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County legislative analyst reviews state bills, highlights insurance and wildfire funding proposals
Summary
Pitkin County legislative analyst Levi Borst briefed commissioners on bills moving in Colorado’s legislature, including proposed wildfire reinsurance and hail-resilience enterprise funds and a data-center tax-credit bill that county staff recommended opposing. Borst also flagged upcoming rulemakings at CDPHE on landfill methane.
Pitkin County management analyst Levi Borst briefed the commissioners on several active bills in the Colorado General Assembly, upcoming deadlines and agency rulemakings that could affect county operations.
Borst summarized that the legislative session was in its final weeks (the session ends May 7) and flagged several items for the BOCC’s attention. He said a property protecting public lands joint resolution (SJR 25009) had been transmitted and explained the difference between a joint resolution and a bill. Borst recommended close monitoring of a proposed Data Center Development and Grid Modernization Act that would create a sales-and-use tax credit for data centers; he noted that the draft bill summary included climate and water protections that were not written into the bill language and that CCAT and other groups opposed the measure in its current form.
On insurance and wildfire policy, Borst reviewed a bill that would create two enterprise funds (a wildfire catastrophe reinsurance fund and a separate hardening/hail-resilience grant program) funded by small fees on policies to help stabilize availability of homeowner insurance. He said the bills were intended to keep insurers in the state market, incentivize wildfire mitigation and encourage installation of hail- or fire-resistant roofing. The committee discussed questions about how homeowners would obtain certifications (for example, from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety), the likely cost of certifications or hardening measures and distribution of grants to lower-income households. Borst noted that both CCAT and CC4CA had supported the wildfire/hail enterprise measures in committee and he recommended Pitkin County support on balance because the bills are intended to preserve insurance availability.
Borst also advised the board that CDPHE and the Air Quality Control Commission were planning rulemaking this summer for landfill methane at smaller regional landfills; he asked staff to flag the pending rulemaking for Public Works and for the county’s landfill operator. He raised concerns about a new federal proposal that could affect AmeriCorps and related federal youth corps programs used in local public-lands management, and suggested the county consider a coordinated response with other local governments if federal cuts move forward.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about how the insurance-enterprise fees would be implemented, eligibility for grants, and the administrative role of the state Division of Insurance. Borst said some details remain to be written in rulemaking or amendments and recommended staff track the bills to provide the board with follow-up briefings as details become available.
