Household rain barrels that might have drowned out attention, but Colorado House Democrats are celebrating a collection of conservation laws that took effect on the 90th day since the legislative session ended.
“The people of Colorado want to find easy ways to conserve our precious water, and the rain barrel bill helps them do just that,” Rep. Daneya Esgar of Pueblo, who co-sponsored with Rep. Jessie Danielson of Wheat Ridge, said in a statement. “This common-sense law earned overwhelming bipartisan support across the state.”
Rep. Jeni Arndt’s could go much further in preserving Colorado water supply.
The new law allows the owner of an agricultural water right to ask the state water court to temporarily surrender up to 50 percent of their water without being forced to sell it permanently.
Until now, if a person didn’t use the entirety of his or her water right, they lost it permanently. That prompted some to be wasteful with their excess supply, supporters argued.
, by Rep. KC Becker of Boulder increases the state income tax deduction for from 50 percent to 100 percent of the cost of doing wildfire mitigation on the taxpayer’s property. The deduction is limited to $2,500 a year.
The to the Colorado calendar during the last session.
Becker and Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush of Steamboat Springs were the House sponsors of , which set the third Saturday in May each year for the observance.
Organizations such as Conservation Colorado hope to use the day to encourage residents and tourists to visit and help protect the state’s vast public lands.