Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday signed several bills into law, including multiple measures aimed at advancing the state's renewable energy goals.
Polis, who visited the northern part of the state, stopped at the North Range Behavioral Health in Greeley, where he signed Senate Bill 115. The bill removes the need for mental health professionals to explain different levels of regulation to clients and eliminates the master's exam requirement for social work licensure.
It also requires candidates for licenses, such as clinical social workers and family therapists, to pass the Colorado jurisprudence exam. Additionally, the bill allows candidates to renew their registration if they're unable to complete the post-degree licensure requirements within four years and reapply if their regulations have expired.
The bill was sponsored by Sens. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Commerce City, and Jim Smallwood, R-Douglas County, as well as by Reps. Mary Young, D-Greeley, and Emily Sirota, D-Denver.
Polis then traveled to Fort Collins City Hall, where he signed House Bills 1370, 1334, and 1336.
HB 1370 requires the Colorado Energy Office to solicit interest from local governments in becoming "gas planning pilot communities" that will explore alternatives to traditional gas service to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to the bill, gas planning pilot communities are places where residents receive gas service from a utility and have an active franchise agreement with that utility.
By April 30, 2025, the Energy Office and utilities must identify up to five potential pilot communities and submit a draft agreement to the Public Utilities Commission, which will then have two months to approve or modify the list. Utilities and approved communities will be required to agree on projects by October 1, 2025.
“Expanding and maintaining natural gas infrastructure is expensive, and this law will help drive down the cost of natural gas in communities across the state by strategically exploring opportunities to utilize alternative energy sources, ” said sponsor Rep. Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins. “By creating pilot communities which use alternatives to natural gas, we can help reach our climate goals and expand cost-effective alternative energy sources into homes across our state. This law saves people money on their energy bill and speeds up our clean energy transition.”
The bill was also sponsored by Rep. Jenny Willford, D-Northglenn, and Sen. Faith Winter, D-Westminster.
Both House Bills 1334 and 1336 both address broadband deployment in Colorado. House Bill 1334 prohibits property owners of multi-unit buildings from denying broadband providers access to a property to install infrastructure for high-speed broadband service, while 1336 repeals the state's broadband deployment board and transfers the function of awarding grant money for broadband deployment in underserved areas of the state to the Governor's Office of Information Technology.
HB 1334 was sponsored by Rep. Andrew Boesenecker, D-Fort Collins, and Sen. Chris Hansen, D-Denver, while HB 1336 was sponsored by Reps. Jennifer Parenti, D-Erie, and Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland, and Sens. Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver, and Kevin Priola, D-Henderson.
At Boulder Junction in Boulder, the governor signed Senate Bills 207, 218, and 185.
Senate Bill 207 requires investor-owned electric utilities to offer specific amounts of community solar capacity depending on their size by January 2026. The bill also requires utilities to purchase all output of new solar facilities and provide bill credits to subscribers.
Additionally, utilities that serve more than 500,000 customers will be required to acquire 50 megawatts of distributed generation paired with energy storage by June 1, 2026, with an additional 50 megawatts of distributed generation required between January 1 and June 1, 2027.
The bill was sponsored by Sens. Chris Hansen, D-Denver, and Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, and Reps. Matt Soper, R-Delta, and Alex Valdez, D-Denver.
Senate Bill 218 establishes an $800,0000 grant program to support lineworker apprenticeship programs. It also requires large electric utilities to upgrade their distribution systems to support state and federal electrification and decarbonization goals, and mandates utilities to implement undergrounding of utility distribution infrastructure in certain areas by January 1 of next year.
Additionally, the bill creates a virtual power plant program and tariff for performance-based compensation for virtual power plants.
The bill was sponsored by Sens. Chris Hansen, D-Denver, and Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, and Reps. Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge, and Kyle Brown, D-Louisville.
Senate Bill 185 makes changes to the regulations for pooling mineral interests in oil and gas drilling units by requiring applicants to submit an affidavit confirming they have ownership or consent from other owners within in the drilling unit.
The bill also allows unleased mineral owners protest applications and prohibits drilling without a pooling order if the unleased owner has rejected a lease offer. In addition, the bill bars the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission from pooling mineral interests from local governments that have rejected lease offers.
The bill was sponsored by Boulder Democrats Sen. Steve Fenberg and Rep. Judy Amabile.
