The Colorado House and Senate convened for the penultimate day of the 2024 session Tuesday as they rushed to wrap up legislation on property taxes, gun regulations, housing, land-use policy, transportation and other priorities. That includes a property tax relief bill that was unveiled Monday.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
Updated at 10:22 a.m.: Lawmakers on Monday evening finalized a bill that would backfill protections of wetlands that were erased by a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year.
The Senate approved House Bill 1379 earlier in the day and, after the House concurred with Senate amendments in the early evening, it was ready to be sent to the governor’s desk. The bill, once signed, would create a program in the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to regulate how and when wetlands and seasonal streams can be disrupted by construction activity.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year ruled that many wetlands and seasonal streams were not protected under the federal Clean Water Act. The decision left those waters with little protection in the vast majority of states, including Colorado.
The legislation passed Monday was one of two bills introduced to fill the gap in protections. The sponsors of the other bill, Senate Bill 127, negotiated changes to the House bill and agreed to let their bill die as part of a compromise.
“It’s important that we do this right,” Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, who sponsored the Senate bill and later joined the House bill, said in a news release Saturday. “And I believe this bill helps lay the foundation to ensure that we do this right.”
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