From The Durango Herald (Joe Hanel):
“It’s in trouble,” said Sen. Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, the sponsor of House Bill 1188. The bill coasted through the House on a 40-25 vote, but it faces a tough first hearing in the Senate on Monday. A confluence of three very different opponents does not like the bill.
The first and most powerful force is an alliance of farmers, ranchers and developers who want to protect their property rights.
Second, water experts are worried about the bill’s reliance on English Common Law to grant the right to raft on Colorado streams.
Finally, private boaters think the bill is too narrow, because it extends the rights of only professional rafting companies and leaves everyone else high and dry…
“It’s kind of unfortunate, because it [HB 10-1188] has driven a wedge between what we enjoy now, which are informal agreements between rafters and landowners,” said Sen. Bruce Whitehead, D-Hesperus. Whitehead said he has been bombarded by e-mails from both sides, including some from Southwest Colorado landowners who are rethinking their decisions to allow rafting through their land. Whitehead said he can see both sides of the argument, but he does not support the bill in its current form. He’s especially worried about the bill’s use of English Common Law to confer a “right of navigation” on commercial rafting companies.
The Colorado Water Congress opposes HB 1188 for the same reason, said Doug Kemper, executive director of the lobbying group. By introducing the Common Law concept of “navigable” rivers, Colorado could open itself to many consequences unrelated to rafting, such as impacts on federal water-quality standards, Kemper said. “That term ‘navigable’ is really an Eastern term,” Kemper said…
“We’re not trying to upset the balance here. We’re trying to maintain the balance,” said Greg Felt of the Colorado River Outfitters Association.
The bill is limited to registered commercial rafting companies, and that upsets people like Mark Squillace, a University of Colorado law professor who is arguing for the rights of private boaters, anglers and tubers. “What this bill would do is give a preference for individuals who are willing and able to pay a rafting company to go out on the river,” Squillace said…
The test for HB 1188 will come next week in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Hodge thinks that if she can get the bill through the committee, she will have enough support to get it through the full Senate…
…Squillace is hoping legislators will take the question straight to the state Supreme Court. It’s a seldom-used maneuver, but the law allows the Legislature to ask the court legal questions on a pending bill.
More 2010 Colorado legislation coverage here.