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Lawmakers approve bill to ease wastewater permit backlog after rural lawmakers warn of crippling costs
Summary
The House approved Senate Bill 305 to change how the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issues certain wastewater permits after rural lawmakers said a recent general-permit approach left some small communities facing costly compliance orders.
The Colorado House approved Senate Bill 305 on third reading after lawmakers described cases in which rural communities were hit by new wastewater permit requirements that local officials said effectively made already-built facilities noncompliant.
"We have communities that were just hit with a $15,000 new facility bill that are still paying off work that was done five years ago and still have $10,000,000 left to pay," Representative Richardson said on the floor, describing municipal examples during debate. He and other lawmakers said a recent CDPHE general permit had created a backlog and, in some cases, required expensive upgrades without sufficient local consultation.
Representative Johnson, who also spoke in support of the bill, asked lawmakers to consider the small budgets of rural towns that had completed costly upgrades only to face new rules months later. "These boilerplate wastewater permitting are hard to keep up with when you have a little funding to do it," Johnson said, urging passage to avoid bankrupting communities and preserve public health.
Sponsors characterized the legislation as a fix to a CDPHE process that had unintentionally imposed immediate compliance obligations on dozens of small utilities. Representative Richardson said the bill was an "ugly fix" but a necessary one to prevent severe financial hardship in small towns. He said the state had commitments from CDPHE and the Senate to continue oversight after passage.
On final vote, the House adopted the bill. The roll call shows the chamber approved Senate Bill 305 with 59 'yes', 5 'no' and 1 excused.
The legislation directs CDPHE to change its permitting process and provides a legislative pathway to address the backlog and better align permits with community capacity. Lawmakers said follow-up oversight and monitoring will be needed to ensure the department implements the statutory changes without repeating the same problems.
