HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 4/4/2023 - Memorandum From Ginny Sawyer Re: Legislative Updates
City Manager’s Office
City Hall
300 LaPorte Ave.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6505
970.224.6107 - fax
fcgov.com
Date: April 3, 2023
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ginny Sawyer, Policy and Project Manager
Thru: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
RE: Legislative Updates
The Legislative Review Committee (LRC) met on March 21, 2023. A brief synopsis of bills
discussed is attached. Since the discussion the City has taken oppose positions on HB-1215
(Limits on Hospital Facility Fees) and on HB-1243 (Hospital Community Benefit.)
The State Land Use Bill (SB-213) is also now available.
There will be a special meeting of the LRC on Monday, April 3 from 4-5PM to review the SB-213
Land Use (remote only).
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://fcgov.zoom.us/j/97236158545
Regular Legislative Review Committee (LRC) meetings are scheduled from 3:00-4:00PM in the
CIC Room, 300 LaPorte Ave and via Zoom on the following dates:
April 25
The Bill tracker can be found here: https://www.fcgov.com/citymanager/legislative.php
DocuSign Envelope ID: BBE35984-C4AC-4C5A-B403-9E12D1C3937F
LRC BILL DISCUSSION-MARCH 21, 2023
Bill/Bill Topic Prime Sponsors LRC Discussion Action Taken,
Recommendation or
Consensus from LRC
Bills on which the City has taken a position (or has been asked to consider taking a position)
HB23-1101 -
“Ozone Season
Transit Grant
Program
Flexibility”
Reps. Vigil and
Bacon
Sens. Winter
and Hinrichsen
The City supports ozone grant program
flexibility. An amendment was added that
would allow CDOT to redraw
transportation planning regions.
The City has taken a
support position on
this bill.
HB23-1169 -
“Limit Arrests
for Low-Level
Offenses”
Rep. Bacon Rep. Bacon is making some changes to the
bill to make sure local governments
understand it is not her intention to
include municipal offenses for which there
is no state equivalent in arrest
prohibitions. There is currently no Senate
sponsor for this bill.
The City has taken
an oppose position
on this bill.
HB23-1190 -
“Affordable
Housing Right of
First Refusal”
Reps.
Boesenecker
and Sirota
Sen. Winter
Rep. Boesenecker is working on several
amendments to this bill. It passed the
House and shouldn’t have any issues in the
Senate.
The City has taken a
support position on
this bill.
SB23-058 - “Job
Application
Fairness Act”
Reps. Willford
and Young
Sens. Danielson
and Jaquez
Lewis
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. CML is currently
seeking amendments that clarify
municipalities’ ability to request these
documents after initial application.
The LRC decided to
continue to monitor
this bill.
SB23-111 -
“Public
Employees’
Workplace
Protection”
Rep. Woodrow
Sen. Rodriguez
CML is requesting that municipal partners
join in opposition to this bill, which they
are describing as a next step toward
collective bargaining. The current fiscal
note indicates that the proposal would
take money out of the employment
support fund.
The LRC decided to
continue to monitor
this bill.
SB23-150 -
“Require
Labelling
Disposable
Wipes”
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.” A representative
from the City testified in support of this bill
in both the House and the Senate.
The City has taken a
support position on
this bill.
SB23-172 -
“Protecting
Opportunities
And Workers'
Rights Act”
Reps.
Weissman and
Bacon
Sens. Winter
and Gonzales
This bill is being described as a new version
of the POWER Act from the 2021 session.
The bill would increase the quantity of
reasons an employee could sue their
employer, and the definition of
harassment in the bill is very broad. CML
The City is still
formally in a monitor
position. Mayor
Arndt expressed a
willingness to
oppose this bill.
DocuSign Envelope ID: BBE35984-C4AC-4C5A-B403-9E12D1C3937F
LRC BILL DISCUSSION-MARCH 21, 2023
has taken an oppose position.
SB23-175 -
“Financing Of
Downtown
Development
Authority
Projects”
Reps.
Boesenecker
and Taggart
Sens. Jaquez
Lewis and Rich
This bill allows the extension of DDAs for
20 years.
The City has taken a
support position on
this bill.
Additional bills discussed
HB23-1215 -
“Limits on
Hospital Facility
Fees”
Reps. Sirota and
Boesenecker
Sens. Mullica
and Cutter
This bill would limit the facility fees that
can be charged by hospitals for various
outpatient services. Our partners at UC
Health are concerned about the budgetary
impacts of this legislation. The Mayor is
meeting with Kevin Unger, Chief Swoboda,
Deputy Chief Yeager, Chief Bergsten, and
others to discuss the bill.
Continue to monitor.
HB23-1242 -
“Water
Conservation in
Oil and Gas
Operations”
Reps.
Boesenecker
and Joseph
Sen. Cutter
As originally drafted, would require oil and
gas operators to reduce their use of fresh
water and increase their use of
reused/recycled water.
N/A
HB23-1245 -
“Campaign
Practices for
Municipal
Elections”
Rep. Parenti This bill would change campaign finance
rules for statutory municipalities, not
home rule municipalities.
N/A
SB23-198 -
“Clean Energy
Plans”
Rep. Weissman
Sen. Winter
John Phelan is working to align the City,
CAMU, PRPA, and CC4CA on this bill. PRPA
and CAMU have issues with some
provisions related to interim goals and
planning language that encroaches on
their authority related to public processes.
N/A
Micro-trenching
bill (not yet
introduced)
Rep. Titone CML opposes this bill. There is a strong
possibility it will not even be introduced
this session due to a leadership-imposed
limit on late bill status for controversial
bills.
The LRC said that if
this bill is
introduced, the City
will take an oppose
position.
Workers’ Comp
bill (not yet
introduced)
Rep.
Boesenecker
Jenn has a meeting with Rep. Boesenecker
on 03/24/2023 to discuss this and other
bills.
N/A
CORA bill (not
yet introduced)
Rep. Snyder
Sen. Hansen
The bill in its current form still carves out
reduced CORA rates for media. CML
strongly opposes any cost differentiation
for media.
LRC decided to
continue watching
and waiting for this
bill, and staff will
continue to monitor
when it gets
introduced.
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LRC BILL DISCUSSION-MARCH 21, 2023
Housing/Land
Use Bill (not yet
introduced)
Reps. Jodeh and
Woodrow
Sen. Moreno
Given the complicated interaction of our
own land use engagement process and the
timing of this piece of legislation, the LRC
decided not to take a position separate
from the full Council. The group decided to
schedule time for the full Council to
discuss the legislation once the bill text is
available for everyone to read.
Monitor until the full
Council can discuss.
Cleanup bill for
HB21-1110 -
“Colorado Laws
For Persons with
Disabilities”
Sen. Bridges The Governor’s Office wants to ensure that
public entities do not start removing things
from their websites as a result of the 2021
accessibility law. As a result, we are
expecting a cleanup bill that will maintain
some of the provisions of the bill but will
allow every entity to have a cure period
and will limit the quantity of lawsuits that
can be brought against organizations for
any one instance of noncompliance. The
cleanup bill will not change the compliance
deadline of July 2024.
N/A
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