Sen. Rob Woodward

In connection with any land area that is owned by the federal or state government that is located either within the territorial boundaries of a county or outside of but within 5 miles of the territorial boundaries of a county, where a supply of wildfire fuel materials exists on the land that is sufficiently concentrated posing a substantial threat of causing or aggravating a wildfire in such area, or where the federal or state government has failed to create a defensible space on such land to reduce the potential for damage from a wildfire, section 1 of the bill permits the board of county commissioners of any county to use persons employed by the county or to contract with for-profit or not-for-profit organizations or entities to supply persons able to enter the federal or state land for the sole purpose of removing such fuel materials or creating such defensible space. Under the bill, a person employed by or contracting with the county is not liable for any damages caused by any conduct he or she undertakes in accordance with this authority unless the person's conduct was due to willful misconduct, gross negligence, or bad faith. Section 2 appropriates $10 million for the 2019-20 state fiscal year, from the general fund to the department of higher education for allocation to the Colorado state university system to be used for the forest restoration and wildfire mitigation grant program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.) Read More