Bill Tracker

The bill grants local governments authority to form special districts and levy property taxes to finance forest health projects. The bill applies to counties, municipalities, special districts, and water conservancy districts. Additionally, the bill will authorize a forest improvement district to use its sales tax revenue for forest health projects. Lastly, the bill postpones the Colorado Water Resources Power and Development Authority's repeal until July 1, 2033. The Colorado Water Resources Power and Development Authority issues bonds to fund watershed protection and forest health projects. 

3/4/21-House Finance:  The bill was amended in committee to clarify that the special district could perform the vegetation management projects that are specified in the bill. Colorado Resource and Power Development Authority testified in favor of the bill CCI, Nature Conservancy, Southwest Wildfire Impact Fund, and the Special District Association testified in favor of the bill. The bill passed on a vote of 10-1. 

3/9/21-Second Reading in the House: The bill was amended to include technical changes suggested by the bill drafter. 

3/10/21- Third Reading in the House: The bill passed on a vote of 54 to 9 and was sent to the Senate. 

4/15/21- Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources: The bill passed unamended to the Senate Committee on the Whole and was placed on the consent calendar. 

4/20/21- Senate Second Reading: The bill passed the second reading without amendments. 

4/21/21- Senate Third Reading: The bill passed third reading and final passage without amendments on a vote of 33-1.

5/11/21- The bill was signed by the Governor. 

The bill will not directly impact Colorado's electric cooperatives' vegetation management and wildfire mitigation practices. However, the bill will help rural communities recover from and mitigate wildfires through increased funding for forest health initiatives. Additionally, there may be an opportunity for a cooperative to partner with a newly formed special district to complete watershed protection and forest health projects. 

Current law directs county assessors to use the real value of a property when valuing the property when a renewal energy facility is located on the property. This bill would create an exemption on the valuation of the property if the property was designated as agriculture before a small or low-impact renewable energy facility was built on the property. 

3/17/21- House Energy and Environment: The bill was heard in House Finance. The bill will close a tax loophole that allowed renewable energy systems to use an agricultural tax valuation. The bill would increase tax revenues for local communities by valuing renewable energy systems and the property by their actual market value. Interwest Energy Alliance testified in opposition to the bill because the bill would change the tax assumptions and that the development was based on. The change in tax valuation could make projects not economically viable. Moffat County Commissioners, CCI, Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, Garfield County Commissioners, Moffat County Assessor, Rio Blanco County Commissioners testified in support of the bill. The testimony focused on the county assessor's ability to decide how a property should be valued if there is a renewable energy facility on a property that used to be classified as agricultural. The bill was amended to ensure that landowners using the property for agricultural purposes and have renewable energy facilities located on the property would still receive an agricultural property tax valuation. The bill was postponed indefinitely on a vote of 7-4.

The bill is permissive and does not require property reclassification if a renewable energy generation facility is located on the property.  However, if a property is reclassified, the assessor may use the property's market value rather than valuing the property based on its agricultural production. The bill could have a marginal impact on tax revenue that is used for school financing. CREA staff does not believe that there will be any direct impact on Colorado's electric cooperatives. 

The bill removes the existing restrictions on pumped hydro facilities as a source of recycled energy. In Colorado statute, recycle energy is considered a form of renewable energy. By removing the existing restrictions, pumped-hydro will be designated as a form of renewable energy.

2/24/21-House Energy and Environment: Geoff Hier with CREA and Ducks Unlimited testified in favor of the bill during the initial committee hearing. However, there were concerns that the bill would allow for fossil fuel powering of pumped hydro-facilities and that the pumped hydro would impact natural rivers and eco-systems. The bill was laid over so Minority Leader McKean could work on amendments to address these concerns. 

3/10/21-House Energy and Environment (For Action Only): Committee voted to amend the bill to ensure that a pumped-hydro does not use fossil fuel to operate the facility. This would ensure the renewable energy credit accurately reflects the generation resource. The bill passed out of Committee on a vote of 13-0. 

4/1/21- Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee The bill passed and was placed on the Senate Consent Calendar. 

4/22/21- The bill was signed by Gov. Polis. 

CREA believes that all hydro, including pumped-hydro, is important to reducing emissions in Colorado. The addition of pumped-hydro to the list of renewable energy standards will positively impact Colorado's electric cooperative. Additionally, the bill could encourage the development of more pumped-hydro facilities in Colorado. 

The bill changes current law to allow for counties to perform routine or emergency maintenance of right-of-way on county-owned gravel or dirt roads without triggering an excavation notification. The bill would only to apply to maintenance that does not:

• Lower the existing grade or elevation of the road, shoulder, or ditch
• Disturb more than 6 inches in depth during maintenance operations.

Current law requires an individual or entity to notify the statewide notification association (811) of all owners and operators of underground facilities of its intent to engage in an excavation so that any underground facilities that the excavation might affect, such as water and sewer pipes, gas lines, and electric or cable lines, can be located and marked before excavation begins. 

CREA believes that there will be limited impact on Colorado's cooperatives due to the restrictions on counties to perform road maintenance. If a county needs to dig beneath six inches, it will be required to call 811. CREA plans on collecting feedback from the membership to determine if there are long-term impacts of the bill. 

The bill makes substantial changes to the funding model to Energy Outreach Colorado (EOC) by:

• Removing the program from the tier 2 severance tax operational fund.  
• Creates an energy assistance system benefits charge that will apply to investor-owned electric and gas utilities that will be collected from the customer monthly. The PUC may adopt rules to increase the monthly charge.

Grants authority for water utilities to voluntarily create opt-in charges for their consumers to fund the EOC water utility bill assistance program. The water utility may also implement its own payment assistance program. The bill changes the definition of "low-income utility customer" to mean a utility customer that meets the Colorado Department of Human Services income eligibility criteria. The bill directs the EOC to prioritize customer savings, emission reductions, and improving indoor air quality when installing energy retrofits.  Additionally, the bill sets out reporting requirements for how the EOC will report on the monthly charges created in the bill. Lastly, the bill changes the legislative commission on low-income energy assistance by reducing the commission from 11 to 7 members and expands the commission's scope to include water utility assistance.

6/7/21- The bill passed both chambers. . 

CREA is currently evaluating the impact of this bill. There are concerns about removing tier 2 severance tax revenue as the primary funding model for Energy Outreach Colorado (EOC).  Additionally, while the $1 surcharge to IOU costumers would increase EOC funding, the bill language says that the surcharge's revenue would remain in IOU service territory. Between the reduction of funding through severance tax and the IOU surcharge staying in IOU service territory, consumer-members of Colorado's electric cooperative who rely on EOC assistance could see a reduction in their energy assistance benefit.

Additionally, the bill grants authority to the department of human services to promulgate rules which could increase the number of eligible recipients. While CREA believes that the expansion of energy assistance programs is a good thing, there could be unintended consequences when paired with the proposed changes to the funding model. CREA has reached out to EOC for clarifications regarding the funding model and its potentially negative impact on Colorado's electric cooperatives

This bill reduces the size of the Broadband Deployment Board (Board) from 16 to 11 members and delineates the qualifications for membership. The board make up is as follows:

• Five members of the Board are from specific sectors of the broadband industry. 
• Two member one from the Western Slope and one from the Eastern Plains are public members representing unserved areas, three members represent local governments. 
• The director or a designee from the Office of Information Technology (OIT) is a non-voting member. 

The bill defines “critically unserved areas” as those areas outside a municipal boundary without access to at least one non-satellite provider of broadband speeds of at least 10 megabits downstream and one megabit upstream. OIT is required to develop and deliver to the Board maps identifying critically unserved areas of the state. The Board is required to reserve 75 percent of the broadband deployment funds for projects to serve critically unserved areas of the state. The Board is required to develop an RFP process to solicit bids to serve critically unserved areas of the state.  There is a process for incumbent providers to protest an award.  Awardees are required to submit detailed progress reports during the construction phase of the project. The bill deletes an outdated requirement that the Board apply for federal funds.

2/23/21- House Transportation and Local Government: The bill was amended to change the definition of critically unserved to be half the FCC definition for high-speed broadband. Additionally, the amendment reduced the dedicated funds to the critically underserved RFP process from 75 to 60 percent of the broadband grant fund, expanded the eligible entities to participate to include metropolitan districts, and shifted the board appointments from the governor to the senate minority leader. Lastly, the amendment will streamline the RFP process. The bill passed with a vote of 9-2. The special district association, CML, and cable industry association in favor of amending the bill. Secom, Elevate, Luminate, Ceillo testified in favor of the bill but not all members agree with the 60% carve-out established in the bill.

3/11/21- House Finance: CWA Local 7777, Colorado Cable Telecommunication Association, Colorado Competitive Council, Colorado Telecommunications Association, Colorado Broadband Office testified in favor of the bill. The bill passed on a vote of 9-2 with Rep. Luck (R-Penrose) and Rep. Sandridge (R-Colorado Springs) voting no.

5/24/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

Some of CREA's members who operate broadband subsidiaries could benefit from this bill because the bill could help increase deployment to critically underserved areas where it would not make financial sense to do so. The bill allows the Broadband Deployment Board to have discretion in setting the matching grant requirement for the new broadband projects. This could increase the viability of a broadband project that is otherwise not financially visible. Additionally, the board could distribute up to 60% of the grant funds to projects that will benefit critically underserved communities. 

The bill makes updates to the cooperative governance statutes to allow for the following activities:

• Authorizes cooperatives to establish electronic voting procedures
• Clarifies that members voting or participating in a meeting electronically are considered present to establish a quorum 
• Removes the secrecy requirement for mail-in voting
• Amends the deadlines and requirements for notice of an election to allow for more flexibility when setting an election date. 

The bill also defines joint membership and clarifies that only one of the joint members can vote during a cooperative election. The bill maintains that each membership gets one vote for bylaw changes and board elections. Additionally, all members of a joint membership will be listed on the ballot for an election. 

The bill increases transparency requirements for cooperatives by requiring the cooperative to post their rates, net meeting requirements, and election policies to the association's website. The bill further requires that financial audits will be made available to members upon request. 

The bill also requires that the cooperative board adopt written policies concerning the board of directors' compensation, including a provision that requires a director to report if they receive a gift over $50.00. The reporting requirements will increase with inflation. Directors will also be required to disclose any conflicts of interest.

Lastly, the bill specifies that a board member must fulfill their loyalty to the cooperative association at all times. The bill specifies that a director can not be required to prioritize their duty to a generation and transmission association over the duty to a distribution cooperative. 

3/10/21- House Energy and Environment: Geoff Hier testified that CREA was in an "amend" position on the bill and that we have worked with Rep. Amabile to address concerns about the bill.  Geoff testified that CREA supported specific provisions of the bill, such as the elimination of the secrecy sleeve requirement, permitting electronic voting, and clarifying the ability of co-ops to conduct electronic meetings.  Dave Munk, Chair of the Board of Directors for Holy Cross Energy, testified in favor of the bill stating that Holy Cross Energy is looking forward to increasing election participation through electronic voting. Additionally, Virginia Harmon with DMEA, Troy Whitmore with United Power, and Debbie Cokes representing San Miguel Power testified in support of the bill. Kristen Taddonio, a Mountain Park's Board Member also testified in favor of the legislation. 

  Additional support testimony came from member-owners from La Plata Electric Association, Mountain Parks Electric, Mountain View Electric Association, and Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association. Other groups testifying in support of the bill were the Colorado Public Interest Research Group, Mountain Village Board of Trustees, Colorado Communities for Climate Action, Atlasta Solar Center, Broomfield City Council, and The Western Way.   The Committee adopted 4 amendments to the bill:

1. L001: The amendment clarifies that the definition of financial interest for purposes of determining whether a conflict of interest exists is limited to a unique benefit a director could receive.
2. L002:  The amendment clarifies that a ballot that is returned to a third-party vendor administering the election will count towards the total of votes cast. Additionally, the amendment modifies the gift provision for the compensation policy to remove the "bestowed gift" and the associated language relating to the minimum reportable amount relating to inflation. 
3. L004: The amendment narrows the provisions of section 40-9.5-108 concerning public meetings that apply to Tri-State. The amendment grants Tri-State and co-ops the ability to enter executive sessions for testimony and documents given in confidence. The amendment also provides that directors who sit on the board of both a distribution co-op and a G&T owe fiduciary duties to both associations and are not required to give priority to a fiduciary duty owed to one association over the other. 
4. L005: Clarifies that a ballot returned by mail will count towards a quorum during a board election. The amendment also removes a reference to 40-9.5-108 that would apply to Tri-State. 

The amendments that were adopted were consistent with the requests CREA and Tri-State had made to the sponsor. The bill passed as amended on a vote of 12-1, with Rep. Soper (R-Grand Junction) voting against the bill. Rep. Soper pushed back against testimony suggesting that cooperatives were not supportive of transparency, stating that Grand Valley Power posts election notifications, opportunities to communicate with the board of directors and other information such as rates on their website. 

4/29/21- The bill was signed by Gov. Polis. 

The key components of the bill that CREA is supportive of are:

• Elimination of secrecy sleeve
• Allow, but not require, electronic voting
• Clarification on holding electronic annual and board meetings.

However, there remain concerns about the fiduciary duty and duty of loyalty provisions in the bill. Current law dictates that a director serving on multiple boards has an equal duty to each board in the case of a conflict of interest and should recuse themselves. The language proposed in the above section creates confusion and indicates a priority should be given solely to the cooperative. This could have an adverse effect on the directors that serve on multiple boards. CREA continues to work with the sponsor to address these concerns. 

The bill requires the Colorado Workforce Development Council to develop a career pathway for the energy sector in conjunction with local workforce boards, the Department of Education, and other stakeholders.  The bill specifies that the programs should focus on the renewable energy sector. The bill specifies the programs will go into effect before the 2022-23 academic year. 

6/1/21- The bill passed both chambers.

The bill does not create any new regulations for Colorado's electric cooperatives. However, Colorado's electric cooperatives could benefit from the enhanced education of students pursuing a career in the energy sector. An increased application pool could make it easier for cooperatives to fill vacant positions. 

The bill creates the Natural Disaster Mitigation Enterprise to provide funding for natural disaster mitigation projects. The enterprise will award natural disaster mitigation grants to assist local governments in implementing resilience and natural disaster mitigation measures. The enterprise will also provide technical assistance in applying for federal grants. 

The enterprise may not collect over $100 million dollars over the first five years of the program's existence. The enterprise will be funded by a $1.25 fee applied to insurance policies for every $1,000 collected by the insurance company.  The bill specifies the type of insurance policies the fee is applied to. The division will have the ability to adjust the fee every year. 

3/18/21- House Energy and Environment: The bill creates the Natural Disaster Mitigation Enterprise to provide grants to local government for natural disaster mitigation projects funding, including providing matching funds for federal grants applications for resiliency and disaster mitigation projects. The enterprise will be funded by a $1.25 fee applied to insurance policies for every $1,000 collected by the insurance company on certain policies. The enterprise created by the bill would not trigger provisions adopted in Proposition 117 that would call for a vote of the people if a new state enterprise would collect more than $100 million within its first five years.  The Colorado Association of Realtors and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association testified in opposition, saying that the creation of the enterprise is unconstitutional. Colorado Communities for Climate Action, CCI, CML, Healthy Air and Water Colorado support the bill due to the increased funding for wildfire mitigation. Additionally, the Sierra Club testified in support of the bill but has asked the sponsor to consider an amendment to allocate 2 individuals to represent underserved communities. The bill was amended to remove the following insurance from the bill: private flood, earthquake, private passenger auto physical damage, aircraft, and boiler and machinery. The bill passed to the House Committee on Finance on a vote of 8-4.

6/7/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

CREA has taken an amend position on the bill. CREA is seeking amendments that would remove insurance policies that disproportionately impact agricultural policies. Additionally, CREA is seeking an amendment to allow for the enterprise to fund grid resiliency projects that could benefit cooperatives during a natural disaster emergency. 

The bill transfers $5 million from the General Fund to the Department of Local Affairs through the government severance tax fund for the purpose of funding renewable and clean energy infrastructure projects.

6/1/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

The bill allocates funding for local governments to develop renewable energy infrastructure. Cooperatives may have an opportunity to partner with local governments and receiving funding to develop new projects. 

Originally, the bill creates environmental justice taskforce within the Colorado Department Public Health and Environment to ensure that disproportionately impacted communities were able to participate in the rulemaking process. However, the bill was heavily amended on the second to last day of the session to incorporate provisions of SB21-200- Reduce Greenhouse Gases Increase Environmental Justice, which Gov. Polis threatened to veto. The 25-page amendment overhauled the bill to codify emission reductions for the electric, industrial and manufacturing, and oil and natural gas sectors. The bill gives expanded rulemaking authority to Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) to explore a cap-and-trade system and to set APEN fees to fund the direct and indirect cost of the AQCC. Furthermore, the bill adds greenhouse gas emissions to the list of regulated pollutants subject to APEN fees under the rulemaking authority of the AQCC. The bill also included provisions that require all electric utilities over 50,000 meters that do not receive 80% percent of their energy through a contract to file a clean energy plan. Under this provision, Intermountain Rural Electric Association will be required to file a plan. CREA supported Tri-State’s efforts to ensure that its electric resource plan will meet the requirements of the bill. The bill was controversial due to the lack of a stakeholder process and the amendment being released only hours before the bill was heard in Committee.

The bill will directly impact cooperative operations and result in additional regulation by the Air Quality Control Commission. CREA is actively reviewing the amended bill and its full impact on Colorado's cooperatives. 

The bill requires the PUC to open an investigatory docket to determine if community choice energy is a viable option for Colorado communities. The docket will also identify best practices that would allow CCE to function in Colorado. The PUC will have to submit its findings to the legislature by December 15, 2022. Colorado’s electric cooperatives are exempt from the bill but are permitted to participate in the PUC docket. The bill is supported by environmental groups, Ready for 100 (14 communities that have committed to obtaining 100% renewable energy), and Colorado Communities for Climate Action (35 communities that support climate change policies).

6/8/21- The bill passed both chambers. 

CCAs have enabled increased local control over renewable energy resources and provided customers with choice in regard to where their energy comes from. However, there are uncertainties with the longevity and viability of the CCA model. Currently, CCAs have been able to keep their costs low allowing them to compete with traditional utilities, but these costs may be buried or passed onto consumers who are not in a CCA. Additionally, California’s regulatory structure has increased costs to CCAs to compensate the loss of resources from traditional utilities.

CREA staff has spoken with other statewides to learn about the impact of CCA on their communities. In staff discussions, there seems to be little impact on cooperatives, due to the nature of CCAs being focused on investor-owned utilities. However, there are lingering concerns about how communities are defined and the interplay between communities that are served by both an IOU and a cooperative. Cooperatives are community-based utilities that understand the needs of the consumers and communities that they serve. However, at this time, there is limited data or research on direct impacts that CCAs will have on Colorado’s electric cooperatives or the cooperative model at large.

The bill requires building owners to perform energy efficiency updates based on the energy star portfolio manager. Under the bill, all utilities will be asked to provide energy usage data to owners of buildings over 50,000 square feet. However, there are enhanced reporting requirements for utilities over 5,000 commercial and industrial meters. The requirements are:

• Must provide easily accessible aggregated data to customers within 30-days of owners' requests through an easily navigable web portal or online request form with a single, one-time password of multi-factor digital authentication at least on an annual basis until the owner revokes the request.
• Must adopt an aggregation threshold that is no more than four and make this information public online. (The threshold refers to how many tenants are occupying a building that is over 50,000 sq feet).
• Aggregated data must be directly uploaded into the owners benchmarking tool account, delivered in a spreadsheet template specified by the benchmarking tool, or delivered in another format approved by the office.

CREA successfully lobbied for potential grant funding from the Colorado Energy Office to help offset the cost of implementing this mandate. CREA was able to extend the start date to June 2022 and allow for cooperatives to have up to 90 days to respond to a building owners request in the first year. The original start date of the program was scheduled for January 2022 and cooperatives would have needed to respond within 30 days to a building owners request.

6/8/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

CREA has concerns about the direct impact the bill will have on Colorado's electric cooperatives. Cooperatives have expressed concerns about the cost of implementing software updates or the administrative burden of providing the data to building owners. Additionally, there are concerns about providing consumer data to nonconsumer members.

• Extends the deadline to distribute Connecting Colorado Grants to June 30, 2021. Connecting Colorado Grants are used to extend broadband for local education providers. 
• Creates the Colorado Digital Inclusion Grant Fund: The fund will be used to advance the state's digital inclusion priorities, including access to devices, affordability, digital literacy, and increasing broadband reliability and speeds. Additionally, the funding will extend to health initiatives and the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Indian Tribes for shovel-ready projects.
• Broadband Deployment Board Dollars: Appropriated funding will go to the Board to fund last-mile infrastructure projects that are shovel-ready, include extending broadband to low-income communities and do not overbuild capacity. The bill encourages the Board to distribute funds for critically underserved areas and to connect anchor institutions.
• The bill also includes funding for the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) middle mile program and requires that any grant from DOLA is reviewed by the Broadband Deployment Board and is reported yearly to the Office of Information Technology.

CREA's Board of Directors has taken a support position of the bill. The bill will continue to support the deployment of broadband throughout Colorado. Additionally, increased funding for last and middle mile projects could benefit Colorado's cooperatives that operate broadband subsidiaries.  

The bill makes an appropriation of $8 million to the just transition cash fund and an appropriation of $7 million to the newly created coal transition worker assistance grant program. 

• Just Transition Cash Fund: The $8 million dollars will go toward supporting targeted economic development, infrastructure projects, and workforce development programs for communities impacted by a coal mine and plant closures. The bill requires that at least 70% of the funds are distributed by the close of FY 2021-22 and the remaining funds are distributed in FY 2022-23. 
• Coal Transition Worker Assistance Grant Program: Operated by the Department of Labor and Employment the program will fund apprenticeship programs, provide tuition reimbursement, job search assistance for workers that are directly impacted by a coal mine or plant closure. The bill requires that at least 70% of the funds are distributed by the close of FY 2021-22 and the remaining funds are distributed in FY 2022-23. 
• The bill modifies the definition of coal transition facilities and provides statutory definitions for Tier One and Tier Two Transition Communities. 
• Additional appropriations will be made depending upon available funds. 

6/2/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

CREA’s members are supportive of the funding allocation of 15 million dollar to fund the Office of Just Transition and the Coal Transition Worker Assistance Grant Program. The programs that will be operated by the Just Transition will be essential to help Tier 1 and Tier 2 communities, mostly in cooperative service territory, transition to a new economy and help retrain workers that will be losing their jobs due to coal mine and coal power plant closure. While CREA and its members are supportive of this bill, we do not believe that the funding allocated is adequate to help these workers and communities fully transition away from a coal-based economy. 

The bill makes changes to the insurance premium tax, property tax, and sales and use tax. However, these provisions will not have a direct impact on Colorado's cooperatives.  Section 11 and 12 of the bill would phase out the quarterly exemption for the first 300,000 tons of coal produced in a quarter and the tax credit equal to 50% for coal and lignitic coal produced from underground mines. The phase-out would gradually remove the tax credit and exemption over time. Additional severance tax collected by removing the exemption and the tax credit would be credited to the Just Transition Cash Fund.

6/2/21-The bill passed both chambers.

The fiscal note on the bill shows a small impact on Colorado's revenues based on the phase-out of the quarterly coal exemption and the underground mining tax credit. It is unclear at this time how the bill would impact Tri-State Generation and Transmission and if there would be any rate impact. Any funds raised by the removal of the tax exemption and credit will go to the Just Transition Cash Fund, which could help coal transition communities, many of which are served by cooperatives. 

The bill allows investor-owned electric utilities to submit proposals to the Public
Utilities Commission (PUC) in the Department of Regulatory Agencies for innovative energy technology projects and partnerships in Colorado, including areas of the state that are economically affected by the transition to cleaner energy resources. Projects must not exceed, in the aggregate, a nameplate capacity of three hundred megawatts and must demonstrate the use of innovative energy technologies. Once approved by the PUC through the electric resource planning process, a project or partnership is allowed to earn the
utility’s most recently authorized rate of return, even if the project is determined to be uneconomic. If the project is determined to be economic, the utility is allowed to earn an extra profit, limited to 50 percent of the net economic benefit. The utility is also allowed to earn its full authorized rate of return while the project is in development and construction.

6/8/21-The bill passed both chambers.

The bill will have no direct impact on Colorado's cooperatives. 

The bill would clarify that clean energy resources and energy storage systems' property tax valuation is assessed similarly as renewable energy resources. Clean energy resources are defined as any electricity-generating technology that generates or stores electricity without emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in section 40-2-125.5 (2)(b). The bill also seeks to standardize a solar energy facility's tax valuation that generates 2 megawatts or less using an income-based approach. The bill intends to provide a favorable property tax valuation for storage and other clean energy resources similar to those held by other renewable energy resources. 

2/24/21- Senate Finance Committee: Sen. Hansen stated that the bill stabilizes the tax liability for renewable energy resources and creates tax parity for energy storage systems. Colorado Counties Inc. testified that they are in an amend position because the bill could have a negative impact on local tax revenue. Weld County and the Special District Association are opposed to the bill. NextEra Energy, Colorado Solar and Storage Association, Pivot Energy, Advanced Energy Economy, and several other energy associations testified in favor of the bill. The bill passed unanimously. The bill's next hearing will be on the Senate Floor.

3/1/21-Senate Floor Second Reading: Sen. Lundeen question the sponsors about the clean-up and life cycle cost of the storage equipment and if this should be incorporated in the valuation of the technology.  Sen. Hansen said that there is a robust market for recycling storage technologies once they are obsolete. Sen. Hisey noted that county commissioners could require a bonding requirement when building these facilities. Sen. Rankin asked if this bill would only apply to storage facilities powered by renewables. Sen. Hansen said that in terms of storage systems, the bill is technology natural. 

4/22/21-The bill was signed by Gov. Polis.

Proponents of the bill argue that the proposed changes to property tax valuation will give renewable energy and storage projects a more favorable tax assessment and spur investment. The fiscal note indicates that local government will see a reduction in property tax revenue in the short term but could see an increase in revenues if more development occurs in the future. Colorado's electric cooperatives could benefit from the new tax valuation when undertaking new renewable energy or storage projects. 

The bill will require general fund transfer for wildfire mitigation across 3 grant programs. The bill language can be found here. The proposed expenditures are:

• $6 million for the Forest Restoration and Wildfire Risk Mitigation Grant Program 
• $3 million for the Wildfire Preparedness Fund. The Department of Public Safety will be required to use these funds as state matching funds for federal hazard mitigation assistance and to provide local governments strategic assistance for the wildland fire hazard mitigation. 
• $4 million for the Colorado water conservation board construction fund. The money will be appropriated for watershed restoration programs and to support post-fire recovery and mitigation efforts. 

2/23/21-Senate Appropriations: The bill was passed on a vote of 7-0 and was placed on the consent calendar. 

2/26/21-Senate Chamber: The bill pass third and final reading with a vote of 33-0 with 2 excused. 

3/2/21- House Appropriations: The bill passed on a vote of 11-0, with Colorado Water Congress testifying in favor of the bill. 

3/21/21-The bill was signed by Gov. Polis 

The bill provides a significant increase in funding for vegetation management projects across the state. While Colorado's electric cooperatives are not eligible for these funding sources at this time, the increase in funding statewide helps to address cooperative concerns relating to wildfires. Additionally, cooperatives may be able to partner with local entities that receive grant funding to undertake vegetation management projects. 

The bill would expand the broadband network's definition to require the measurable internet speed from 10 megabits to 25 megabits downstream and from 1 megabit to 3 megabits upstream per second. Additionally, the bill adds a definition for critically underserved communities, which means an area that lacks access to at least one nonsatellite provider of broadband service delivered at a measurable speed of 10 megabits downstream and 1 megabit upstream per second. Additionally, the bill would make the following changes the Broadband Deployment Board:

• Reduce the size from 16 to 9 members
• The board may not consist of more than four members from any major political party. 
• One board member is a non-voting representative from the Office of Information Technology. 
• The board will also have geographic requirements with at least two members from the public representing the eastern plains and the western slope. 

Other requirements include

• Developing a reimbursement program for an income-qualified household would grant up to $600 per year for broadband services.  
• Develop a proposal process that solicits bids for projects that lack access to broadband services with speeds less than 10 megabits downstream or 1 megabit downstream per second. Each year, the board will be required to spend 50% of the high-cost support mechanism on these projects.
• Limit the public comment period for local entities from 60 days to 30 days and removes provisions relating to federal funding requirements.

Lastly, the bill will require the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to adopt rules establishing speed testing protocols that broadband applicants must adhere to in consultation with the Broadband Deployment Board. In 2023, the PUC will be required to reconsider the definitions of broadband network and critically underserved, which were modified in the bill. The PUC will also have the authority to make revisions to the annual household reimbursement for broadband. 

 The bill was amended to include limited funding for a non-profit to implement the income-qualified assistance program. The bill passed second reading in the Senate on 6/3. The bill was amended with a strike below that will create a new program under the broadband deployment board by providing $600 in funding assistance for low-income individuals under the poverty line or receiving free or reduced lunch. The $600 funding assistance will apply to individuals in critically unserved areas. The bill passed third reading and final passage on 6/4 with a vote of 24-11. The bill will be sent to the House for committee hearings and consideration.

6/8/21-The bill passed both chambers.

Similar to HB21-1109, this bill would broaden the definition of critically underserved communities. However, this bill sets aside less grant funding (50% compared to 60% in HB-1109) for critically underserved projects. Additionally, the bill maintains that a broadband company must make a 25% match to receive funding. If the bill was amended to offer a sliding scale for funding opportunities, broadband companies would have more incentive to reach critically underserved communities. At this time, this bill would have limited benefits for cooperatives that operate broadband subsidiaries. 

The bill modifies the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) approval process for transmission facilities to factor in consideration of the possibility of future upgrades to the system to support participation in an organized wholesale market. Furthermore, the bill seeks to incentivize the adoption of an organized wholesale market in Colorado through a PUC investigatory docket. The bill defines an organized wholesale market as a regional transmission or an independent system operator. The bill directs the PUC to investigate what market structure is best suited to benefit Colorado's ratepayers and support in-state economic growth. Additionally, the regional market structure should promote grid reliability, energy affordability, harness competitive forces, and enables future innovation. The bill also creates the Colorado Electric Transmission Authority that has condemnation authority and the ability to issue bonds to foster the development of transmission infrastructure in Colorado. Lastly, the bill includes Tri-State in the easement provisions in SB19-107.

6/3/21-The bill passed both chambers.

CREA's Board has taken a support position on this bill because the adoption of an RTO or an organized will be instrumental in helping cooperatives reach Colorado's emission reduction goals. This will allow cooperatives to avoid rate pancaking while purchasing more renewable energy. Additionally, the creation of the Colorado Energy Transmission Authority (CETA) could help facilitate the development of new transmission infrastructure in Colorado. 

The bill started as a routine sunset bill, the bill was amended to change the name of the Office of Consumer Counsel to the Office of Utility Consumer Advocate and increased the staffing. Additionally, the amendments expanded the purview of the Office to included telecommunication, carbon reduction, and environmental justice. CREA was successful in lobbying against several amendments that would expand the Office’s ability to engage in cooperative rate hearings at the board level. However, the Office will have the authority to subpoena cooperatives books and records, similar to the Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission authority. 

6/7/21- The bill passed both chambers. 

As introduced, the bill will not have an impact on Colorado's electric cooperatives. However, there were proposed amendments that would have greatly expanded the authority of the Office of Consumer Counsel, which has been changed to the office of consumer utility advocate. CREA and other utilities successfully lobbied against these amendments. 

The bill would appropriate $30,800,000 to the Colorado firefighting air corps to purchase a fire hawk helicopter and fund-related expenses to operating the helicopter. The purchase would occur before the 2021 wildfire season. 

2/23/21-Senate Appropriations: The bill passed out of committee as amended with a vote of 7-0. The amendment granted greater authority to the Department to disperse funding for wildfire suppression to local entities.

2/26/21-Senate Chamber: The bill pass third and final reading with a vote of 33-0 with 2 excused. 

3/2/21- House Appropriations: The bill passed on a vote of 11-0, with the Division of Wildfire Prevention and Control testifying in favor of the bill. 

There will be no direct impact on Colorado's electric cooperatives. However, the operation of a fire hawk helicopter in Colorado will increase suppression efforts across the state. CREA has historically taken the position of supporting legislation that bolsters wildfire suppression and vegetation management. 

The bill includes the remaining CFC recommendations to the legislature, including the recommendations on regional mutual aid, creation of mutual aid that creates an 'opt out' system, and cleaned up mutual aid statutes to clarify fire mutual aid liability without impacting law enforcement mutual aid liability language. The large fire funding component that the CFC recommended is no longer in the bill.
Senator Rankin agreed with the Commission's recommendation for large fire funding, so he included it into the bill to create conversation within the Capitol. On the day the bill was introduced, several people and organizations came to testify against that aspect of the bill, which led to removing that portion. That recommendation is now part of SB21-227.

6/1/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

CREA is supportive of the Colorado Fire Commission recommendations because of their lasting impact and funding for wildfire prevention and mitigation. While cooperatives will not receive any funding from this bill, the projects listed in the bill will largely conduct in cooperative service territory thus providing an indirect benefit. 

This bill requires electric cooperatives to submit comprehensive vegetation management plans to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.  The vegetation management plans include provisions relating to procedures and standards for inspecting, operating, and performing vegetation management, modifications and upgrades to procedures for de-energizing powerlines to mitigate a wildland fire, and potential system upgrades to reduce the risk of wildfires. The bill requires the cooperatives to conduct community outreach and coordination with other wildland fire protection plans. The bill also grants authority for cooperatives to remove hazardous vegetation outside of the right-of-way if the hazardous vegetation presents an imminent threat to critical infrastructure. The bill provides protections for landowners through a notification process as well as compensation for the cost of vegetation removal, in certain circumstances. The bill offers limited liability protection for cooperatives in compliance with vegetation management plans.

The bill was postponed indefinitely. 

Colorado has seen an increasing risk of wildland fires oftentimes in rural areas or the wildland-urban interface primarily served by electric cooperatives. Colorado’s electric cooperatives should prioritize vegetation management and wildfire risk mitigation as a core function of their maintenance operations. The standardization of wildfire best practices through the submission of a vegetation management plan to the PUC would help to clarify if and when a utility is acting negligent when a wildfire occurs.

• SB21-170 will provide increased vegetation management in areas most prone to wildfires, in turn reducing the risk of a wildland fire starting.
• The standardization of wildfire best practices, through submitting a plan to the PUC, would help to clarify if and when a utility has acted appropriately to reduce risk if a wildfire occurs.
• The cost of mitigation is SMALL when compared to costs related to fighting wildfires or the cost of rebuilding communities after a fire occurs.

The bill expands a number of provisions in Colorado's anti-discrimination law focusing on discriminatory and unfair practices. 

• Expands the anti-discrimination law to independent contractors and broadens the definition of employment types.
• Adds “Caregiver” and “Marital Status” to protected classes.
• Expands the time frame to file a complaint to Colorado Civil Rights Commission from 6 months to 300 days.
• Extends unfair unemployment practices to failing to conduct a reasonable investigation or failing to take remedial action in response to a complaint.
• Broadens the definition of hostile work environment to include any action that “undermines a person’s sense of well-being.”

The bill was postponed indefinitely. 

The bill will not have any impact on Colorado's cooperatives since the bill was postponed indefinitely. 

The bill directs the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) to adopt rules and regulations that will accelerate Colorado’s efforts to achieve the carbon reduction goals set in HB20-1261, while taking into account feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and equity. The bill calls for environmental justice to be included in policy analysis by creating an environmental ombudsperson in the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and an Environmental Justice Advisory Board. Additionally, there are a number of key components of the bill that will impact Colorado’s Cooperatives:

• The bill directs the AQCC to consider the social cost of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and requires the AQCC to adopt regulations to speed up GHG emissions reductions.
• The bill requires the AQCC to set a per ton fee for GHG emissions in the state. Some estimates suggest that this fee could raise $15 million. The fee would be used for outreach and engagement of disadvantaged communities.
• Requires Tri-State to file a responsible energy plan with the PUC to achieve at least an 80% reduction in GHG by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. If Tri-State does not file a plan, it will be required to reduce GHG emissions by 90% by 2030.
• Directs utilities, including cooperatives, to reduce GHG emissions by 95% between 2035-2040 and by 100% by 2040. 
• Establishes restrictions on the use of Renewable Energy Credits (REC) for compliance with GHG reduction requirements.

The bill was postponed indefinitely. However, a large portion of the bill was amended into HB21-1266. Please see the summary of HB21-1266.

SB21-200 includes a number of provisions in that will have a direct impact on Colorado’s electric cooperatives. As the General Assembly continues to prioritize GHG emission reductions across all sectors, utilities continue to see an increase in load, but have an increased responsibility to reduce GHG emissions. The bill seeks to accelerate the reduction of GHG emissions in Colorado predominantly through the energy sector without safeguards to ensure reliability of service. Furthermore, distribution cooperatives are unlikely to reach the GHG reductions goals set in the bill unless their wholesale power providers, whether it is Xcel Energy or Tri-State, are able to meet the reductions required in the bill. The newly imposed fees associated with GHG emitters, and the application of the social cost of carbon. CREA staff will discuss the bill with the legislative committee for a recommendation to the full board with respect to our position on the bill.  

The bill makes an appropriation of $5.0 million to the rural economic development initiative grant program in the Department of Local Affairs. The program was created in 2020 to provide grants to new employers or existing employers who are expanding operations in rural areas. Grants can also be administered to rural communities that need assistance if they are impacted by a significant economic event.

6/2/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

CREA believes that the bill benefits rural communities that Colorado cooperatives serve. A more thorough analysis will be conducted shortly. 

The bill creates the rural jump-start grant program and the Colorado Economic Development Fund. The grants are subject to available appropriations from the general fund. You can read the bill here. The grants program will fund the following activities:

• Up to $20,000 to new businesses to establish operations
• Up to $40,000 to a new business to establish an operation in a tier-one transition community
  • Tier-one transition community is defined as communities that are transition from coal and include communities in Montrose, Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt, Morgan, and Pueblo counties. 
• Up to $2,500 to a new business for each new employee
• Up to $5,000 to a new business for each new employee in a tier-one transition community. 

6/2/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

CREA believes that the bill benefits rural communities that Colorado cooperatives serve. A more thorough analysis will be conducted shortly. 

The bill initiates a General Fund transfer of $40 million to the Colorado Energy Office for the purpose of making grants and loans to incentives clean energy projects. The bill will fund the following activities:

• Up to $30 million for the Colorado Clean Energy Fund, a nonprofit organization
• Up to $3 million for the Colorado New Energy Improvement District 
• Up to $2 million to increase residential energy upgrade loan program administered by the CEO and Colorado Clean Energy Fund
• Up to $5 million for Colorado's Charge Ahead program, to incentivize the deployment of EVs. 

6/2/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

CREA Board has taken an amend position due to a lack of oversight requirements for the Colorado Clean Energy Fund. 

The bill initiates a General Fund transfer of $3 million to the Colorado Energy Office for the purpose of making grants for Colorado's weatherization assistance program. 

6/2/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

CREA believes that the bill benefits for communities that Colorado cooperatives serve. A more thorough analysis will be conducted shortly. 

The bill requires the PUC to establish energy savings targets and approve plans submitted by IOUs for beneficial electrification (BE) programs modeled after the existing DSM programs. The bill requires IOUs to submit a BE program to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) every three years starting on April 1, 2022. The program must include a carve-out for low-income and disproportionately impacted communities. The bill changes the existing definition for beneficial electrification from changing a consumers energy source from nonelectric to electric if the changes reduce the system cost for consumers and reduces greenhouse gas emissions or provide more efficient utilization of grid resources to a metric including the social cost of carbon and life cycle reductions in GHG emissions. Additionally, the bill establishes labor standards for the construction, plumbing, and electrical work to be performed for the consumer to receive a rebate. CREA worked with the sponsors to ensure that cooperatives were not required to submit plans to the PUC; however, the bill encourages cooperatives to develop and submit BE plans. 

6/8/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

As drafted, the bill will not have an impact on Colorado's electric cooperatives. CREA is taking a monitor position at this time to ensure cooperatives continue to be exempt from the bill.

The bill applies only to investor-owned utilities and eliminates the 120% of historical usage cap for net metered systems. It also eliminates some of the restrictions for DG to be located on the property served by the net metering facility. The bill adds storage facilities for the purpose of net metering.  It allows master meter operators an exemption from utility regulation and the ability to sell electricity to consumers on the master meter.  This bill requires IOUs to allow aggregation of meters for net metering regardless of the ownership of the individual account. There are concerns that the bill will create a new precedent that will later be applied to cooperatives. CREA was able to work with the sponsor before the bill was introduced to make sure that the master meter aggregation did not apply to cooperatives.

6/8/21-The bill passed both chambers. 

As drafted, the bill will not have an impact on Colorado's electric cooperatives. CREA is taking a monitor position at this time to ensure cooperatives continue to be exempt from the bill. However, there are underlying concerns about the precedent that the bill creates. 

This bill authorizes the PUC to expend up to $250,000 a year for outside consultants. The bill requires the disclosure of financial relationships between intervenors in a commission matter; requires additional rulemaking for the retirement of renewable energy credits, for net metering credits for net metered solar gardens, and makes modifications for net present value calculations in resource planning. CREA was able to work with Tri-State to secure an amendment that removed provisions that would require utilities to pay for licensing software for the PUC.

 6/10/21-The bill was signed by Gov. Polis. 

The expansion of PUC authority might have an impact on cooperatives as rulemaking proceedings move forward.