The Senate Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee unanimously advanced all three items on its agenda: two board nominations to the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority, an annual revolving fund eligibility resolution (SJR 26-001) authorizing approximately $370 million in combined lending and grant capacity, and SB 26-010 modernizing agricultural property tax classifications to include pasture-based operations raising pigs and meat chickens.
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Senator Kipp raised concern that lowering property taxes typically reduces money going to the state for public education, requiring the state to backfill more money, and noted a prior similar bill had an approximately $800,000 fiscal impact. Senator Roberts countered that the narrowly crafted pasture-based operation definition — requiring animals to derive a majority but not necessarily 100% of their diet through grazing — limits the number of qualifying operations and explains the minimal fiscal impact. The fiscal analyst [Mr. Hanson — UNCLEAR SPELLING] supported this, estimating impact in the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars and noting most operators doing pasture-based pig or chicken operations already had an agricultural classification.
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“I'm particularly passionate about small systems. I've worked for relatively small systems and I just, again, I've got a lot of passion for small systems. They're the ones, I believe, that need the most help. They have the fewest opportunities when it comes to borrowing or accessing money.”
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Sign in to subscribeGood. All right. Good morning. The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee will come to order for the first time in this 2026 legislative session on Wednesday, January 28th. Ms. Jackson, please call the roll. Senator Catlin. Here. Senator Henrickson. Here. Senator Kip. Here. Senator Pelton B. Here. Senator Pelton. R. Here. Senator Danielson. Excused. Mr. Chair. Here. All right, we have a quorum and are ready to get started. Just for everyone that is here or tuning in, we are going to start with our confirmation hearings and then we'll go to the resolution and the bill that we have in front of us. So. So with that, we'll invite Mr. Jim Griffiths from the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority to tell us about our nominations to their board. Good morning. It's actually where that cord goes into the table. That little gray button? Yep. Press it down. There you go. Oh, no, wait till it turns green. Just press it. There you go. Thank you. It's my first time. Yeah. I'm Jim Griffiths with Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority. I'll first start with Karen Wagsland. She's applying to continue to represent the Yampa White…
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