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CDA staff brief commissioners on several bills and warn of tight state budget ahead of Nov. 1 release
Summary
Policy staff told the Ag Commission several bills from the water and agriculture interim committee will be introduced in regular session, including gender-neutral updates to Title 35, confidentiality for wildlife depredation payment applications, energy-exemption clarifications for agricultural buildings, and ranch-property tax-definition changes. Staff also warned of an anticipated $1 billion general-fund shortfall in next year’s governor’s budget.
Jordan, the department’s legislative/policy staffer, told the commission on Oct. 16 that the Water Resources and Agricultural Review Committee voted to move several bills forward and that many required a two-thirds bipartisan vote in the interim committee. Jordan described four bills commissioners should watch in the regular session:
- A bill to remove gendered language from Title 35 of the agricultural statutes to ensure references to the commissioner and the state veterinarian use neutral titles rather than male pronouns.
- A bill titled "Wildlife Damage: Protection of Personal Information" that would codify Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) practice by keeping applications for depredation payments confidential.
- A bill to clarify that agricultural buildings are exempt from certain energy benchmarking requirements if used for agricultural purposes (they need not be used 100% of the time for agriculture to qualify).
- A ranch property tax clarification bill that broadens the statutory definition of "ranch" to include parcels used primarily for grazing or raising livestock for profit and removes a narrow definition of "livestock" to cover additional species.
Jordan also flagged a proposed tax-task-force bill to examine severance tax revenue and the future of water funding as oil and gas development and related revenues decline.
On budget timing, Jordan said the governor’s budget will be transmitted and released Nov. 1; department conversations with economists suggest roughly a $1,000,000,000 shortfall in the general fund compared with earlier projections. Jordan said lower inflation reduces expected revenue growth, which tightens spending capacity and will likely require cuts or reprioritization.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about bills that did not move forward in the interim and about how the department will track sunset-review recommendations from the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA). Jordan said DORA recommended continuing the farm products/commodity handlers program with minor modifications and that any reauthorization would require a regular bill in session.
