Letter to the Editor from State Senator Crowder

Something is not right. House Bill 16-1337, passed the House on April 1st with a 60 to 5 margin. This should have been introduced in the Senate a few days later. This is the 14th and as of yet has not introduced in the Senate. This bill is no friend to the water speculators of this state and I can only surmise that the reason it has not been introduced is the powerful water speculators are attempting to hold this bill hostage. As a farmer/rancher, I cannot idly set back and do nothing. I need farmers, ranchers and any other stake holders to make your voice heard and let the state Capitol know that our water resource is not to be used as a political game for the benefit of speculators. Speculators, currently can introduce new evidence in the appeals process, which is a huge burden on existing water users which cost agriculture producers enormous sums of money. Time to put a stop to this malarkey.

The bill: “Under current law, the decisions or actions of the ground water commission (commission) or the state engineer regarding groundwater are appealed to a district court and the evidence that the district court may consider is not limited to the evidence presented to the commission or state engineer. Therefore, unlike appeals from other state agencies’ decisions or actions under the “State Administrative Procedure Act”, a party appealing a decision or action of the commission or state engineer may present new evidence on appeal that was never considered by the commission or state engineer.

The bill limits the evidence that a district court may consider when reviewing a decision or action of the commission or the state engineer on appeal to the evidence presented to the commission or the state engineer”.

State Senator
Larry Crowder
District 35
Alamosa