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House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources

Monday, February 23, 2026·6h 8m·▶ Watch / Listen

The House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee advanced two bills to Appropriations — the Forest Health Council sunset renewal unanimously and the Colorado Outdoor Opportunities Act on a contested 9-4 vote — while HB 26-1011, a bill ending retail pet store sales of dogs and cats, generated hours of sharply divided testimony with no vote recorded by the end of the hearing.

Key Actions

·HB 26-1184 – Sunset Process Forest Health CouncilPassed

+ 3 more actions

Controversies

HB 26-1008: CPW capacity given state audit findings

Representative Curry Don Suckla cited the CPW state audit estimating $2.8 million in uncollected campsite revenue due to operational inefficiencies, refunds issued without documentation, and campsite closures lacking written rationale, asking 'if, according to the state audit, they can't handle what they're doing right now, why are we trying to put more on their plate?' Fletcher Jacobs (CPW) responded that CPW has made 'significant improvements since that audit, including bringing on a new online platform.'

+ 5 more controversies

Notable Quotes

“In 2023, outdoor recreation in Colorado contributed $65.8 billion to our economy, 36.5 million of that, or 8.5% of Colorado's GDP for products shipped, products and services shipped out of the state of Colorado, 11.2 billion in local, state and federal tax revenue, and over 400,000 jobs, or 12.5% of our workforce.”

Representative Rick Taggart — Taggart cited these figures while presenting HB 26-1008, the Colorado Outdoor Opportunities Act, to justify formalizing CPW's coordination role for outdoor recreation statewide.

+ 2 more quotes

Votes

Move HB 26-1184 as amended to the Appropriations CommitteePassed
Yes (13)Lesley Smith, Ty Winter, Lori Garcia Sander, Lori Goldstein, Katie Stewart, Larry Don Suckla, Karen McCormick, Dusty Johnson, Mandy Lindsay, Meghan Lukens, Matthew Martinez, Tammy Story, Tisha Mauro
Move HB 26-1008 as amended to the Committee on Appropriations with a favorable recommendationPassed
Yes (9)Lori Goldstein, Mandy Lindsay, Meghan Lukens, Matthew Martinez, Lesley Smith, Katie Stewart, Tammy Story, Tisha Mauro, Karen McCormick
No (4)Lori Garcia Sander, Dusty Johnson, Larry Don Suckla, Ty Winter
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TranscriptPreview
House Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee will come to order. Ms. Kelly, please call the roll. Representatives Garcia. Sanders. Present. Goldstein. Here. Johnson. Representative Johnson. Here. Lindsey. Excused. Lukens. Here. Martinez. Here. Smith. Here. Stewart. Here. Story. Here. Sukla. Representative Sukla. Oh, I don't want it to be here. Here. Thank you. Winter. Here. Tomorrow. Madam Chair. Here. All right. On our agenda today, as announced earlier this morning, we have changed the order and we'll be hearing House Bill 1184 first, House Bill 1008 second and House Bill 1011 third. And to be consistent across all bills today, because of the volume that we have, we will be limiting testimony, any witness testimony on each bill to two minutes and any panels of questions that the committee would like to ask, any panel of witnesses to 10 minutes. And as usual, just expect a very respectful committee hearing for all the bills. And that goes for committee members as well as people from the public that have signed up to testify. So with that, our first bill is, is the Sunset Forest Health Council bill. And we have Representative Lukens and Representative Morrow. Our bill sponsors are here…
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