and
Unauthorized
Use”
Y Sens.
Zenzinger
and Gardner
Reps. Bird
and Soper
Would eliminate value
differentiation in auto theft
cases so that any auto theft
regardless of the value of the
vehicle is classified as a felony.
N/A
SB23-143 -
“Retail Delivery
Fees”
Y Sens.
Fenberg and
Van Winkle
This bill would allow businesses
to assume retail delivery fees
from a purchaser, potentially
simplifying itemized recipients
and point of sales systems for
businesses.
N/A
SB23-150 -
“Require
Labeling
Disposable
Wipes”
Y Sens.
Roberts and
WIll
Reps.
Froelich and
Frizell
Would require producers of
pre-moistened wipes to put on
the packaging language to the
effect of “do not flush, these
products will clog sewer lines.”
N/A
CORA Bill N Sen. Hansen In its current draft, the bill
would create a differentiation in
fees for CORA requests based
upon a requestor’s status as a
member of the media. There
are quite a few concerns
regarding this bill’s attempt to
define “the media” for the
purposes of CORA requests.
N/A
Microtrenching
Bill
N Rep. Titone CML still opposes this bill. The
second draft still requires local
governments to allow micro-
trenching, and the only way we
would be able to reject an
application is if it is in the
interest of health and safety.
Our engineering staff has
The City generally
opposes
microtrenching as
a concept or
procedure for
broadband
installation and
concerns about maintenance
liability over time.
did not use it for
Connexion.
Access to
Government
Meetings
N Rep. Ortiz While the bill has not yet been
introduced, the current draft
requires that all elected officials
be able to access facilities
regardless of physical
(dis)ability. Additionally, every
meeting of a local government
or school district would need to
be fully accessible/streamed
where there is public comment.
Ed shared that they are hoping
for a tighter definition of
“public meeting” for the
purposes of the bill, and Tyler
shared that we would like to
see a clear definition of
“streaming” as well.
N/A
Worker’s Comp
Bill
N Rep.
Boesenecker
While the bill is not yet
introduced, the most recent
draft would remove the
worker’s comp impairment
rating schedule and replace it
with the whole person
schedule. Inherently, benefits
are greater in the whole person
schedule, so costs of plans
would go up quite dramatically.
N/A
Water Bill Idea N Unknown The Mayor shared an idea for a
bill related to water sharing
among adjacent districts. At
water congress a few weeks
ago, the Assistant State
Engineer indicated support. The
Mayor and Eric Potyondy will
get something set up offline to
strategize about bringing it
forward and the best way to do
that.
N/A
Land Use Bill N Originating
from the
Governor’s
Office,
sponsors
TBD
We may see a copy in March.
While an initial rough draft may
exist, no one has seen it yet.
There aren’t any substantive
updates to share on this bill at
this juncture.
The group
discussed that
several portions of
the bill as
introduced may
address policy
goals held by City
Council, but home
rule authority is
also our baseline
foundation for
evaluating
proposals from
the General
Assembly.
Domestic
Violence in
County vs.
Municipal
Courts
N Unknown The Mayor shared that Judge
Heuser opposes any bill that
takes power from the municipal
court regarding its ability to
hear domestic violence cases.
We are open to
requirements
regarding Victims’
Assistance
programming for
municipal courts
hearing DV cases,
but we do not
support any
attempt to
remove authority
from municipal
courts.
3. Other Business and Announcements
a. Staff are working on sending out bi-weekly updates to LRC during the legislative session.
These include Jen and Ed’s updates, LRC meeting minutes and agendas, and the City’s
bill tracker. Please feel free to reach out anytime with questions or if something surfaces
on which members would like to engage or take a position.
Minutes approved on March 21st, 2023