Bernie Buescher and Governor Bill Ritter.

Mesa State College, Wubben Hall was the place and Governor Bill Ritter provided the action as he signed four bills into law Wednesday, June 4.

Senate Bill 218 sponsored by Rep. Bernie Buescher; D-Grand Junction and Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, took eight months of negotiations, was redrafted 20 times before the final draft was approved. Numerous committees and organizations such as the CCI and the CMI were asked for input and directives.

“The entire group stayed committed to making this a good bill,” Buescher said. “Because of this bill we could see hundreds of millions of dollars in a saving fund to assist public colleges and universities with new facilities.”

“The reallocation of Federal Lease Revenues will keep Colorado in a sound financial position with a good, conservative investment portfolio,” Ritter said. “Our budget is balanced and economy in Colorado remains good.”

Tim Foster, President of Mesa State, appreciated the commitment to higher education and thanked the governor for sharing his vision for education.

“We need to compete to be ready for the next century,” he said.

He went on to link education with the work place economy vitality.

“We want to make sure the kids who enter Colorado’s workforce are our Colorado kids. A knowledge-based economy is an economy that will grow.”

He noted that he bill also sets aside these federal mineral lease dollars into energy-impacted communities, K-12 education and water conservation.

Colorado Treasurer Cary Kennedy helped devise Senate Bill 245, which she described as a bill that will save local taxpayers at least $1.8 million with a total saving of $10 across the state. She noted that this bill would allow the state colleges and universities to use the state’s credit rating thereby paying less interest when borrowing money for construction costs.

The small wineries in the state will benefit from the passage of HB 1359 which enables multiple wineries to share one piece of land, winemaking equipment and facilities, there by cutting down costs for the small winery.

The last bill Ritter signed brought some relief for Kim Weber, resident of DeBeque.

“At first, when the evaporation pond was set to be placed very near residences, I had no faith that the government would do anything about it,” she said. “Buescher and Penry proved otherwise.”

Weber showed a photo of a neighborhood dog that gotten into one of the pits and is now coated in black.

“We can’t get the dog clean,” she said. “The pit holds chemicals used by the energy industry. We know the pit is the reason many of my neighbors and myself have been sick since it went in.”

This bill, HB1414, directs the state to craft common sense rules for the energy industry to protect public health and safety. It requires the state to institute stronger regulations of commercial wastewater pits, such as the controversial one located south of DeBeque. The bill includes longer setbacks from occupied buildings amid better pit liners to prevent leakage into the surround soil and water tables.

Governor Ritter told the crowd that he feels signing bills in the areas for which the bills are pertinent, is one of the most effective ways to let the public know about them and the reason they are being signed. He may visit the valley again in late July in time for Palisade’s first major hotel, the Wine Valley Inn to open.

Governor Ritter signs a bill into law.