2007 Legislative Session

For information on the current year's legislative session, visit the Colorado General Assembly web site.

2007 House Legislation

• 1023
  Provides funding for a statewide carbon sequestration analysis and an energy profile of state.
• 1060 "Bioscience Grants"
  Expands the bioscience grant program to include biofuel-related projects. Grants go to higher-ed institutions and help bring innovative ideas from laboratory to marketplace.
• 1087
  Wind for Schools
  Creates a grant program to place wind turbines on schools. Develops a grant program to help schools install wind turbines on campus and develop clean energy curriculum in the classroom.
• 1145 (PDF 35 KB)
  Renewable Resource Development on Public Lands
  Enables the state land board to lease lands for renewable development. Funds from the lease go toward K-12 education.
• 1169
  Net Metering for Cooperative Electric Associations
  Provides minimum interconnection standards for net-metering, so standards are uniform across the state.
• 1150
  Clean Energy Authority
  Establishes a state funding mechanism to leverage bond proceeds and provide government backed loan guarantees through a public authority for the purposes of building transmission capacity for renewable resources.
• 1037 ( 69 KB)
  Amendment (PDF 56 KB)
  Concerning Energy Efficiency
  Directs the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to require jurisdictional electric utilities and gas local distribution companies to develop and substantially expand energy efficiency programs. Requires investor-owned utilities to provide energy efficiency programs for their customers, ensuring that they are cost-effective for the utilities.
• 1146 Concerning Energy Efficiency (PDF 38KB)
  Raises the baseline for local building codes to the 2003 International Energy Conservation Code. This will ensure buildings in our communities will be more energy efficient and help us reach our goal of 20% efficiency statewide by 2020. Sets a statewide energy code only for counties that already have a building code.
• 1203
  Energy Management & Conservation Studies
• 1228 (PDF 63 KB)
  Fiscal Note (PDF 35 KB)
  Concerning Renewable Energy
  Requires biofuels be used in state fleet vehicles.
• 1220
  Requires State agencies, offices, and institutions of higher education to purchase environmentally preferred products (EPP). EPP are products that have a lesser or reduced adverse effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products that serve the same purpose.
• 1281
  Renewable Portfolio Standards
  Doubles the state’s renewable portfolio standard to 20% by 2020 for investor-owned utilities. Rural electric associations and municipal utilities must meet 10% by 2020 (these smaller utilities were not part of the original Amendment 37).
• 1279 (PDF 33 KB)
  Fiscal Note (PDF 36 KB)
  Tax Credits for Renewable Energy
  Restores tax exemption on machinery used to produce renewable energy.
• 1309 "School Energy Efficiency"
  GEO has been helping state public buildings become more energy efficient through a process called “performance contracting,” generally done in concert with Energy Service Companies. This bill earmarks funds to be committed to achieving similar energy efficiency gains throughout our K-12 school system.
• 1379 "County Spending Authority for Environmental Spending Measures"

2007 Senate Legislation

• 08
  Expands the water efficiency grant program cash fund to include State and Local government entities. Said entities who adopt a water conservation plan and supply, distribute, or otherwise provide water at retail to customers may apply for a grant to aid in the implementation of the water efficiency goals of the plan.
• 22 (PDF 24 KB)
  Fiscal Note (PDF 27 KB)
  The intent of this statute is to clearly allow the PUC to no longer be limited by the CO Supreme Court ruling known as "Mountain States." In that case, the Mountain States Legal Foundation sued the PUC after it approved a program that provided assistance to low-income seniors. The court ruled that the statutes prohibit any "preferential rate, service, program..." and that a utility thus can not target/restrict services to a particular group (low-income, seniors, etc.). The new statute allows the PUC to approve rates, programs, and services that are targeted to low-income communities.
• 51 -"High Performance State Buildings" (PDF 27KB)
  Requires that state buildings and those buildings constructed with state funds meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Standards set by the United States Green Building Council.
• 91 "Renewable Resource Generation Development Areas" (PDF 37 KB)
  Fiscal Note (PDF 34 KB)
  Establishes a 16 member task force to map out resource zones and load centers for the purposes of planning transmission capability to meet increasing demand and renewable energy supply from our rural areas. Maps the state for the most productive renewable areas and the best way to connect those areas to the grid.
• 100 "Energy Resource Zones Transmission Development" (PDF 30 KB)
  Fiscal Note (PDF 30 KB)
  Establishes energy resource zones to incentivize investment in transmission and allow for cost recovery by utilities for building transmission to rural resource areas. Speeds up transmission construction by allowing investor-owned utilities to recover transmission expenses during construction- requires these utilities to file applications to build transmission.
• 126 Funding for the Collaboratory
  Authorizes state spending on the Collaboratory, a partnership among NREL, Colorado University, Colorado State University, and the Colorado School of Mines.
• 145 Local Incentives for Renewable Energy
  Allows governmental entities (counties, cities, etc.) to offer tax rebates to property owners who install renewable-energy producing fixtures (solar panels, efficient appliances, etc.)
• 182
  Provides a dedicated source of matching monies that will allow Colorado public universities additional funding for research projects that will increase or improve recycling techniques and technology or create marketable uses for discarded materials and address problems caused by inappropriate disposal of solid waste materials.
• 246 (PDF 37KB)
  Fiscal Note (PDF 37KB)
  Clean Energy Fund
  The Clean Energy Fund will provide a steady stream of revenue to the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) for the purposes of advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the state. GEO will be using the fund to target investments in emerging technologies and attract New Energy Economy investment to Colorado.