JBC approves Parks expansion, CWCB staffing and mine-safety hire; delays severance-transfer decision

The Joint Budget Committee on an administrative figure-setting day approved a series of Department of Natural Resources line items and asked staff to defer action on proposed severance tax transfers until updated March revenue forecasts.

Kelly Shen, JBC staff, told members the governor’s proposed transfers from severance tax include $13.3 million tied to the Department of Natural Resources but recommended waiting for the March forecast because severance receipts are “highly volatile.” The committee agreed to defer a vote on that transfer amount.

Committee members approved a set of staff-recommended and department-requested items affecting multiple DNR divisions. Shen described technical adjustments and informational fund-source alignments that result in no net general fund increase for the decision items presented.

Key votes and staff recommendations passed included: approval of funding to expand management of two recreation areas (Pikes Peak and North Sandhills) to address heavy visitation; additional staff for the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) to manage an expanding water-plan grant portfolio funded largely by sports-betting revenues; a continuation and expansion of range-rider positions for livestock support; and a staff-approved trainer position to bolster mine safety training, inspections and rescuer certification.

Shen said the parks expansion (Pikes Peak and North Sandhills) would be funded from a mix of the Parks cash fund and non-appropriated sources such as Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and Keep Colorado Wild revenue, with an initial recommended appropriation of about $1.8 million and 7.4 FTE in the first year, scaling up in later years. On the CWCB water-plan grant program, Shen said increased sports-betting revenue (Proposition DD) is projected to nearly double available funds and that staff recommended hiring additional grant managers staggered to match that revenue ramp.

The committee also approved a staff-initiated refinance to move general-fund support of the statewide satellite monitoring system to the CWCB construction fund, noting trade-offs with project funding but concluding the scale makes the change reasonable.

Votes at a glance (motion outcome and committee tally where recorded): - Executive Director’s Office line-item detail — passed 5-0 (Taggart excused). - R6 Mine Safety Support (staff recommendation) — passed 4-1 (Kirkmeyer objecting). - Division of Reclamation, Mining & Safety base appropriation — passed 4-1 (Kirkmeyer objecting; Taggart excused). - ECMC line-item detail — passed 5-0 (Taggart excused). - R4 State Land Board enhanced lease compliance (staff rec. modified to hire at minimum and remove training funds) — passed 4-1 (Kirkmeyer objecting). - R5 State Land Board tribal consultation (department request) — passed 3-2 (Kirkmeyer and Amabile objecting; Taggart excused). - R1 Expand State Parks (Pikes Peak / North Sandhills) — passed 6-0. - R3 Assistance for Livestock Producers / Range Riders — passed 6-0. - R2 CWCB Water Plan Grant Program (staff rec.) — passed 5-0 (Kirkmeyer excused). - Staff-initiated refinance of satellite monitoring program to CWCB construction fund — passed 5-0 (Kirkmeyer excused). - Long-bill footnotes and RFIs with a comeback on wolf reporting RFI — passed 5-0 (Vice Chair Bridal excused).

The committee recorded further follow-up assignments: Shen will check with History Colorado on existing tribal- and cultural-resources capacity to inform potential changes to State Land Board practices; the committee asked that the statutory depredation report be made available to JBC members and asked staff to rework a continuing/modifying RFI on wolves to better capture expenditures and fund sources.

The JBC recessed until the following day.