Hickenlooper Still Pondering Handful of Decisions from Session

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by: Colorado Pols

As Eli Stokols at Fox 31 reports, Governor John Hickenlooper is still mulling over whether he will sign or veto several bills still awaiting their fate after passing through the legislature:

After nearly a month of deliberation, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is expected to take action Wednesday on a handful of controversial bills that remain unsigned, including a measure to increase the amount of energy that rural electricity associations must draw from renewable sources.

Backers of Senate Bill 252 are optimistic Hickenlooper will sign it into law, but the governor’s office insists that a final decision won’t be made until Wednesday morning…

…So far this month, Hickenlooper has signed nearly 100 bills into law, many of them at public events that have taken him to 22 Colorado counties.

But he has taken his time mulling over four final bills, including S.B. 252, which would require rural co-ops with more than 100,000 meters, and utilities that generate and supply electricity on behalf of member co-ops, to get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by the year 2020.

Under Colorado law, a bill automatically becomes law with or without the Governor's signature after 30 days, which gives him until Friday to make any final decisions…or perhaps Thursday…or Wednesday…

But Hickenlooper is headed to Park City, Utah on Friday to address a political summit convened by GOP presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, leaving Wednesday or possibly Thursday as his final opportunity to take action on outstanding legislation.

Of all the remaining pieces of legislation on his desk, SB-252 is indeed the one being watched most closely. A veto would not only irritate the environmental community, but would also likely cause some consternation among legislative Democrats; SB-252 was sponsored by both Senate President John Morse and House Speaker Mark Ferrandino.

7 thoughts on “Hickenlooper Still Pondering Handful of Decisions from Session”

JeffcoBlue says:

June 4, 2013 at 2:41 pm

Come on, Hick. Sign this bill. Give the enviros something other than the finger this year.

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1. Diogenesdemar says:
  
  June 4, 2013 at 3:14 pm
  
  Timing is everything. My money's on the finger . . .
  
  Then it's . . .
  
  ¡Adios, muchachos — buenos días, Señor Romney!
  
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2. MichaelBowman says:
  
  June 5, 2013 at 11:14 am
  
  It's just been announced the Governor intends to sign SB252 today! Now we can start addressing the 'real' wars in rural Colorado: extreme poverty (particularly childhood poverty), lack of jobs, the flight of our best and brightest from our communities, and the budget challenges of our many small-attendance education centers. With this new law we have before us the opportunity to build a new tax base, inspire entrepreneurship and re-invigorate a region rich in natural resources. Kudo's to the Governor for his decision to move us forward.
  
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Rabble or Rabble Rouser? says:

June 4, 2013 at 2:48 pm

What did the Governor do on the Firefighter Collective Bargaining Bill?

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bullshit! says:

June 4, 2013 at 4:54 pm

Everyone is telling me he's going to sign it. I wonder why he's being cagey? This will restore him some love on the left.

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MichaelBowman says:

June 4, 2013 at 9:29 pm

Let me start with my ending: I do hope that Governor Hickenlooper will sign this legisltion. If he does, it will be the single most courageous act of leadership to be exerted within our Colorado rural electric community since 2004.

This morning, knowing a decision was close, Rep. Jerry Sonnenber [R-Sterling] issued a statement ramping up pressure on the Governor and noting that the bill would become law even without his signature by the end of the week:

"The time has come for the Governor to make the tough decision Coloradans expect him to make." Sonnenberg said, "Senate Bill 252 is a poison pill for rural Colorado that raised the cost of providing electricity to rural families and business owners by billions of dollars."

Let me start with my response: I like Jerry Sonnenberg. I think Jerry is a good man – and even though we no longer share a political party – I find him to be an honorable man. While we may often disagree about 'process', Jerry has always been open and accessible to me.

That said, there is no one in the ENTIRE legislatue that is better versed on the value of renewable energy than Rep. Sonnenberg. His home county, Logan County, has been a shining example of the economic miracle that renewable energy can bring to a region. Let me repeat, there is NO ONE on the ENTIRE Colorado legislative body that knows the value of renewable energy better than Jerry.'

Any one who follows ColoradoPols followed my diary last week about the 'Sunflower Conundrum' and SB252 knows the complications regarding Tri-State's efforts to build a coal plant in Kansas and the opportuities before us in Colorado. The choices being made by the majority in the Tri-State board room are regretable. And I do think it is time for an entirely new mind set in the Tri-State board is required to transition this entity into something both appropriate and empowering to 21st centure rural electrics.

I'll end where I started: Governor, while SB252 may be an imperfect bill, it will 'turn the ship'. It's time has come. And by affixing your signature to this document you will exert more leadership in a single stoke than we've seen from our collective Colorado rural electirc enterprises in a decade.

Sign it and don't look back. We're not going that way.

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1. Gilpin Guy says:
  
  June 4, 2013 at 10:12 pm
  
  Thanks Michael.
  
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