Colorado Legislation

1999: HB-99-1155- created the conservation easement Colorado tax credit, limited to $100,000 per donation

2000: HB-00-1348 – the Colorado tax credit became transferable with $20,000 minimum – aided land trusts by luring landowners with the sale of Colorado tax credits to a 3rd party for cash

2001:   HB-01-1090 – expanded credits to $100K + 40% of of remaining value, capped at $260K, and increased TABOR refunds to $50,000 – aided land trusts by increasing the lure for landowners

2006: HB-06-1354 – changed the formula for calculating the transferable tax credit to 50% of the value capped at $375,000 – aided land trusts by increasing the lure for landowners

2007: HB-07-1361 – increased reporting standards for easement holders

2008: HB-18-1353 – created tax credit certificate process, created the Conservation Easement Oversight Commission (CEOC), created certification process for easement holders, and allowed appraisals to be submitted to the Division of Real Estate – aided land trust by making them “gatekeeprs” of the program. By statute the majority of the CEOC is comprised of the land trust community and organizations that benefit from their money and political power. This left the “fox guarding the hen house”.

2011: HB-11-1208 – failed to pass – would have aided landowners who were falsely accused of “scamming” the conservation easement program by requiring the Department of Revenue to accept the appraisal associated with the easement donation unless the appraiser was convicted of fraud. These tax cases had been held open from as early as 2003.

2011: HB-11-1300 – ex post facto imposition of a bill of attainder created in 2011 imposed back to easement donated in previous years. Falsely extended the statutory 4 year statute of limitations for a tax matter by excusing the Department of Revenue from proving that appraisals were flawed and allowed for privileged tax payer information to be distributed to the Division of Real Estate and the Conservation Easement Oversight Commission. Forced landowners to settle the tax dispute in a executive branch administrative hearing with a Department of Revenue employee acting as “judge”, or pay for a 4 tier court process. None of these new “remedies” were part of the statute at the time of the original donations, thus HB-11-1300 is both a bill of attainder and ex post facto law. Bill of Attainder: A legislative act that singles out an individual or group for punishment without a trial.  Ex Post Facto Law: A law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law.

2013: SB-13-221 – transferred application and review process for tax credit certificates from the Department of Revenue to the Division of Real Estate

2015: Special Legislative Session Called by State Representative Jerry Sonnenberg to investigate the harm caused to hundreds of Colorado farmers and ranchers, as well as appraisers, by the Colorado Conservation Easement Program. Please watch video below.

2015: SB-15-206 – changed the formula for calculating the transferable tax credit to 75% of the first donated $100,000 and 50% of the donated value above $100,000 up to 1.5 million

2015: Department of Revenue Executive Director Barbara Brohl executed an “emergency ruling” which changed CRS 39-22-522 to define non profits (i.e. landtrusts) as “tax payers” for the purposes of donating a conservation easement. Thus the Colorado tax payers forego tax revenue in the form of tax credits to non-tax-paying non profits who then sell the tax credits at a profit that is not taxable – double dipping.

2016: SB-16-044 – failed to pass – would have aided farmers and ranchers by holding the Department of Revenue accountable to accept the validity of tax credits unless an appraiser was convicted of fraud or another criminal act in connection with the preparation of the appraisal.

2016: HB-16-1174 – failed to pass – would have aided farmers and ranchers with unresolved tax credit issues from as early as 2003 by holding the Department of Revenue accountable to accept the validity of a tax credit unless the Executive Director has produced clear and convincing evidence of an overvaluation of the easement, confirmed in writing by the state attorney general; or the valuation is supported solely by an appraisal from an appraiser convicted of fraud or misrepresentation in connection with preparing the appraisal.The executive director has produced clear and convincing evidence of an overvaluation of the easement, confirmed in writing by the state attorney general prior to a specified date; or the valuation is supported solely by an appraisal from an appraiser convicted of fraud or misrepresentation in connection with preparing the appraisal.

2017: HB-17-1066 – failed to pass – would have aided farmers and ranchers with unresolved tax credit issues from as early as 2003 by removing the surety bond to appeal the case to a district court; and penalties and interest would cease to accrue during the appeal.

2018: HB-18-1122 – failed to pass – would have aided Colorado tax payers by creating a centralized public source of information to identify the number, size, location, or validity of conservation easements in the state and whether the conservation purposes of the easements are being monitored and defended.

2018: HB-18-1123 – failed to pass – would have aided Colorado tax payers by
placing a 3-year moratorium on the creation of new conservation easements from January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2021. This would have allowed the back-log of unresolved tax credit disputes to clear the Department of Revenue and the District Courts, as well as allow time for the centralized public source of information to be created and posted publicly so Colorado taxpayers could be assured their $45 million per year in forgone revenue “investment” is truly conserving resources that are important to Colorado.

2018: HB-18-1194 – failed to pass – would have aided Colorado tax payers, and landowners considering a conservation easement donation by
freezing the amount of the application fee to the amount charged as of January 1, 2018; requiring the governing body of a local government in which a conservation easement is located to hold a public hearing before a conservation easement is created, modified, or transferred; and limiting the term of conservation easements to 20 years

2018: SB-18-1291 – failed to pass in its original form which would have aided Colorado taxpayers and landowners by moving the program to the Department of Agriculture under the direction of employees and Commissioners who do no have a monetized interest in controlling the program for their own enrichment; but who understand land values and conservation values for the use and furtherance of all Coloradans.

2018: SB-18-1291 after many revisions and much money spent by land trusts on lobbyists passed and gave further power for rule-making and lack of transparency to the newly created Division of Conservation and the Conservation Easement Oversight Commission.

2019: HB-19-1091 – failed to pass – would have aided Colorado tax payers, and landowners considering an easement donation requiring prior to creation of a conservation easement the property owner must sign a disclosure acknowledging consequence and risks; requiring the commissioner of agriculture to work with local officials to create a database of conservation easements in the state; prohibiting a conservation easement from being extinguished by taking fee title to the land to which the conservation easement is attached; and for any tax credit that is disallowed, a landowner may either extinguish the easement or receive an equitable relief payment from the state.

2019: HB-19-1264 – signed by governor – Creates a working group to address three issues: I) Reparations to taxpayers whose tax credits were denied in part or in whole between 2003 and 2013; II) An alternative to the appraisal process; III) Orphaned easements

https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2019a_1264_signed.pdf

https://www.journal-advocate.com/2019/06/20/working-group-takes-aim-at-fixing-conservation-easement-mess/

2020 – SB20-135: Concerning the adoption of statutory changes related to conservation easements that were recommended by the conservation easement working group convened in accordance with House Bill 19-1264.

2020- SB20-012: Concerning the transmission of renewable energy through transmission lines that cross property subject to a conservation easement.

2020- HB20-1146: Concerning conservation easement transparency.

2021 SB21-033 Conservation Easement working Group Proposals