American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2016 - 29
State Legislative Reports
Colorado Legislators Do No Damage
DENVER-Colorado legislators adjourned their 2016 regular session with
little movement on political priority issues,
and no legislation passed that is likely to
damage the state's oil and natural gas industry, according to the Colorado Oil &
Gas Association.
President Dan Haley says COGA followed three bills of concern through the
session, none of which passed. A fourth
bill set aside money for refunds to operators of severance tax overpayments as
the result of a court ruling, and was
passed at the end of the session.
Most noteworthy this session was that
the split legislature meant few bills of
significance to the state's various interest
groups were passed, Haley indicates.
"The lack of success by either side to
pass favored bills is what you expect
from a split legislature," he remarks.
Democrats held a three-seat majority
in the House of Representatives for this
year's session, and Republicans held a
one-seat edge in the Senate.
Among key legislation that was introduced and failed this year, Haley mentions,
were attempts by both parties to find
funding for the state's highways. Republicans were unable to pass a bill to place
an initiative on the ballot asking voters
to approve a $3.5 billion highway bond
issue. Democrats, meanwhile, pushed a
plan to move $700 million in hospital
provider fees into a fund exempt from
Colorado's 1992 Taxpayer Bill of Rights,
where it would be used for highways,
education, and other needs.
Haley notes this year was the second
attempt by the parties to find funding for
highways, which according to the transportation department, fall $1 billion short
of construction and maintenance funds
every year.
Within days of the end of the session,
however, published reports say business
leaders were calling for, and Governor
John Hickenlooper was said to be considering, convening a special session to
again consider highway funding and to
reform a law covering multifamily housing
construction defects. Both issues were
considered top legislative priorities at the
start of the session in January.
From COGA's perspective, Policy and
External Affairs Director Doug Flanders
says the 2016 session will go down as
one in which the association realized its
goals: avoid passage of legislation harmful
to the industry while providing support
as requested by allied business coalitions.
"We aimed to come out of this session
without bills that would hurt the industry,
and we hit that target," Flanders says.
"Going in, we knew anything could
happen in this crazy election year. We
also were well aware of the continued
negative messaging aimed at the oil and
gas industry."
Adds Haley, "When the session started,
rule making on the Governor's Task Force
was not yet finalized, but we were seeing
a push already for more restrictions on
industry. We said that Colorado had some
of the toughest laws in the country; let
them work."
In January, the Colorado Oil & Gas
Conservation Commission finalized new
rules intended to provide local governments a greater role in determining locations for new multiwell sites (AOGR,
March 2016, pg. 105).
Opposed By COGA
At the top of the list of bills about
which COGA was most concerned, Haley
says, was HB 1355. It would have provided
local governments authority to apply zoning rules to siting oil and gas facilities. It
passed out of the House State, Veterans
and Military Affairs Committee on a party-line vote March 22.
When legislators saw the bill likely
would not pass the full House, Haley
says, it was amended to simply reaffirm
local governments' authority to regulate
noise, traffic and visibility. However, legislation reaffirming existing zoning authority was seen as unnecessary and was
called a "message bill" by one legislator.
It was rejected in a House vote that saw
two Democrats join Republicans voting
against the bill.
Haley says the vote against HB 1355
was seen as a rare victory for the governor
in his disagreements with his own party
regarding oil and gas issues. Before the
final vote, Governor John Hickenlooper
Five Ballot Initiatives Advance In Colorado
DENVER-Among 39 initiatives proposed for Colorado's November general
election ballot, five were of direct interest
to the oil and natural gas industry. Of
those, four were seen as opposing oil
and gas development.
Some or all the proposed initiatives
may make it to the ballot. Language in
the proposals has been cleared by the
state review process, but proponents are
required to gather at least 98,000 valid
signatures by Aug. 1 to qualify for the
November ballot. All would amend the
Colorado Constitution. According to information posted on the Colorado secretary of state's website:
* Initiative 40 allows local governments to enact laws regulating any busi-
ness, and such laws cannot be preempted by state law.
* Initiative 63 authorizes local government to enact laws protective of a
healthy environment that cannot be preempted.
* Initiative 75 provides local government with authority to pre-empt state
law when regulating oil and gas development.
* Initiative 78 extends setbacks from
well site facilities to an occupied structure
or an area of special concern to 2,500
feet.
* Initiative 138 prohibits local governments from enacting laws regulating
oil and gas that are more restrictive than
state law.
According to the secretary of state's
office in early May, the oil and gas industry had raised more than $6 million
to rally opposition to the four anti-oiland-gas initiatives. Much of the money
will go to a campaign known as Protect
Colorado, the report indicates. Published
reports say more than three-quarters of
the money has come from the state's
two largest producers, Anadarko Petroleum and Noble Energy.
Through mid-May, money raised in
support on the anti-oil initiatives was
reported at $56,400. The money will go
to Yes for Health and Safety over Fracking, an election campaign organized by
Coloradans Resisting Extreme Energy
Development, according to reports. ❒
JUNE 2016 29
American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2016
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