The House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee advanced two bills: HB 26-1342, a controversial bear-luring enforcement bill that passed 8-4 after heated debate over warning language and scope, and HB 26-1341, a technical fix to the CATA bond allocation deadline, which passed unanimously 13-0. SB 26-062 was laid over without discussion.
+ 2 more actions
Representative Just Johnson argued that removing the 'shall be given a warning' language without adding permissive 'may' language would leave Eastern Plains law enforcement without clarity about whether they have authority to issue a warning, and stated he had heard directly from CPW agents and deputies who were reprimanded for giving warnings because the bill said they could not. Representative Ty Winter expressed the same concern and said he wanted to speak with county sheriffs before the floor vote. Commissioner Perry Will countered that officer discretion is sufficient and that the bill is directed at high-conflict areas on the Western Slope, not the Eastern Plains. Frank McGee of CPW stated that in every other case law enforcement has discretion and does not have to write a citation, and that the bill's 'substantial risk of a bear actually coming in' language would limit applicability on the Eastern Plains.
+ 2 more controversies
“Given all that, the number of citations, however, in the last two years was zero. And that's because the current intent standard is a significant barrier to our efficiency as officers, as it is nearly impossible standard to prove as an individual. We have to prove that an individual intended for a bear to be in their trash or their waste.”
+ 4 more quotes
Subscribe to see all key actions, controversies, quotes, and what's next.
Sign in to subscribeHouse Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources Committee will come to order. Ms. Kelly, please call the roll. Representatives Garcia, Sander. Present. Goldstein. Here. Johnson. Here. Lindsey. Here. Lukens. Here. Martinez. Here. Smith. Here. Stewart. Here. Story. Excused. Sukla. Here. Winter. Here. Morrow. Madam Chair. Here. Thank you all for joining today. On our agenda today are three bills, but we will be laying over the first one, Senate Bill 26062 until next week. So we're moving on to House Bill 2613 42. We do have our our bill sponsors here in front of us. Representative Stewart. Thank you, Madam Chair. And good afternoon members of the committee. I am pleased to be here presenting House Bill 1342 with my colleague, Representative Lukens. This is a bill that we brought forward in partnership with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources. Currently, Colorado is facing record number of preventable interactions with the bear population. In 2024, there were over 5,000 statewide reports of human bear conflict or interactions where bears encountered human inhabited areas that resulted in property damage, safety risks or intervention by wildlife officers. Of the 5,000 reports, over 50% were linked to trash. This is an…
Subscribe to unlock the full transcript, summary, and search across all Colorado committee hearings.
Sign in to subscribe