| Summary |
The bill appropriates the following amounts for the 2024-25 state
fiscal year from the Colorado water conservation board (CWCB)
construction fund to the CWCB or the division of water resources in the
department of natural resources for the following projects:
•
Continuation of the satellite monitoring system, $380,000
(section 1 of the bill);
•
Continuation of the floodplain map modernization
program, $1,000,000 (section 2);
•
Continuation of the weather modification permitting
program, $500,000 (section 3);
•
Continuation of the Colorado Mesonet project, $200,000
(section 5);
•
Continuation of the water forecasting partnership project,
$2,000,000 (section 6);
•
Support of modeling and data analyses for the upper
Colorado river commission's development of operational
guidelines for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, $500,000
(section 7);
•
Support for the division of water resources' statewide
diversion telemetry project, $1,827,500 (section 8);
•
Support of a study update and scenario analyses for
groundwater resource goals for the southern high plains
designated groundwater basin, $250,000 (section 9); and
•
Support for projects that support drought planning and
mitigation, $4,000,000 (section 11).
Section 4 directs the state treasurer to transfer up to $2,000,000
from the CWCB construction fund to the CWCB litigation fund on July
1, 2024.
The CWCB is authorized to make loans from the severance tax
perpetual base fund or the CWCB construction fund:
•
In an amount up to $155,650,000 to the Windy Gap firming
project (section 12); and
•
In an amount up to $101,000,000 to the northern integrated
supply project water activity enterprise owned by the
northern Colorado water conservancy district to develop a
new regional water supply project (section 13).
Section 10 directs the state treasurer to transfer $2,000,000 on July
1, 2024, from the CWCB construction fund to the turf replacement fund
to finance the state turf replacement program.
Section 14 directs the state treasurer to transfer $20,000,000 on
July 1, 2024, from the severance tax perpetual base fund to the CWCB
construction fund for the purchase and sale agreement between the
Colorado river water conservation district and the public service company
of Colorado for the purchase of the water rights associated with the
Shoshone power plant.
Section 15 appropriates $23,300,000 from the water plan
implementation cash fund to the CWCB to fund grants that will help
implement the state water plan.
Sections 16 and 17 amend current law, under which the state
treasurer is directed to make 2 transfers of $2.5 million each from the
economic recovery and relief cash fund to the CWCB construction fund.
The CWCB is required to use the $2.5 million from one of the transfers
for the direct and indirect costs of providing assistance to political
subdivisions and other entities applying for federal Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act money and other federally available money
related to water funding opportunities (water funding purposes). The
CWCB is required to use the $2.5 million from the other transfer for
issuing grants to political subdivisions of the state or other entities for the
hiring of temporary employees, contractors, or both that will assist those
political subdivisions and other entities in applying for federal
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act money and other federally
available money related to natural resource management (natural resource
management purposes).
Sections 16 and 17 allow the CWCB, on or after July 1, 2024, to
expend money from either of the 2 transfers for either the water funding
purposes or the natural resource management purposes.
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