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<br />2-07 House Committee Lay Over Unamended <br /> <br />Page 5 of 49 <br /> <br />Madam Chair: <br /> <br />Finally, this bill is not an effort on the state's part to take control of <br />water decisions. Rather it's an effort to create a new, more <br />inclusive, more representative, more locally driven venue for local <br />water stakeholders to come together and work toward common <br />purposes on a statewide bill. <br /> <br />Under this bill the state is meant to be the nurturer of the dialogue <br />in negotiations between basins; not the micro-manager of those <br />deliberations. <br /> <br />So, that's the end of my prepared comments that I wanted to share <br />with you. A final thought that I'll leave with you and I've <br />expressed this to many of you is that this legislation <br />understandably is a work in progress. Any time you signal a sea <br />change or a brand new approach, especially in this particular <br />policy area, it's going to take some evolution and some <br />amendment and some modification going forward I know. I think <br />I speak for the Governor's office and speak for myself as a sponsor <br />of this bill that we're willing to work with people to try and refine <br />these concepts in a way that make sense and in a way that they can <br />support it. <br /> <br />But the exciting thing is there is, I think, a buzz of expectation and <br />excitement that this might, in fact, be a way to break the stalemate <br />that has come to define the water debate in Colorado. Thank you, <br />Madam Chair. <br /> <br />Thank you, Representative Penry. Before we start hearing from <br />other folks, I have a couple of questions and things for the <br />committee to keep in mind. <br /> <br />I think it's this Wednesday morning at 7:30 we will hear a <br />presentation from the statewide water supply investigation folks. <br />Now this committee has not heard that presentation yet, nor have <br />we taken up the constmction projects bill, but in that bill and I <br />know this is on the side, but that bill has language to continue the <br />statewide water supply investigation work. <br /> <br />I remain concerned that there's some overlap there if any of the <br />folks from the committee have read the recommendations from the <br />SWSI, the first phase of SWSI, one of the things that's <br />recommended and as identified in the project still for $500,000 is <br />to look at an inter-basin - how to facilitate inter-basin discussions. <br />So I hope in the testimony, or maybe now we can help this <br />committee wrestle with the fact that they're going to be faced with <br /> <br />www.escriptionist.com <br /> <br />Page 5 of 49 <br />