The Colorado Legislature has two and a half weeks left this session to complete our work. If we finish early, as we did the last three years, we could end on May 2 instead of the required adjournment of May 7. I still have several bills moving through the process and will keep pushing to have them done by the earlier date. This week I’m going to write about some of the bills I’m still working on.

First up this week on Senate Second reading will be HB08-1103. This is a bill that was proposed by the State Audit Committee that I serve on. It was one of four Audit Committee bills that I agreed to sponsor. A recent audit that was performed on the Division of Oil and Public Safety within the Department of Labor and Employment revealed deficiencies in their oversight responsibilities concerning public schools, amusement parks, explosives and boilers. We drafted bills concerning each area and I agreed to carry the one on regulation of amusement rides.

The audit revealed that the division’s role relating to oversight and enforcement was unclear in the statutes and therefore the division had not developed a comprehensive program for monitoring and enforcement of regulations of carnivals and amusement parks. The general public assumes that when you take your family to an amusement park that there are some sort of regulations to protect the public. They expect the rides to be safe and assume that periodic inspections take place. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. And while most of the large amusement parks in the state, as well as the state fair, do have inspections and have good safety records, we don’t have a process to assure the public that all operators are complying with safety standards. This bill will require the Division to promulgate rules concerning regulation, inspection, reporting and enforcement.

Last Wednesday I presented House Bill 1114 in Senate Health and Human Services Committee. For the past two years I have been involved in a process to change the way the state reimburses nursing homes for services provided to Medicaid recipients. The state has been using a cost-based reimbursement system that over time has produced great funding inequities. Many of the nursing homes on the bottom end of the reimbursement were small rural homes that have large percentages of Medicaid recipients. If these homes go out of business, and some have, the patients often end up in a facility that receives higher state reimbursement but is located hundreds of miles from family or friends. This is unfortunate for the resident and costs the state more money. The new funding methodology will provide much needed equity and result in better care for our seniors.

Last Thursday was a big day for the Senate Agriculture Committee. We held confirmation hearings for the Colorado Tourism Office Board (CTO), the Colorado Agriculture Commission and heard four important bills. The CTO Board members were confirmed in the Agriculture Committee because Senator Jack Taylor (Steamboat Springs) and I both serve on the Board. I was the sponsor of three of the bills that were heard.

House Bill 1346 is the annual Water Projects Funding Bill proposed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board. One of the projects being funded this year is the Dry Gulch Reservoir project land purchase. This loan, of over eleven million dollars, is being made to the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District water activity enterprise.  

Also up in Senate Ag was House Bill 1379, which allows the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission additional time to promulgate rules concerning the consultation process with other state agencies which were required in legislation passed in the 2007 legislative session. The extension is until July 16 of 2008.

The third bill is Senate Bill 226 concerning the prohibition of aquatic nuisance species in Colorado. You may recall a few weeks ago some press about the Zebra Mussel being found in Colorado. I mentioned it in one of my columns. This is the legislation that we are bringing forward in an attempt to stop the spread of this species and its potentially devastating economic, environmental and social impacts. We drafted and re-drafted all week and by the time the committee met I think we had a pretty good bill. It will be a comprehensive approach using education, inspection and enforcement.