| Bill # | Short Title | Bill Summary |
| HB24-1006 | Assist Rural Community Wildfire-Related Grant Application | The bill directs the rural opportunity office in the Colorado office of economic development to assist rural communities with identifying and applying for state or federal grants for wildfire mitigation, prevention, response, or risk management efforts. |
| HB24-1024 | Extend Outreach Campaigns Wildfire Risk Mitigation | The bill requires the Colorado state forest service to conduct enhanced wildfire awareness month outreach campaigns through 2027 and other outreach efforts through the 2026-27 state fiscal year that are expected to increase awareness of wildfire risk mitigation by residents in the wildland-urban interface. |
| HB24-1032 | Extend Wild Horse Population Management Timeline | The bill extends to December 31, 2025, the time in which the department of agriculture may implement wild horse population management pursuant to Senate Bill 23-275. |
| HB24-1117 | Invertebrates & Rare Plants Parks & Wildlife Commission | The bill adds rare plants and invertebrates to the species that may be studied and conserved under the current “Nongame, Endangered, or Threatened Species Conservation Act,” which is renamed the “Nongame, Endangered, or Threatened Wildlife and Rare Plant Conservation Act.” |
| HB24-1173 | Electric Vehicle Charging System Permits | The bill establishes an expedited permitting process for the approval of electric motor vehicle charging systems for counties and municipalities. |
| HB24-1257 | Sunset Natural Areas Council | The bill implements the recommendation of the department of regulatory agencies, as specified in the department’s sunset review of the regulation of the Colorado natural areas council, an advisory council to the parks and wildlife commission. The council is scheduled to repeal on September 1, 2024, but The bill continues the council indefinitely for ten years until September 1, 2034. |
| HB24-1309 | Use of Aircraft in Search and Rescue Operations | The bill extends immunity from civil liability for damage or injury, other than that which arises from gross negligence or willful misconduct, to an individual, nonprofit organization, for-profit corporation, private organization, or other person that voluntarily operates or arranges for the use of a helicopter during backcountry search and rescue operations, if the person: Arranges or operates the helicopter on behalf of the governmental entity that is leading the search and rescue operation; Has an agreement with the governmental entity; Is, employs, or otherwise contracts with a pilot that is properly licensed to operate the helicopter; and Meets certain safety and training certifications and requirements. |
| HB24-1330 | Air Quality Permitting | Section 1 of the bill clarifies that a request for general permit registration does not constitute having a valid construction permit. Section 2 requires that the division or the commission only grant permits for certain proposed sources in a nonattainment area if: The division or commission determines that the proposed source will not contribute to an exceedance of any applicable national ambient air quality standard; The owner or operator of the proposed source achieves emissions reductions of each air pollutant for which the nonattainment area is in nonattainment that are equal to or greater than the anticipated emissions of the proposed source; and The proposed source is not in a disproportionately impacted community. Section 3 requires the energy and carbon management commission to require that an oil and gas operator obtain a permit from the division or the commission before making a final determination on an oil and gas permit application. |
| HB24-1338 | Cumulative Impacts & Environmental Justice | Section 2 of the bill creates the office of environmental justice in the department of public health and environment and section 1 requires the office to oversee a process to develop at least 2 EECIAs for specific geographic locations in the state. Once an EECIA is developed, various state agencies will be able to rely on the EECIA in conducting cumulative impact analyses regarding potentially polluting activities. |
| HB24-1339 | Disproportionately Impact Community Air Pollution | Under current law, the air quality control commission consists of 9 members. As of October 1, 2024, section 2 of the bill increases the membership of the commission to 11 members to include: one member who represents a disproportionately impacted community and the interests of communities of color and who does not derive income from an entity that the commission regulates; and one climate scientist employed by an organization that does not derive income from an entity that the commission regulates. Section 3 requires the commission to adopt rules, to be implemented by January 1, 2025, that: Prohibit GHG emissions from the sector from increasing in the near term and require sector-wide emissions not to exceed 97 million metric tons of total carbon dioxide equivalent cumulatively between 2025 and 2030; Prohibit a sector source from complying with GHG emissions compliance obligations by making a payment unless the payment is made in exchange for GHG credit that is surrendered as part of a GHG credit trading program; and Establish source-specific GHG emission reduction requirements that must be met through direct reductions of GHG emissions for a sector source that adversely affects a disproportionately impacted community. |
| HB24-1346 | Energy & Carbon Management Regulation | The bill expands the authority of the energy and carbon management commission to include the regulation of: Facilities that use equipment to capture a significant quantity of carbon dioxide directly from the ambient air ; and activities performed for the purpose of engaging in the injection and underground sequestration of carbon dioxide in pore space. |
| HB24-1352 | Appliance Requirements & Incentives | Section 1 of the bill, on and after January 1, 2027, prohibits the sale and distribution of certain air conditioners that are manufactured on or after January 1, 2027, unless the covered HVAC complies with certain technical standards. |
| HB24-1357 | Pipeline Safety | Current law requires the pipeline safety rules of the public utilities commission to address the mapping of all pipelines within the commission’s jurisdiction. The bill clarifies current law by requiring the commission’s mapping requirements for all pipelines within its jurisdiction to be available at a scale of 1 to 6,000 or greater. |
| HB24-1359 | Public Notification of Hazardous Chemical Releases | Current rules of the energy and carbon management commission require oil and gas operators to submit certain reports to the commission in the event of a spill or release of a hazardous chemical. The bill enacts the “Community Right to Know Act” to create additional notification requirements in the event of an incident. |
| HB24-1370 | Reduce Cost of Use of Natural Gas | The bill requires the Colorado energy office to issue a request for information by December 1, 2024, to solicit interest from local governments that are served by a dual-fuel utility in becoming a gas planning priority community. |
| HB24-1375 | Wild Carnivores & Livestock Nonlethal Coexistence | Current law authorizes a livestock owner to be compensated when a game animal or a gray wolf kills livestock, a livestock guard, or a herding animal. To receive compensation for native carnivore depredation under current law, the bill requires the owner to: employ nonlethal coexistence strategies; and appropriately dispose of a livestock carcass in a manner that makes the livestock carcass inedible for native carnivores. If an owner fails to appropriately dispose of a livestock carcass in violation of the bill and this failure results in depredation, the division of parks and wildlife may not issue a permit to kill the native carnivore. |
| HJR24-1005 | Resolution Repairability Scores for Devices | Concerning requesting that the Federal Trade Commission facilitate the use of repairability scores that indicate to consumers the repairability of electronic devices. |
| HJR24-1018 | Grand Lake Water Clarity | Concerning the water clarity of Grand Lake, Colorado’s largest and deepest natural lake. |
| SB24-026 | Agriculture & Natural Resources Public Engagement Requirement | The bill renews the public engagement requirement for the members of the parks and wildlife commission in the department of natural resources who are appointed by the governor and adds the same public engagement requirement for members of the state agricultural commission and the Colorado water conservation board who are appointed by the governor. The bill requires the public engagement meetings be held in person. |
| SB24-028 | Study Biochar in Wildfire Mitigation Efforts | The bill directs the board of governors of the Colorado state university system to conduct, or cause to be conducted, a comprehensive study on biochar, including its use in wildfire mitigation efforts. The bill specifies minimum topics that the study must include. |
| SB24-037 | Study Green Infrastructure for Water Quality Management | The bill requires the division of administration in the department of public health and environment, in collaboration with the university of Colorado’s Mortenson center in global engineering and resilience and the Colorado water institute located within Colorado state university, to: conduct a feasibility study of the use of green infrastructure, which refers to nature-based, watershed-scale water quality management solutions that are an alternative to traditional gray infrastructure, which refers to centralized water treatment facilities, and the use of green financing mechanisms for water quality management; establish one or more pilot projects in the state to demonstrate the use of green infrastructure, green financing mechanisms, or both; adopt rules establishing a prepermit baseline date to assist municipalities and other water providers to pursue prepermit solutions for compliance with state and federal water quality standards; and submit a report and present to the water resources and agriculture review committee on the progress of the feasibility study and any pilot projects and on any legislative and administrative recommendations to promote the use of green infrastructure and green financing mechanisms for water quality management in the state. |
| SB24-056 | Out-of-State Snowmobile Permit & Search Rescue Fee | The bill creates an out-of-state snowmobile permit that an owner or operator of an out-of-state snowmobile must obtain and display to drive the snowmobile on publicly owned land. To get the permit, the owner must pay a fee in an amount set by the parks and wildlife commission. |
| SB24-081 | Perfluoroalkyl & Polyfluoroalkyl Chemicals | Current law prohibits the sale or distribution of class B firefighting foam that contains perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals. Section 1 of the bill, on and after January 1, 2025, repeals the exemption from the prohibition for gasoline distribution facilities, refineries, and chemical plants. |
| SB24-095 | Air Quality Ozone Levels | Sections 1 and 2 of the bill create a high-emitter vehicle program for owners of motor vehicles that are not in compliance with emission standards and that have been issued a certification of emissions waiver. Section 3 requires the air quality control commission to create, in coordination with the lead agency for air quality planing for the Denver metropolitan area, a garden rebate program to increase the use of small electric motors used for outdoor power equipment. Section 4 repeals the current tax credit for buying lawn and garden equipment with an electric motor. Sections 5 and 6: Expand the program to include light-duty trucks; Authorize the clean fleet enterprise to provide grants of up to 80% of a local government’s cost of acquiring motor vehicles that emit low levels of nitrogen oxides for the local government to use in its motor vehicle fleet; and Require the enterprise to prioritize making grants to local governments. |
| SB24-105 | Clarifying Environmental Response Surcharge | The bill clarifies the fee amounts that the department is required to collect for the petroleum storage tank fund and repeals outdated provisions regarding the other fee collected by the department. |
| SB24-123 | Waste Tire Management Enterprise | The bill creates the waste tire management enterprise. |
| SB24-150 | Processing of Municipal Solid Waste | On and after July 1, 2024, section 2 of the bill prohibits a person from operating or expanding certain units that incinerate municipal solid waste (incineration unit). On and after January 1, 2025, section 2 also clarifies that incineration and incineration units do not meet certain standards established by state law or rules. Section 3 changes current law to provide that synthetic gas produced by the pyrolysis of waste materials is not an eligible energy resource for the purpose of certain state-level renewable energy standards. Section 4 changes current law to specify that methane derived from the pyrolysis of municipal solid waste is not recovered methane that is a clean heat resource for the purpose of clean heat plans. |
| SB24-159 | Mod to Energy & Carbon Management Processes | On or before July 1, 2027, section 2 of the bill requires the energy and carbon management commission to adopt rules to cease issuing new oil and gas permits before January 1, 2030, which rules must include certain reductions in the total number of oil and gas wells covered by new permits issued in 2028 and 2029. Section 2 also requires the commission to include as a condition in any permit issued after July 1, 2024, that certain operations must commence on or before December 31, 2032, as to each oil and gas well included in the permit. |
| SB24-161 | Parks & Wildlife Licenses & Passes | The bill amends certain requirements and procedures related to licenses and passes from the Colorado parks and wildlife commission. |
| SB24-165 | Air Quality Improvements | On or before December 31, 2028, the bill requires the air quality control commission in the department of public health and environment to adopt by rule certain emission standards and requirements for in-use, off-road, diesel-fueled fleets. On or before December 31, 2025, the AQCC must adopt rules for controlling emissions from facilities, buildings, structures, installations, or real property that generates mobile source activity that results in emissions of air pollutants within the 8-hour ozone Denver metro/north front range nonattainment area. |
| SB24-166 | Air Quality Enforcement | Section 1 of the bill defines a “repeat violator” as a person that, in a 3-year period, has committed 5 or more violations of certain air quality laws. Section 1 also defines a “high-priority repeat violator” as a repeat violator that, in a 3-year period, has committed 5 or more exceedances of the allowable emissions of an air pollutant in a permit. Section 2 requires the division of administration in the department of public health and environment, in the case of a violation by a repeat violator, to issue an order of compliance for the violation instead of issuing a warning letter or compliance advisory or taking another informal action. penalties for air quality violations without instituting an action in district court. Section 2 also allows a person, with respect to air quality laws, to commence a civil action against an alleged violator. |
| SB24-171 | Restoration of Wolverines | The bill authorizes the reintroduction of the North American wolverine in the state by the division of parks and wildlife. |
This special bill report is courtesy of State Bill Colorado, a product of our publisher Circuit Media.