Ag & Natural Resources committee gives appointees thumbs down

Two of Governor Jared Polis’ three appointees to the State Parks and Wildlife Commission got a thumbs-down from the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Feb. 29.

The committee, with chair Senator Dylan Roberts, D-Summit County, voting with its three Republicans, are sending an unfavorable recommendation on Gary Skiba and Jessica Beaulieu.

The committee did approve the recommendation for John “Jack” Murphy.

Skiba was appointed to represent sportspersons — hunters and anglers — on the commission. Murphy and Beaulieu were appointed to represent State parks and outdoor recreation.

But the appointees’ answers to some of the committee questions drew negative reactions.

When asked how they reached out to those organizations when they were appointed, several said they contacted the Department of Natural Resources to find out who they should be talking to.

That was the wrong answer, according to Roberts. They should have those relationships before they were appointed, not after, Roberts said as he cast the deciding vote.

Beaulieu was asked how many State parks she had visited prior to her appointment and she identified only a handful in the Denver area. She also said she has never purchased an annual State parks pass. 

Skiba took the hardest questions during the hearing. While all three have ties to the animal rights movement — Beaulieu volunteers at an animal sanctuary that rescues farm animals and which has ties to Marlon Reis, Polis’ husband — Skiba is acknowledged as the author of the wolf reintroduction concept, according to Defenders of Wildlife.

That’s been a sore subject for Roberts and other rural lawmakers, who have taken the Parks and Wildlife department to task for a lack of communication with ranchers when wolves were released in Grand County in December. A new CPW map, released in the past week, shows those wolves have now crossed the Continental Divide and into Larimer County.

The relationship between ranchers and CPW was so badly damaged by CPW in December that ranchers will no longer cooperate with the agency on conservation initiatives, in effect, “closing the gates” to CPW staff, according to lawmakers.

Despite the unfavorable recommendation, the three appointees will still have a chance to stay on the commission, based on a vote expected this week in the State Senate. The committee’s vote is only a recommendation, and the three are likely to win confirmation from the Democratic-controlled Senate. Those votes are scheduled for this week. 

Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, had a split week on two measures.

The first was on Senate Bill 35, which would strengthen enforcement on human trafficking. The bill won a 33-1 vote from the State Senate on Feb. 28 and now heads to the House, where its lack of a Democratic sponsor may spell trouble. 

The issue has already been divisive in the House due to an earlier bill that died in the House State, Civic, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee. That measure, which would have added mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of child sex trafficking, has produced a rash of inflammatory rhetoric between the sponsor, Representative Brandi Bradley, R-Roxborough Park, and Democratic lawmakers and their supporters, including Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver, who was among the most vehement in her opposition to the measure.

Pelton’s second bill, on cost-effective energy codes, died in the Senate Local Government & Housing Committee on Feb. 29. 

A bill that will change the licensing for critical access hospitals won approval from the Senate Health & Human Services Committee on Feb. 29.

There are 31 critical access hospitals in Colorado, including in Haxtun, Wray and Yuma.

Sen. Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, who is sponsoring Senate Bill 121, told the committee these rural hospitals face unique challenges compared to better-funded urban hospitals. That includes an antiquated licensing system that costs these hospitals hundreds of thousands of dollars during the construction phase.

When a critical access hospital submits an application to the state Department of Public Health & Environment to construct or expand a hospital, the duplicative waiver process adds costs and time to the building process.

About 40 percent of rural hospitals are operating on negative margins and on the verge of closure, according to the National Rural Health Association. 

Pelton has also picked up a Democratic co-sponsor: Roberts, who will be added to the bill when it reaches the Senate.

The new licensing would be unique to critical access hospitals, which are currently licensed as general hospitals, which applies to all hospitals. Federal law, however, licenses the rural hospitals only as critical access facilities.

Kevin Stansbury, CEO of Lincoln Health in Hugo and representing the Eastern Plains Healthcare Consortium of 15 hospitals, explained just how the current licensing requirements impact his and other critical access hospitals.

Because critical access hospitals are licensed as general hospitals, they must follow the same construction guidelines as general hospitals. That means any review of facility plans for renovation or construction must meet general hospital guidelines. As a result, they are first required to design to general hospital standards and then seek a waiver to comply with critical access guidelines.

Creating a standalone license for critical access hospitals will save time and money spent on staff consultants, for example. 

The bill was amended to include rural emergency rooms under the critical access license.

Kerry Erb of the Rural Health Care Center said rural hospitals are in a slow-burning crisis, with 130 rural hospitals closing since 2010. At the same time, rural adults face higher rates of mortality, cancer, heart disease and unintentional injury, she said.

This bill will help the sustainability of rural hospitals, she said.

SB 121 won a 9-0 vote and now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.