Under heavy pressure from Denver and other Front Range cities, a bill that would have protected agricultural water rights from being condemned under eminent domain was effectively nixed on the Senate floor today.
“This is absolutely stunning,” said Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray. “I was amazed at some of the rural legislators that voted to gut this bill.”
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Sen. Greg Brophy of Wray |
House Bill 1036, sponsored by Sen. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, originally protected water rights from being condemned and taken away from water-rights owners.
However, the Senate approved committee amendments this morning that eliminated those protections and established a study to find out more about the issue. Shaffer supported the move.
“The irony is Sen. Brophy was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt… that this was the right thing to do,” said Shaffer. “When I heard the testimony, I actually had some doubts.”
Brophy, a farmer from eastern Colorado, made a motion to restore the bill to its original form. “This is a private property rights issue,” he said during the debate. “It is wholly inappropriate to reach out and use eminent domain to condemn the private property right that our water rights are.”
The Brophy motion died on a near-party-line vote, with 14 Republicans in favor and all 20 Democrats plus one Republican opposed.
“You’ve got people like Sen. Gail Schwartz, of Aspen, voting to let Aurora take water away from the San Luis Valley,” said Brophy. “This is just unconscionable.”