The days dwindle away

The days dwindle away

April 10, 2001

Capitol Report
By Senator Jim Dyer

Just over a month remains in the regular 120-day legislative session. Of the 27 bills for which I am primary Senate sponsor, nine are still pending.

The most significant of these is House Bill 1088, the sole survivor of the four oil and gas bills I carried this year. This bill would im-prove the flow of information a-mong surface owners, local government and owners of the minerals that lie beneath the surface.

After a long struggle and much compromise by varied entities such as the Colorado Homebuilders, La Plata County commissioners, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, the Title Insurance Industry, and Colorado Assessors, HB-1088 received initial approval from the Senate last Friday on a voice vote. I expect it to receive final approval with a roll-call vote Monday. It then goes back to the House for concurrence of Senate amendments.

My hope is that when surface development is planned the bill’s notification mechanism will alert oil and gas interests to get involved and in doing so reduce the potential for future conflicts.

Title insurance companies would alert would-be surface buyers that there are mineral interests underlying the property they plan to purchase and warn that "such interests may include the right to enter and use this property without your permission."

Harsh words. Reality. Work to be done.

* * * * * * * *

The Senate approved Senate bill 01-212, the $13.5 billion "long" appropriations bill.

There were 24 floor amendments offered during five hours of debate, including one by me that authorizes the Department of Labor and Employmentto tap $511,0900 in federal funds to use for job training across the state.

As I presented the amendment at the podium in the well of the Senate floor, I informed my colleagues that if we didn’t tap these funds the money would be redistributed to other states.

Addressing the Democratic side of the aisle, I asked, "Do you want to export these dollars, that are properly ours, to go someplace like Texas?" A murmur of discontent issued.

Turning to the Republican side, I asked, "Do you want to send these dollars to Massachusetts." This elicited similar ugly rumblings.

The amendment flew through.

The long bill is now in the House, where newly elected zealots will posture in caucus, with radical cuts proposed and social agendas played out.

In the end, just as it was when our own Sen. Bob DeNier served on the Joint Budget Committee so ably a decade ago, the JBC will prevail and the balanced budget will emerge 99 percent plus, the way the sacred six members of the JBC initially crafted it.

* * * * * * * * *

As I originally wrote this in long hand, united Express No. 6399 had just broken free from the east-west runway at Denver International Airport, noon Saturday. Forty minutes late, but better than the previous day when my flight was canceled, and I spent another unplanned night in Denver.

(And, alas, I missed the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Celebrity Bowl-a-thon, but spared myself the indignity of rolling yet another 61 and hitting the side of my knee with the ball, sending it sideways into the gutter a couple feet down the lane.)

The 19-seat Beech twin-turbo prop bucked its way skyward to 23,000 feet. Denver slid below, and, set amid the brown, black and gray tartan plaid of the cityscape glistened the emerald green baseball diamond at Coors Field. A promise of spring.

Reaching altitude and banking southwest toward home, I’m resigned to several more years of this nomad life when I assume my new duties on the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

Shari and I and the dogs will continue to make our home in Durango, and she will continue her duties with District Attorney Sarah Law.

I reckon I’ll spend in aggregate the same amount of time away from home as I do now, but there will be many more short absences.

In the meantime, I’ve got plenty of good things to get done before we adjourn midnight, May 9.

Jim Dyer is a state senator from Durango. He can be reached in Durango at (970) 259-1942, or at the Capitol in Denver at (303) 866-4884.