On the recordMarch 13, 2014
I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Madam Chair, I want to make it clear that I was an original sponsor of this bill. Like my colleague from Colorado (Mr. Tipton), I wanted to address the 2011 directive as it affected ski resorts. However, this bill, in markup and through the manager's amendment, became worse. We were unable to get the improvements that we needed to narrow the scope; and it became a Republican job-killing, water- grabbing bill, which was not the original intent. Even the areas where the intent was to help the ski areas--in Summit County and Eagle County in my district, in Pitkin County in Mr. Tipton's district--the counties have all come out against this very bill. It is a Republican water-grabbing, job-killing bill, and absent the amendment that I proposed, it is not something that I can support. I encourage my colleagues on my side of the aisle who value recreational opportunities, like fishing and white-water rafting, to join me in opposing this bill, unless the Polis amendment is incorporated into the bill. We will soon begin a debate on that amendment. This debate would focus the actual bill to fulfill its purpose, and I hope that this body will adopt it.
