Colorado Wildlife Federation Colorado Senate Bill 15-039 was defeated in the House on May 4 along a party-line vote. It had passed the Senate and moved to the House. The bill had been heard in the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on April 6. Following testimony the Chair, Senator Scott (R-GJ), informed that the bill would be “laid over.” The bill was confusing The sponsor, Senator Lambert, said that its purpose was to define or clarify jurisdiction between federal government (US Forest Service and BLM) and the state to improve wildfire fighting procedures on federal lands. However, the bill also attempted to confer concurrent jurisdiction by the state over all federal public lands managed by the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. CWF testified against the bill.
The bill was amended and passed the Committee, as amended, on April 14. It passed the Senate on 3rd reading on April 21.