Surrounded by sponsors and supporters of SB 72, the Colorado Seed Potato Act, Gov. Bill Ritter signs the bill into law Tuesday at the Monte Vista Co-Op.

MONTE VISTA —Three important bills with great potential for rural Colorado were signed Tuesday by Colo. Gov. Bill Ritter, and one became law immediately.

Ritter said the bills will encourage development of hydro-elctric facilities, protect Colorado’s potato market and ensure financial security for senior citizens.

Addressing a gathering at the Monte Vista Co-Op, Rio Grande County Commission chair Doug Davie welcomed the governor, along with State Rep. Ed Vigil, D-Fort Garland, and State Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village.

Davie then acknowledged the presence of Charlotte Bobicki, SLV representative for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, Erin Minks, local representative for U.S. Rep. John Salazar, Jim Ehrlich, director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee and Hew Hallock of the Governor’s Energy Office.

The governor said signing the three bills at Monte Vista was important to him, since the community was one of the four towns in Colorado chosen for the Sustainable Main Street Initiative.

When making the decisions, he said, much thought was given to the nature of each community and its core. Monte Vista, he said, is an agricultural community with a great cultural heritage, as well. The goal is to meet with community leaders and work on sustainability.

“It has to do with the leadership in the community, people with vision,” said Ritter.

Under the designation, state resources will be put into play to help develop sustainability for Monte Vista’s downtown area.

“Monte Vista and the San Luis Valley’s important farming and energy industries help drive our state’s economy,” Gov. Ritter said.

“Sen. Gail Schwartz has been a strong leader in bringing good jobs and helping build vibrant, sustainable communities in the Valley through her legislative work. I’m proud to stand with her today to sign these bills, which will support rural economies across Colorado.”

The first bill, Senate Bill 19, sponsored in the senate by Schwartz, will standardize the property value assessment of hydro-electric facilities.

Ritter said this is part of Colorado’s “clean energy economy,” and the San Luis Valley can be a great beneficiary, “if we do it right.”

Colorado, he said, has the most aggressive renewable energy standard in the nation. In terms of renewable energy, he said, the state can lay out a template for other states and “break our addiction to foreign oil.”

The next bill signed was SB 42, making it easier for financial institutions to work with law enforcement and government to identify fraud and help disabled and elderly populations. The bill became law the moment Ritter finished signing it.

Ritter said the bill “puts another tool in the state’s tool chest,” allowing financial institutions to report abuse when it is first suspected, before an at-risk individual’s bank account has been cleaned out by another person or persons.

Finally, the governor signed the Colorado Seed Potato Act, sponsored by Schwartz in the Senate and Vigil in the House.

Ritter said he was pleased to sign the Act at the heart of potato production in Colorado “I know a lot about the Valley and what potato growing means to the area,” he said. “A lot of real thought went into this.”

The Act, he said, can help the potato economy in the Valley. “Mexico will look at it and will reward it with more importing of potatoes.”

Now bearing the governor’s signature, the Act will help protect Colorado’s $328 million per year potato industry by requiring that Colorado commercial potatoes to be planted from certified seed.

“I would like to acknowledge the Colorado potato growers for crafting this legislation so that we can keep our state’s potato industry competitive,” Sen. Schwartz said. “I was pleased to carry this bill on behalf of the hard-working farmers in the San Luis Valley. This law will open up new national and international markets for Colorado’s high-quality potatoes and will strengthen the potato industry in the state.”

Vigil expressed admiration for Valley farmers, who get up early, work late and work in all sorts of weather.

He called the Seed Potato Act a “sleeper bill” that will be of immense benefit to the Valley in the future and, when the bill is codified and put into action, “we will have the best product out there.”

“It is great to welcome the Governor to the San Luis Valley,” Vigil said. “Every day, the farmers of the Valley feed the state and the nation, and this Seed Potato Act will help us do that better. It will increase the competitiveness of Colorado potato growers and help prevent potato diseases. Today is the day we open up new national and international markets for the Valley’s potatoes.”

Finally, addressing ballot amendments 60, 61 and proposition 101, Ritter said they are, as his grandmother would say, “bad, worse and worser.”

The governor said their passage “will devastate government as we know it” and eliminate some of the basic fundamentals upon which residents rely at many levels to be able to live in a civil society.















For the complete article see the 06-09-2010 issue.