2016 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 37 - Water and Irrigation
Water Conservation Board and Compacts
Article 75 - Interbasin Compacts
§ 37-75-105. Interbasin compact committee - report

(1) (a) To facilitate the process of interbasin compact negotiations, a twenty-seven-member interbasin compact committee is hereby created. The interbasin compact committee shall include two representatives from each basin roundtable, at least one of whom shall reside within the borders of the roundtable and at least one of whom shall own adjudicated water rights, including owners of shares in a ditch or reservoir company or their agents, six at-large members appointed by the governor, one member appointed by the chairperson of the house agriculture, livestock, and natural resources committee, one member appointed by the chairperson of the senate agriculture, natural resources, and energy committee, and the director of compact negotiations. The governor's appointments shall come from geographically diverse parts of the state and shall include individuals with expertise in environmental, recreational, local governmental, industrial, and agricultural matters. No more than three of the governor's appointees shall be affiliated with the same political party. Any such agent shall be appointed by the member the agent represents and shall reside within the borders of the member's roundtable.

(b) As soon as practicable following June 7, 2005, the committee shall establish bylaws to govern its actions, including a procedure whereby basin roundtables that opt out of the procedures established in this article are no longer represented on the committee but may opt back in.

(2) (a) Not later than July 1, 2006, the interbasin compact committee shall establish and refer to the general assembly an interbasin compact charter that shall govern and guide all negotiations between basin roundtables under this article. Upon receipt, consideration, and approval of the charter by the general assembly acting by bill, negotiations between basin roundtables may commence. Any compact or other agreement established using the procedures established in this article shall fully comply with the terms, requirements, and procedures established in the interbasin compact charter as approved pursuant to this subsection (2).

(b) The general assembly hereby approves the interbasin compact charter as submitted to the general assembly on April 6, 2006, by the interbasin compact committee. The revisor of statutes shall publish the full text of the charter in the Colorado Revised Statutes as nonstatutory matter in accordance with section 2-5-102 (9), C.R.S.

(3) At a minimum, the interbasin compact charter shall include the following:

(a) A negotiating framework and foundational principles to guide voluntary negotiations between basin roundtables, including present and future consumptive and nonconsumptive water uses and such policies as may be necessary to ensure that compacts or other agreements between roundtables do not conflict or otherwise not conform with one another;

(b) Subject to the principles established in section 37-75-102, procedures for ratifying compacts or other agreements between basin roundtables, including the requirement that every basin roundtable whose waters are affected by a proposed compact or other agreement shall provide its affirmative support for such proposed compact or other agreement before such compact or agreement is final or binding;

(c) As deemed appropriate by the interbasin compact committee but subject to the principles established in section 37-75-102, authorities and procedures for making compacts or other agreements between roundtables legally binding and enforceable; and

(d) As deemed appropriate by the interbasin compact committee, procedures for integrating the processes established in this article with existing planning, permitting, and public participation processes related to the conservation and development of water within Colorado; except that no provision of the charter shall supercede, impair, or otherwise modify the authority, jurisdiction, or permitting powers of counties or other local government entities.

(4) Commencing in 2006, the committee shall submit an annual report to the house of representatives committee on agriculture, livestock, and natural resources and the senate committee on agriculture, natural resources, and energy, or their successor committees, by October 31 concerning the status of compact negotiations and, in consultation with the Colorado water conservation board created in section 37-60-102, how moneys from the water supply reserve fund created in section 39-29-109 (2) (c), C.R.S., were allocated during the previous twelve months for water activities approved by basin roundtables.

(5) The committee shall be deemed to be a state public body for purposes of the open meetings law, part 4 of article 6 of title 24, C.R.S.