2022 #COleg: #Wildfire related bills this session

Click the link to read an article from The Denver Post (Nick Coltrain). Here’s an excerpt:

[HB22-1111 Insurance Coverage For Loss Declared Fire Disaster: Concerning insurance coverage for insured losses incurred as a result of a declared fire disaster] aims to make it easier to file and receive initial claims for lost property, ease the inventory process and extend housing reimbursement, among other things, when a loss is declared as part of a declared fire disaster. It passed its first committee Thursday night on a bipartisan 10-2 vote.

“(Mass property loss in a fire disaster) makes it much harder to recover,” Amabile said before the hearing. “It’s harder to find a place to rent, it’s harder to get your building permits approved, it’s harder to find a builder and an architect, and it’s also harder to get your claim through the insurance company because they’re also overwhelmed with claims.”

The Marshall fire underscores the need for this type of legislation, she said. Homes lost to fire disasters still account for a small percentage of total insurance claims, including things like hail, but the mass trauma they inflict is dramatic, she said…

In [HB22-1011 Wildfire Mitigation Incentives For Local Governments: Concerning the establishment of a state grant program that provides funding to local governments that dedicate resources for wildfire mitigation purposes], which Snyder introduced with Rep. Lisa Cutter, D-Littleton, he hopes to encourage local governments to bolster their efforts at fighting wildfire with a state matching grant.

Broadly speaking, a local government would need to have a dedicated funding source for fire mitigation to qualify for a matching slice of money from the state forest service. A fiscal analysis predicts it would cost about $20 million in its first full year, beginning July 1, 2023.

What qualifies as mitigation would be broadly defined and left to the local government, Snyder said. The state’s ecosystem is too diverse to prescribe solutions. The bill has not been scheduled for a committee hearing yet, the first step to possible passage into law…

Land management, including proper timber harvest and grazing, needs to coexist with a focus on preservation, he said. Will noted a colleague, Rep. Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, is running [HB22-1166 Incentives Promote Colorado Timber Industry: Concerning the adoption of incentives to promote the timber industry in Colorado, and, in connection therewith, creating an internship program in the Colorado state forest service, extending an existing sales and use tax exemption to cover the sales, storage, and use of wood harvested in Colorado, and creating a state income tax credit for the purchase of qualifying items used in timber production] to promote the timber industry, which Will said could help with forest and fuel management.

Fire management will need education, awareness, planning, mitigation and preparation, Will said. And while he encouraged those efforts, it’s Mother Nature’s cooperation, for better of ill, that will define wildfires in Colorado.

Click the link to view a list of bills for wildfire.