Clean Energy Economy News | Online edition

SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

May 8, 2008 | Vol. 1, No. 3

For the second year in a row, the Colorado Legislature pushed an aggressive agenda to promote clean energy. The 2008 session wrapped up on Wednesday. Here is a summary of what legislators accomplished.

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In this issue

Colorado legislators pass clean energy, smart growth bills in 2008 session
ZGreen 'Green Events' Workshop on May 15

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Colorado legislators pass clean energy,
smart growth bills in 2008 session

Colorado legislators considered more than a dozen bills related to clean energy in the 2008 session, which ended Wednesday. Most were winners; a few were losers.

Here is a summary of key bills, based on a report from the Governor's Energy Office by Mim Mirsky:

WINNERS

HB 1026: Colorado Water Institute (Fischer/Schwartz)
Changes the name of the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute to the Colorado Water Institute, adds climate change research to its responsibilities.
Governor signed March 20.

HB 1141 Sufficient Water Supplies for Development (Curry/Bacon)
Requires developers to prove they have a sufficient water supply for projects of 50 units or more.
Passed House and Senate, awaits governor's signature.

HB08-1160 Net Metering for Municipal & Rural Electric Utilities (Solano/Shaffer & Isgar)
Expands existing law that only covered investor-owned utilities (i.e. Xcel) to require rural electric co-ops and municipal utilities with 5,000+ customers to provide retail rate net metering for residential, commercial or industrial customers.
Governor signed March 26.

HB 1164 New Solar Energy Technologies (Solano/Schwartz)
Asks the Public Utilities Commission to encourage development of utility-scale solar energy and adopt policies that help make it cost-competitive with other energy sources; allows the PUC to put a price on carbon dioxide when evaluating proposals from utilities to purchase solar power facilities.
Passed House and Senate, awaits governor's signature.

HB 1170 Electrician Licensing (Soper/Tochtrop)
Requires those working on electrical equipment powered by renewable energy to be licensed electricians
Passed House and Senate, awaits governor's signature.

HB 1222 Expand Renewable Hydroelectricity (McNulty/Harvey)
Directs legislative interim committee to clarify the role of hydropower in Colorado's renewable energy standard.
Passed House and Senate, awaits governor's signature.

HB 1269 Incentives for Sale of Beetle-Killed Pine (White/Gibbs)
Exempts the sales and use of wood from salvaged beetle-killed Colorado trees from sales and use tax for a five-year period.
Passed House, amended in Senate, awaits governor's signature.

HB 1270 Allow Energy Efficiency Measures for Homeowners' Associations (A. Kerr/Tupa)
Amends state law that requires homeowners' associations to allow installation of solar panels to also allow the use of energy efficiency devices such as wind-electric generators, shade structures, shutters, fans, swamp coolers, energy-efficient outdoor lighting and retractable clothes lines.
Governor signed April 24.

HB 1335 Building Excellent Schools Today (Romanoff/Groff & Schwartz)
An amendment in this bill, which is generally focused on safe and healthy school buildings, broadens green building standards and energy efficiency guidelines for school construction.
Passed House and Senate, awaits governor's signature.

HB 1350 Financing Renewable Energy (Madden/Romer)
Allows the state Clean Energy Development Authority and local governments to issue bonds for energy efficiency retrofits and renewable energy fixtures for homes and commercial property.
Passed House and Senate, awaits governor's signature.

HB 1368 Taxation of Property Used To Produce Renewable Energy (Buescher/Brophy)
Directs county assessors to value land on which small-scale renewable energy is generated (2 MW or less), based on with valuation procedures developed by the state property tax administrator; exempts sales of renewable energy equipment (AC electric only) from state sales tax.
Passed House and Senate, awaits governor's signature.

HB 1375, Long Bill
This is the governor's request for all state General Fund spending for the 2008-09 fiscal year. It places $2 million into the state Clean Energy Fund to support investment in new energy technologies.
Passed House and Senate, awaits governor's signature.

HB 1387 Low-Income Energy Assistance Funding (Buescher/Veiga)
Extends funding of $13 million per year through fiscal year 2011-12. This funding comes from mineral severance taxes.
Passed House and Senate, awaits governor's signature.

HJR 1039 Supporting Passenger Rail in Colorado (Butcher/Tapia)
A resolution, not legislation, supporting passenger rail service from Casper, Wyo., to Albuquerque, N.M., serving the Front Range, and for service west of Denver.
Passed House and Senate, governor's signature not required.

SB 117 Limit Local Building Permit Fees for Solar Panels (S. Mitchell/McNulty)
Prohibits cities and counties from charging added building permit fees, in excess of their actual costs in issuing permits, for small-scale solar energy devices.
Passed Senate and House, awaits governor's signature.

SB 184 Colorado Clean Energy Finance Program (Romer)
Creates program in the Governor's Energy Office to provide loans for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements for homeowners. Includes loan buy-down for low-income homeowners.
Passed Senate and House, awaits governor's signature.

SB 186 Colorado Carbon Fund Special License Plates (Johnson/Levy)
Creates a new special vehicle license plate for those who donate to the Colorado Carbon Fund. The plate will be retired if the state issues fewer than 3,000 by 2010.
Passed Senate and House, awaits governor's signature.

LOSERS

HB 1104 Traffic Right-of-Way Violations (Marostica/Brophy)
Amended traffic laws to increase penalties for drivers who fail to yield. The fine is $10 to $300; the bill would have increased fines to $100 to $1,000. The bill would have given bicyclists involved in right-of-way crashes added protections. Amendments changed the bill's provisions.
Rep. Marostica killed the bill.

HB 1107 Municipal and REA Electric Energy Efficiency (Levy/Veiga)
Require municipal utilities with 5,000+ customers and REAs to invest 1 percent of revenues on energy efficiency programs in 2009 and 2 percent in all years after.
Passed by the House, killed April 7 in Senate committee.

HB 1169 Renewable Energy Curricula (Gardner/Mitchell)
Directs the Governor's Energy Office to develop course curriculum at the community college level for job training in renewable energy fields.
Passed House Energy Committee, killed in House Appropriations Feb. 28.

HB 1312 Transportation Planning and Efficiency (Levy/ Gordon)
Establishes new transportation performance efficiency and sustainability goals, and consideration of land use plans in state regional transportation plans.
Died in House Transportation Committee March 13.

For a list of clean energy bills from the 2007 session, visit the Governor's Energy Office website.

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ZGreen 'Green Events' Workshop

Aspen's ZGreen & Canary Initiative host a free workshop on greening your event

Thursday, May 15
9 - 11 a.m.
Given Institute, 100 E. Francis, Aspen

The workshop will provide information on

How to green an event.
What works well
Common difficulties in making an event, conference or meeting more green
Local resources for registration bags, printers, etc.
Aspen's new ZGreen Event certification program

Please RSVP to Calla Ostrander, callao@ci.aspen.co.us or 970-429-1831

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