DENVER (AP) - The Latest on a bill to renew the Colorado Energy Office (all times local):
7:05 p.m.
The Democrat-led House has advanced a bill to renew a Colorado energy office over the objections of one of the bill’s sponsors.
The House majority leader, Rep. KC Becker, urged passed Tuesday of the bill. Next to her stood the bill’s House co-sponsor, Republican Rep. Lori Saine, who told her colleagues to vote “No.”
Saine was angered by House action earlier Tuesday that stripped the bill of elements backed by Republicans, who favor an all-of-the-above promotion of energy in the state, including fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Democrats want the office to continue its focus on renewable energy.
Funding for the Colorado Energy Office expires June 30. A formal House vote on Wednesday is needed to send the bill back to the Senate.
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4:15 p.m.
A Democrat-led House committee has stripped key elements of a Republican-sponsored bill to renew a Colorado energy agency, putting the agency’s future in doubt.
Tuesday’s changes included the restoration of several renewable energy programs overseen by the Colorado Energy Office.
Republican Sen. Ray Scott had said he had bipartisan support in the House when he eliminated those programs in his bill.
A livid Republican Rep. Lori Saine told the House Judiciary Committee that the amendment, backed by Democratic Majority Leader KC Becker, was “disingenuous.”
Becker says she hopes a compromise can be reached to new the office, whose funding ends June 30.
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11:50 a.m.
The Republican sponsor of a bill to save the Colorado Energy Office has added some elements to attract Democratic support.
Sen. Ray Scott’s bill would require energy companies to report to the Legislature on their inspections of natural gas lines.
The state ordered those inspections after an April explosion killed two people in Firestone. Investigators blamed a leaking gas line.
The Republican-led Senate passed Scott’s bill Thursday. It faces amendments among Democrats in the House who are concerned about Scott’s proposed cuts to renewable energy programs.
Funding for the Colorado Energy Office expires June 30.
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