Southwest Energy Efficiency Project

2006 Colorado Legislative Activities
Updated: February 07, 2008

The 2006 session of the Colorado General Assembly ended on May 8. SWEEP worked to see passage of the following bills in the 2006 session:

HOUSE BILL 1147
Concerning Measures to Promote Energy Efficiency
Sponsored by Rep. Tom Plant (D-Nederland) and Sen. Steve Johnson (R-Fort Collins).

01/16/2006: Introduced in the House of Representatives and assigned to the House Transportation and Energy Committee.
02/01/2006: Scheduled for hearing in front of the House Transportation and Energy Committee.
02/02/2006: Passed by the House Transportation and Energy Committee on a 6-5-0 vote; referred to House Appropriations Committee.
02/17/2006: Passed by the House Appropriations Committee on a 8-5-0 vote; referred to the House Committee of the Whole.
02/22/2006: Passed by the House Committee of the Whole on Second Reading.
02/23/2006: Passed by the House Committee of the Whole on Third Reading on a 37-26 vote.
02/27/2006: Introduced in the State Senate and assigned to the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee.
03/15/2006: Heard by the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee; laid over for further analysis.
03/23/2006: Passed in unamended form by the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee, on a 3-1-3 vote (3 absent); referred to Senate Appropriations Committee.
04/21/2006: Passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 8-5-0 vote; referred to the Senate Committee of the Whole.
04/27/2006: Passed by the Senate Committee of the Whole on Second Reading.
04/28/2006: Passed by the Senate Committee of the Whole on Third Reading on a 28-6-1 vote (1 absent).
05/02/2006: Repassed by the House Committee of the Whole, in concurrence with the State Senate.
05/23/2006: Transmitted to Governor Owens for consideration.
06/02/2006: Vetoed by Governor Owens.

On June 2, Colorado Governor Bill Owens vetoed House Bill 1147, killing a bill that would have stimulated energy conservation programs by Colorado’s natural gas utilities. HB 1147 had been approved by healthy margins in both the House of Representatives and the State Senate.

House Bill 1147 would have facilitated and expanded energy efficiency programs offered by natural gas utilities in Colorado, thereby reducing natural gas use and helping consumers and businesses lower their utility bills. The bill directed Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to establish a cost recovery mechanism so that natural gas utilities can recover expenditures on energy efficiency programs, and provide gas utilities with positive financial incentives for implementing cost-effective efficiency programs for their customers. Once this work was completed, the bill directed gas distribution utilities to implement cost-effective energy efficiency programs for their full service residential and commercial customers.

SWEEP estimated that HB 1147 would have resulted in natural gas savings of 3.7 billion cubic feet per year by 2010, and 16.7 billion cubic feet per year by 2020. The 2020 savings are equal to 9% of natural gas use by all residences and commercial buildings in the state. Estimated net economic benefits for households and businesses in Colorado over the lifetime of the energy efficiency measures installed during 2007-2020 was $560 million. Lowering natural gas use would have also put downward pressure on gas prices and reduced U.S. dependence on imported natural gas.

For additional information on House Bill 1147, visit http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics2006A/csl.nsf/BillFoldersHouse?openFrameset.

HOUSE BILL 1200
Concerning Energy-Related Assistance to Low-Income Households
Sponsored by Rep. Bernie Buescher (D-Grand Junction) and Sen. Ken Kester (R-Las Animas).

01/26/2006: Introduced in the House of Representatives and assigned to the House Finance and Appropriations Committees.
01/27/2006: Passed by the House Finance Committee on a 12-0-1 vote; referred to House Appropriations Committee.
01/30/2006: Passed by the House Appropriations Committee on a 12-1-0 vote; referred to House Committee of the Whole.
01/31/2006: Passed by the House Committee of the Whole on Third Reading on a 58-7-0 vote, and transmitted to the State Senate.
01/31/2006: Introduced in the State Senate and assigned to the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs and Appropriations Committees.
02/01/2006: Passed by the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee, on a 5-1-1 vote; referred to Senate Appropriations Committee.
02/02/2006: Passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee; referred to Senate Committee of the Whole.
02/03/2006: Passed by the Senate Committee of the Whole on Third Reading.
02/03/2006: Signed into law by Governor Bill Owens.

House Bill 1200 moved very quickly through the legislative process, in order to provide energy bill assistance relief to low-income households during the current heating season. Colorado Governor Bill Owens signed the bill into law on February 3, 2006, making HB 1200 the first bill from the 2006 legislative session to become law.

House Bill 1200 takes monies collected by the state’s severance tax on oil and gas production and directs it to the state’s Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP), for energy bill payment assistance, and also to the Governor’s Office of Energy Management and Conservation (the state energy office), to pay for home energy efficiency improvements for low-income households. If adopted, HB 1200 will appropriate monies over the next four years according to the following table:

House Bill 1200 Appropriations ($ millions)

Year	Bill Assistance	Energy Efficiency Improvements	Total
FY 05-06	$20.0	$4.0	$24.0
FY 06-07	$7.0	$4.0	$11.0
FY 07-08	$7.0	$5.0	$12.0
FY 08-09	$7.0	$6.0	$13.0
Total	$41.0	$19.0	$60.0

SWEEP expects that the monies dedicated to energy efficiency improvements will be used to develop a direct install, neighborhood sweep-like program, with the stated goal of making energy efficiency improvements in as many low-income homes as possible. To learn more about these programs, read SWEEP’s primer at http://www.swenergy.org/pubs/Direct_Installation_Programs.pdf.

SWEEP played an instrumental role in seeing that energy efficiency improvements were included in what was originally legislation focused strictly on bill assistance. “Increasing energy efficiency is a long-term solution to the high energy cost burden confronting low-income households in Colorado,” said SWEEP’s Executive Director Howard Geller.

For additional information on House Bill 1200, visit http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics2006A/csl.nsf/BillFoldersHouse?openFrameset.

HOUSE BILL 1322
Clean Energy Development Fund Seed Capital
Sponsored by Rep. Bernie Buescher (D-Grand Junction) and Sen. Abel Tapia (D-Pueblo).

02/08/2006: Introduced in the House of Representatives and assigned to the House Finance and Appropriations Committees.
02/22/2006: Passed by the House Finance Committee on a 12-0-1 vote; referred to House Appropriations Committee.
03/17/2006: Passed by the House Appropriations Committee in amended form on a 7-4-2 vote (2 absent); referred to House Committee of the Whole.
04/12/2006: Laid over on Second Reading by the House Committee of the Whole.
04/21/2006: Passed by the House Committee of the Whole on Third Reading on a 51-10-4 vote (4 absent), and transmitted to the State Senate.
04/25/2006: Introduced in the State Senate, and assigned to the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee.
05/01/2006: Passed in amended form by the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee; referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
05/04/2006: Passed in amended form by the Senate Appropriations Committee; referred to Senate Committee of the Whole.
05/04/2006: Passed by the Senate Committee of the Whole on Second Reading.
05/05/2006: Passed by the Senate Committee of the Whole on Third Reading on a 31-4.
05/08/2006: Repassed by the House Committee of the Whole, in concurrence with the State Senate.
05/24/2006: Transmitted to Governor Bill Owens for consideration.
06/06/2006: Signed into law by Governor Owens.

On June 6 Governor Bill signed House Bill 1322 into law.

House Bill 1322 changed dramatically over the course of the legislative session. The bill began life aimed at supporting the development of an integrated gasification combined-cycle electricity power plant in Colorado; supporting the development of new clean energy technologies for electricity generation and transportation fuel; and implementing energy efficiency measures in public schools and other state facilities.

As signed into law, the bill provides $2 million dollars per year for three years to establish the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, which will be a joint effort between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, and the University of Colorado. The monies will be used as matching funds to enable the Collaboratory to qualify for federal and private research projects. NREL and the universities will pay for all overhead costs of the Collaboratory from their existing budgets.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is the Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy research and development. The Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, and the University of Colorado all have strong research programs in renewable energy and energy efficiency. By working in collaboration, these four Colorado institutions will enhance the state’s reputation as a renewable energy and energy efficiency leader.

The Collaboratory will emphasize the development of new technologies and the advancement of existing technologies for rapid transfer to private industry for commercial development. This research and technology transfer program will attract new renewable energy enterprises to Colorado, adding to the state’s economic vitality.

In addition, the bill provides $500,000 per year for three years to the state department of agriculture for the promotion of agriculture energy-related projects and research, and provides $135,000 to the above-mentioned universities for the Climate Change Markets Grants Program, which will study greenhouse gas sequestration technologies and the emerging markets for emissions credits.

For additional information on House Bill 1322, visit http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics2006A/csl.nsf/BillFoldersHouse?openFrameset.

House Bill 1322, as signed into law

© 2002-2008 Southwest Energy Efficiency Project
2260 Baseline Rd. Suite 212, Boulder, CO 80302
(303) 447-0078 fax: (303) 786-8054 info@swenergy.org

Last Updated: 02/07/2008

2006 Colorado Legislative Activities Updated: February 07, 2008

2006 Colorado Legislative Activities
Updated: February 07, 2008