200+ bills face lawmakers as days of General Assembly wind down

The Colorado General Assembly is in its final days of the 2023 session, with adjournment to take place no later than midnight, Monday, May 8.

Lawmakers have at least 200 bills to complete in the final week, including the Governor’s housing plan as contained in Senate Bill 213.

The bill was gutted last week to remove most, but not all, of its language that stripped local governments’ control on zoning and other housing issues and ceding it to the State.

As it exists this week, the measure now has to head over to the House, where progressive Democrats may try to put the bill back toward its original form. As amended by the Senate, SB 213 still contains a housing needs assessment at the State and local levels and added a statewide housing summit favored by Senate Republicans, including Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton.

Senate Democrats and Republicans teamed up to force the changes in the bill, including Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada, a key swing vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee, who said she would not vote for the bill with the State control language.

Among the issues Governor Jared Polis identified in his State of the State address in January: expected increases in property taxes. The Governor hinted at both short-term and long-term fixes in his speech, but so far, a long-term fix has not yet been introduced.

Several ideas on short-term fixes have already surfaced; a bipartisan measure, Senate Bill 108, would allow local governments to provide temporary property tax relief through tax credits or mill levy reductions is awaiting final action in the House after winning a 35-0 vote in the Senate.

The State budget has set aside $700 million for two years of temporary property tax relief. A bill expected to be introduced this week is expected to be the long-term fix, with Sen. Chris Hansen, D-Denver, as its sponsor.

Property taxes are estimated to increase by as much as 50 percent in this assessment year, partly the result of voter repeal of the Gallagher Amendment in 2020. 

The pesticide applicators act, Senate Bill 192, is on its way to the Governor’s desk. The measure would extend the act for 11 years, until 2034, as well as add requirements about notifying people who are sensitive to pesticides and on a statewide registry. It also hikes the maximum penalties for violations of the act to $2,500 for a first violation and $5,000 for second and subsequent violations. 

Notably, the act does not lift the statewide preemption on pesticides, which was sought by the governor’s office. In a hearing last week, a representative of the Colorado Department of Agriculture said the department favors local control, a position that was hinted at in earlier hearings.

The sponsorship of the applicators act was divided between progressive Democrats who want to see local regulation of pesticides and those who would fight just as vigorously against it.

The former includes Representative Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins, who also sponsored a bill on water and energy efficiency standards for certain appliances and fixtures sold in the State.

The House Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee held a lengthy hearing on the applicators act on April 26, drawing farmers, landscapers and other pesticide applicators to the Capitol. 

At almost the same time, the Senate Transportation and Local Government Committee was hearing House Bill 1161, the appliance bill

What progressive Democrats couldn’t get through the applicators act, they tried to get into the appliance bill.

An amendment to add pesticides to HB 1161, which would allow local governments to regulate pesticides for all purposes except for agriculture, was added by the sponsors in the committee hearing. 

Sponsors did not notify anyone who could be opposed to the amendment, including the dozens of people who were sitting two floors below in the House Ag Committee, about the amendment. 

The change to the bill was separated into three amendments to keep opponents from knowing it was coming. The rules require multi-page amendments to be distributed to committee members 24 hours in advance of a hearing, but by breaking up the three pages into three amendments, they avoided that notice that would have warned opponents, including those on the committee.

The outcry from lawmakers and opponents over the deception was immediate. 

Facing the possibility that the bill, a key part of Democrats’ agenda on the environment, could be killed as a result, forced the sponsors to withdraw the amendment on April 28.

Another bill on pesticides, to limit the use of neonics, won final approval from the House on Saturday and is just a few procedural moves away from the Governor’s desk.

Senate Bill 266 would limit the use of neonicotinoid pesticides to be sold only by licensed dealers under the Pesticide Act, effective Jan. 1, 2024.

The Department of Agriculture would be charged with coming up with rules to limit their use only in as pet care products, as a veterinary product used by a licensed veterinarian in a licensed veterinary practice, in indoor personal care products used for lice or bedbugs, as a preserved wood product, for structural insulation, academic research, or as a wood coating product. 

Neonics are the most widely used pesticide in the world, but their use has been linked to declining pollinator populations. In agriculture, where their use would be banned under the bill as amended, they are used to control aphids and mites.

The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Kevin Priola, D-Henderson, who was one of the sponsors of the pesticide applicators act, and in the House by Kipp, who sponsored both the applicators act and the appliance bill.

The Governor has signed House Bill 1011, granting consumers the right to repair agricultural equipment. The measure was backed by virtually every ag group in the state, except for Colorado Farm Bureau, but failed to win support from most Republican lawmakers who represent rural Colorado.

Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron, voted against it; Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, voted in favor.

The law is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

Under the measure, those who own high-tech ag equipment would be able to obtain parts, including software, to repair their equipment. Backers claimed this will save farmers time and money in an era where manufacturers’ technicians aren’t always available in a timely manner.

Independent repair shops would also be allowed to repair that equipment under the law.