2-28 House Committee amended to appropriations

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2-28 House Committee amended to appropriations Page 21 of 22 Madame Chair: Maria McKinsey: did not want to go to the Interim Study Committee. We've got years of work ahead of us once this bill becomes law and the more we put this off, the more we study, the more delay, the more we actually delay actually reaching an endgame that addresses our water supply challenges. And so, I appreciate the sentiment, but I think it's - we've talked enough and we've studied enough, it's time to, it's time to get to work. Okay. All right, I must say Representative Penry, that that language is hard for me to swallow too, when I read over how we, all areas of the state must cooperate to ensure an adequate water supply. I know that, in fact, that's probably reality but when you come from the basin that supposedly has unallocated water it causes a problem for a lot of the folks that live over there to read something like that and then to say we should negotiate agreements. And maybe there's a way to soften that. I understand completely, this is a legislative declaration, but I agree with Representative McKinley's concerns. Ifwe can then, because the bill does look a little different now, I would like to allow folks to comment. I know we had testimony before, but I do want to get all of the information we can because this is a big step for the State of Colorado. And if there are folks out there either signed up or that would like to comment briefly on the amended version, we can do that. I only see one person signed up, Marie McKinsey, from the Colorado Water Partnership. Maria, please feel free to join us here and state your name and who you represent for the record. My name is Maria McKinsey and I'm Chair of the Colorado Water Partnership. The Partnership is a consortium of local elected officials, water suppliers, water engineers and other interested parties in the south metropolitan area. Our Board has examined House Bill 1777 but has not taken a position pending a resolution of a number of questions. We had hoped to meet with Representative Penry last Friday but scheduling conflicts prevented that meeting. We have a number of questions and concerns from which we would request that the speaker could respond to. Our primary and continuing concern relates to the effective date for any such legislation. We believe that House Bill 1777 should be amended to clarify that its provisions only apply to water projects involving water court adjudications commencing after the effective date of the bill and the appointment of the Director of www.escriptionist.com Page 21 of 22