Controversial oil and gas, red flag bills pass

    The Democrat-controlled General Assembly, in its last two days of March, passed two of the most controversial bills of the 2019 session: the bill changing the state’s oil and gas regulation structure and a bill allowing law enforcement to seize firearms from those deemed at risk to themselves or to others.
    On March 29, the House voted 36-28 to approve Senate Bill 181, the oil and gas bill. Four Democrats — some in districts where recalls are already being discussed — voted against the bill along with all the chamber’s 24 Republicans.
    Senate Bill 181 has three primary purposes:
    — It changes the mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to require it to put health and safety first; previously, the commission’s primary role was to promote oil and gas activity.
    — It allows local governments to make decisions about oil and gas activity within their own boundaries. Two counties, Broomfield and Boulder, have for years fought the industry in court for that right without success.
    — It requires more approval for drilling from those who hold mineral rights in a designated area, a practice known as forced pooling, in order for that drilling to commence.
    Republican Rep. Rod Bockenfeld of Arapahoe County warned the bill will bring the industry down in Colorado. Investors like certainty, Bockenfeld said.
    “This bill has no certainty. ... We’ve created an oil and gas policy that has no consistency. It gives control to various counties where the county’s oil and gas philosophy on oil and gas can change with just one seat on a county commission. Why make a multi million-dollar investment in an industry, knowing that [with] one election, the risk increases and [the company’s] investment is on the bubble?”
    Speaker of the House K.C. Becker of Boulder, however, said that the oil and gas industry has ignored communities and lawmakers for years, because it could. She explained that when the industry was asked to come to the table and work out solutions, instead, they proposed the failed Amendment 74, which could have cost local governments millions of dollars.
    Local governments begged the industry to take it off the ballot, she said. “They wanted a tit for tat” for Proposition 112, the setback measure that voters also rejected.
    Oil and gas never had to take any of this seriously and never had to negotiate, she said.
    “There’s a lesson here. If you’re going to ignore people for a long time, and suddenly they have a voice, maybe you should have been paying attention the whole time.”
    Democratic Rep. Sonja Jaquez Lewis of Longmont said that, for her, the issue is personal. In 2017, she became an oil-and-gas-impacted citizen, receiving a letter from Crestone notifying her and her wife that a massive production pad was being built 500 feet from her kitchen. They sat on their kitchen floor and cried.
    Her neighbors wrote on Crestone’s Facebook page, Jaquez Lewis said, stating they’re up in the middle of night, worrying about the impacts of drilling. One said her daughter has three to five nosebleeds per week and constant sore throats.
    Republicans tried without success to amend the bill during Thursday’s nearly six-hour debate to insert a petition clause that would allow voters to make the final call, which would take place in the 2020 general election.
    Becker reminded lawmakers that anyone can file for a ballot measure.
    “Give our people a chance” to speak on the issue, pleaded Republican Rep. Rod Pelton of Cheyenne Wells.
    Senate Bill 181 now goes back to the Senate for concurrence on amendments passed in the last week. Gov. Jared Polis has said he will sign the measure once it reaches his desk.
    
Red flag bill squeaks through Senate
    On March 28, House Bill 1177, the “red flag” gun bill, squeaked through the state Senate on an 18-17 vote. Senate President Leroy Garcia of Pueblo voted with Republicans against the measure.
    Garcia had never spoken publicly about his views on the bill from the day of its introduction in February until March 26, when he told the Pueblo Chieftain he would vote against it.
    Garcia’s Senate district was the subject of a recall in 2013, also over gun control bills passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate. Pueblo-area Democratic lawmakers, including Garcia, are among those being targeted for recalls, according to the Chieftain. A recall committee targeting Garcia has already been filed with the Secretary of State’s campaign finance system.
    Under the bill, a family member or law enforcement officer can seek a warrant from a court to seize the firearms of a person deemed at significant risk to themselves or to others. Once seized, the person will be provided with legal representation and can attempt to retrieve those weapons within 14 days. If, however, the person is still deemed at risk, the weapons can be held for up to 364 days while the person seeks mental health treatment, which can be ordered by the court under the bill.
    Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert of Parker warned on Thursday that a court can issue a search warrant without any crime having been committed. “If the search warrant is executed, if firearms are found, they are confiscated. There goes the freedom. Liberty first, freedom second.”
    “Turn this bill back, we don’t have to pass it now.”
    Senate Democrats delayed the bill’s final vote for several days due to the excused absence of the 18th Democratic vote, knowing that Garcia intended to vote against it.
    Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling tried without success to amend the bill during a March 22 debate to make the bill about mental health treatment rather than seizing guns, but the amendment was ruled out of order and was never voted on.
    After the measure passed, Democratic Sen. Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood, one of its prime sponsors, said in a statement that “[t]his bill is supported by an overwhelming majority of Coloradans, and outside of this building, it is not controversial.”
    At least 30 counties have passed or are considering resolutions declaring they will not uphold the law. At least a half-dozen Democratic lawmakers are now being considered for recalls, as is Gov. Polis, with the red flag and oil and gas measures cited among the reasons.
    Polis has said he will sign the measure. It first must go back to the House for concurrence on amendments.

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