BOARD02376

• Board Meeting Date: 5/11/1998
• Description: 1998 Legislative Issues - HB 98-1189 - 1998 Construction Fund and Severance Tax Bill - Status Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Fish and Wildlife Service and the US Forest Service, and $300,000 in the Mitigation Fund for
additional species work in the future. Additional Construction Fund dollars are added each year
from the Severance Tax and Federal Mineral Lease dollars.

Process. Senator Wham has raised a concern that a deal was cut by the governors of the states
without involving the Legislature. In fact, Jim Lochhead, Executive Director of the Colorado
Department of Natural Resources, briefed the Joint House and Senate Agriculture Committee
and the Joint Budget Committee during the negotiations, which spanned over a year prior to the
final agreement. For that reason, you and Senator Arnent decided that HB I 006 would be an
Interim Committee Bill representing a united state position on this issue.

TRUST FUND ALLOCATION PROCESS

In addition, it is important to remind the Committee that this trust fund will be managed like the
Water Conservation Board Construction Fund. Essentially, a list of projects will be developed
each year based on negotiations with the Federal government and the other states, and affected
private entities. Those projects will be forwarded to the General Assembly for approval by
resolution.

This is unlike the Capitol Development Committee process where there would be competition e
for funds for a variety of purposes. The projects would be identified in order to advance
recovery efforts while allowing use pennits to continue to be issued.

The total anticipated cost for all land and water species is $24.5 million over the 15+year life of
the agreement. Therefore, we will continue in successive legislatures to add more dollars to the
fund from a variety of sources - not just water funds - such as the construction industry, mining
industry, wildlife cash and Great Outdoors Colorado.

CAPITOL PROJECTS

The capitol projects listed below would be undertaken in the next three-years in accordance with
agreements that have been negotiated by the State of Colorado to provide regulatory certainty
under the Endangered Species Act to Colorado residents and businesses.
. $1.2 million to install wells in the lower south Platte River associated with the Tamarack
Managed Groundwater Recharge Project.
. $2.5 million to acquire land in Nebraska on a willing seller basis.
. $5.4 million to cover the state's share of those capital projects for the Upper Colorado River
and San Juan Programs listed below.
· $1.5 million to acquire property from willing sellers worth $1.5 million in connection with
the Preble's meadow jumping mouse habitat conservation plan. This plan is currently being
negotiated, but is expected to be completed by December 1998. _
Total: $10.6 million over 3 years .