C.R.S. Section 23-31-901
Legislative declaration

(1)

The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:

(a)

The national western stock show has been held annually in Denver for one hundred nine years, and it provides many important benefits to the state because it:

(I)

Is a showcase event for the western agricultural industry and related industries that promotes, supports, and helps to preserve the rural western lifestyle in our increasingly urbanized society and provides opportunities for dissemination of agricultural industry innovations and best practices locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally;

(II)

Funds scholarships for students studying agriculture, rural medicine, and veterinary science at institutions of higher education in the state and in Wyoming; and

(III)

Has an estimated annual economic impact to the state of about one hundred fifteen million dollars, hosting more national-level competitions than any other regional venue, and is considered one of the largest annual agricultural conventions and trade shows in the United States;

(b)

It is important to sustain and grow the national western stock show in Denver for the next one hundred years so that the state can continue to realize the benefits that it provides and additional benefits estimated to accrue from its transformational redevelopment, which include but are not limited to:

(I)

The significant economic benefit to the state that will result from the redevelopment and transformation of the site; and

(II)

The following significant economic impacts, which an economic analysis by strategic advisory group estimates, of developing the Colorado state university facilities at the national western center based upon the current ten-year build-out of the site without the use of financed purchase of an asset or certificate of participation agreements:

(A)

An additional one hundred million dollars in economic impact to the state, which the center will generate upon completion;

(B)

An increase to over two million two hundred thousand in total attendance annually;

(C)

Nine hundred sixty thousand five hundred new visitors annually, forty percent of whom will come from outside of Colorado;

(D)

Three thousand nine hundred twenty construction jobs; and

(E)

Five billion nine hundred million dollars in net new visitor spending over thirty years;

(c)

The existing grounds and facilities where the national western stock show is held are currently difficult to access, poorly integrated with surrounding neighborhoods, and functionally limited;

(d)

In order to ensure that the national western stock show can remain and thrive in Denver for the foreseeable future, and that additional, broad-based benefits of year-round activity can be realized, the national western stock show, the city and county of Denver, Colorado state university, the Denver museum of nature and science, and history Colorado formed the national western center partnership;

(e)

The purpose of the national western center partnership is to redevelop and better integrate with surrounding neighborhoods the existing one hundred thirty acres of land on and near the existing site of the Denver coliseum and national western stock show grounds and to build and operate a new two-hundred-seventy-acre state-of-the-art, multi-purpose national western center to:

(I)

House the national western stock show;

(II)

Serve as a hub for year-round creative, P-20 experiential educational, research and commercial activity that promotes, supports, and helps to preserve the western lifestyle while highlighting innovation and global issues of health, food systems, food security, water, and the environment; and

(III)

Provide an attractive environment for additional agricultural business and science investments that will increase other economic and workforce development activity in the surrounding neighborhoods, encourage the revitalization of those neighborhoods, and position the state as an agricultural innovations cluster leader; and

(f)

At least twenty-four front range cities and towns already support the development of the national western center.

(2)

The general assembly further finds and declares that:

(a)

Agriculture is a forty-two billion dollar per year industry in the state, agricultural innovation has been growing at a rate that is four times the overall state economic growth rate, and agriculture continues to drive economic growth as a major driver of technological advancement, patent development, and entrepreneurship, much of which has global applicability;

(b)

Colorado ranked third in the nation in federal spending on agricultural research and development in 2011, with much of the funding being directed to universities and United States department of agriculture laboratories on the front range;

(c)

The involvement of Colorado state university at the national western center is a critical element of continued growth in agricultural innovation because it will create research and development opportunities, showcase Colorado’s innovation economy on national and international stages, and create public-private partnerships with major industries that will advance science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and have significant economic and scientific impact;

(d)

As Colorado’s land-grant university, a substantial part of Colorado state university’s educational mission is to provide agriculture-related research, education, and outreach and support Colorado’s agricultural industry, and it does so by:

(I)

Offering a wide variety of highly respected agriculture-related undergraduate and graduate degree programs;

(II)

Operating several research centers and institutes and a veterinary teaching hospital; and

(III)

Providing accurate and unbiased information to the public regarding agriculture, gardening, nutrition, and natural resources-related topics through Colorado state university extension and its programs;

(e)

In furtherance of its mission as Colorado’s land-grant university and one of the nation’s premier agricultural and veterinary institutions, Colorado state university’s focus at the national western center will be to advance academic, research, and outreach initiatives related to the state’s broad-based economy in agriculture, food systems, health, and western culture, but it will not issue undergraduate or graduate academic degrees from the national western center;

(f)

The national western center master plan provides for an integrated facilities program that includes a variety of facilities for Colorado state university, including an equine sports medicine clinic, a collaborative community outreach veterinary clinic and clinical trials center, a water resources center, and a Colorado state university center that may include: a food systems innovation and learning center; a Denver urban extension center; an educational urban farm with demonstration fields; classrooms; laboratories; a test kitchen and administrative space; and other facilities that are consistent with the national western center master plan vision and guiding principles that may be added as the site develops. In addition, the national western center needs support from and integration with Colorado state university’s on-campus programs that support the national western center vision and proposed activities, including teaching, research, and outreach. An on-campus equine veterinary teaching hospital, the Malone center for biologic and translational therapies, and the anatomy teaching laboratory expansion or other facilities that are supportive of activity at the national western center as the site develops will be critically connected to the national western center project.

(g)

At full build-out of the two-hundred-seventy-acre national western center, there will be abundant opportunities for complementary co-location to advance food production, food safety, animal health, nutrition, natural resource conservation, and a broad range of related agricultural industries, resulting in estimated direct employment of six thousand people and indirect employment of an additional ten thousand people;

(h)

The national western center’s centralized location relative to the state’s main population centers and its relationship to the state’s greatest concentration of agricultural production, commodity processing, and food manufacturing to the north, including but not limited to the availability of a skilled workforce pipeline and proximity to several public and private universities, will help it drive future agricultural innovations; and

(i)

It is necessary, appropriate, and in the best interests of the state to authorize the state, acting by and through the state treasurer, to enter into financed purchase of an asset or certificate of participation agreements for the purpose of providing financing for the construction of facilities for Colorado state university at the national western center and on-campus affiliated facilities, and such financing is contingent upon approval, through established state executive and legislative branch capital construction project review and approval processes, of specific projects to be financed and the voters of the city and county of Denver approving an extension of the lodging and car rental taxes or another similar tax, which would generate necessary funding for the national western center. Further, it is in the best interests of the state to accelerate the development of the Colorado state university educational facilities resulting in the following economic benefits to the state:

(I)

The state will realize the economic impact of the national western center sooner;

(II)

Overall facility costs will be reduced if design and construction is started sooner; and

(III)

Overall facility costs will also be reduced by taking advantage of historically low interest rates that are currently available.

Source: Section 23-31-901 — Legislative declaration, https://leg.­colorado.­gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2023-title-23.­pdf (accessed Oct. 20, 2023).

23‑31‑101
University established - role and mission 23‑31‑102
Name changed 23‑31‑103
Board to control college and lands 23‑31‑104
Who shall constitute faculty 23‑31‑105
Duty of faculty 23‑31‑106
President - duties 23‑31‑107
President may remove officers 23‑31‑108
President may be professor 23‑31‑109
Report of experimental operations 23‑31‑110
Pledge of income from facilities or equipment 23‑31‑111
Rents or charges for buildings and facilities for research 23‑31‑112
Research building revolving fund - appropriation of fund 23‑31‑113
Anticipation warrants 23‑31‑114
Purchase of anticipation warrants 23‑31‑115
Warrants as security - when 23‑31‑116
Tax exemption 23‑31‑117
Borrowing funds 23‑31‑118
Advancement of moneys and pledge of income 23‑31‑119
Plant breeding programs 23‑31‑120
Cooperation with other agencies 23‑31‑121
Providing personnel, supplies 23‑31‑122
Agricultural extension service furnished counties 23‑31‑201
Transfer to board of governors of the Colorado state university system - exceptions 23‑31‑202
Powers and duties of board of governors of the Colorado state university system 23‑31‑205
Provisions of act of congress accepted 23‑31‑206
Cooperative agreements 23‑31‑207
Employees and personnel 23‑31‑208
Rights by succession to state board of land commissioners - transfers to division of fire prevention and control 23‑31‑301
Legislative declaration 23‑31‑302
Forestry function named 23‑31‑303
Funds available 23‑31‑310
Forest restoration and wildfire risk mitigation grant program - technical advisory panel - legislative declaration - definitions - repeal 23‑31‑311
Watershed protection projects and forest health projects 23‑31‑312
Community wildfire protection plans - biomass utilization plans - county governments - guidelines and criteria - legislative declaration - definitions 23‑31‑313
Healthy forests - vibrant communities - funds created - outreach working group - legislative declaration - definition - repeal 23‑31‑316
Colorado forest health council - legislative declaration - repeal 23‑31‑317
Biomass utilization study - legislative declaration - report - definitions - repeal 23‑31‑318
Wildfire mitigation incentives for local governments - grant awards - fund - reporting - definitions - repeal 23‑31‑319
Forest service seedling tree nursery - necessary upgrades and improvements - definition - funding - reports - repeal 23‑31‑320
Timber, forest health, and wildfire mitigation industries workforce development program - creation - policies and procedures - legislative declaration - definitions 23‑31‑401
Definitions 23‑31‑402
Owner’s permission required - when 23‑31‑403
Proof of ownership required - when 23‑31‑404
Violation - penalty - defense 23‑31‑501
Acceptance of congressional grant of 1862 23‑31‑502
Board of governors of the Colorado state university system to control fund 23‑31‑503
Acceptance of congressional act of 1883 23‑31‑504
Control, investment, and expending of funds 23‑31‑505
Other funds - investment 23‑31‑506
Report on condition - appropriation 23‑31‑507
Management of funds 23‑31‑508
Purpose of sections 23‑31‑509
Acceptance of congressional act of 1928 23‑31‑510
Control of funds 23‑31‑511
Congressional act of 1914 accepted 23‑31‑512
Board to receive and expend funds 23‑31‑513
Acceptance of congressional act of 1935 23‑31‑514
Control of funds from 1935 act 23‑31‑601
Acceptance of congressional act of 1862 23‑31‑602
Control of fund 23‑31‑603
Acceptance of congressional act of 1906 23‑31‑604
Board to control fund 23‑31‑605
Board to cooperate with counties 23‑31‑606
Employees and specialists 23‑31‑607
Stations established 23‑31‑608
Board to secure lands 23‑31‑609
Board to supervise 23‑31‑610
Objects of stations 23‑31‑611
Proceeds from station 23‑31‑612
Expenses - how paid 23‑31‑701
Short title 23‑31‑702
Acknowledgment of related federal laws 23‑31‑703
Responsibility and objectives 23‑31‑704
Organization - cooperative relationships 23‑31‑705
Authority to accomplish purposes of part 23‑31‑706
Reporting and accountability 23‑31‑707
Colorado AgrAbility project - extension program - creation - appropriation - legislative declaration 23‑31‑801
Colorado water institute - creation 23‑31‑802
Advisory committee on water research policy 23‑31‑803
Water research fund 23‑31‑804
Republican river groundwater economic study - reporting - legislative declaration - definitions - repeal 23‑31‑901
Legislative declaration 23‑31‑902
Annual project report - national western center trust fund - creation - use 23‑31‑903
Authorization for financed purchase of an asset or certificate of participation agreements 23‑31‑904
Cooperative agreements for regional economic development not limited 23‑31‑905
National western center partnership - open meetings and open records laws apply - audit 23‑31‑1001
Legislative declaration 23‑31‑1002
Definitions 23‑31‑1003
State veterinary education loan repayment council - creation - membership 23‑31‑1004
State veterinary education loan repayment program - creation - purpose 23‑31‑1005
Council powers and duties 23‑31‑1006
Program applicant eligibility - criteria 23‑31‑1007
Designated veterinary shortage areas - criteria 23‑31‑1008
Release from contract obligation 23‑31‑1009
Loan repayment 23‑31‑1010
Veterinary education loan repayment fund - creation - gifts, grants, and donations 23‑31‑1101
Legislative declaration 23‑31‑1102
Colorado food systems advisory council - created - membership - terms - vacancies 23‑31‑1103
Council - purpose and duties 23‑31‑1104
Subcommittees of the council 23‑31‑1105
Fund - acceptance of gifts, grants, or donations 23‑31‑1106
Reports - recommendations 23‑31‑1107
Repeal of part
Green check means up to date. Up to date

Current through Fall 2024

§ 23-31-901’s source at colorado​.gov