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CSFCA 2012 Legislative Session Wrap Up –
Who Would Have Guessed?
We knew it was going to be an
interesting Legislative Session . . .
election year sessions typically are.
But, who would have guessed it would be
historic?
As we entered the 2012 Legislative
Session a mere four months ago, we knew
we were going to be dealing with the
reorganization of homeland security and
the transfer of additional fire safety
responsibilities to the Division of Fire
Safety. But, who would have anticipated
the roller-coaster ride of a session
that culminated in addressing issues
that have been on our agenda for nearly
20 years.
At the beginning of the session,
countless hours were spent negotiating
with the Department of Public Safety (CDPS)
to separate the Division of Fire Safety
(DFS) from Homeland Security, so DFS
could focus on its mission. When those
talks were unsuccessful, we took our
case to the Governor’s Office which
ultimately sided with us over the
department . . . which was historic in
its own right, as we were dealing with a
“Governor’s Agenda” bill concerning an
executive branch reorganization that had
already been decided by Executive
Order. But, the fallout wasn’t pretty .
. . our relationship with CDPS slipped
to an all-time low and adversely
affected other issues we had been
working on together, including the bill
to transfer fire safety functions from
CDPHE to DFS.
But, whether it was fate, providence, or
divine intervention; things took a
dramatic turn. As a result of the Lower
North Fork Fire and
the
Heartstrong Fire in Yuma County, the
CSFCA renewed its call for changes in
the way the State manages its wildland
fire and resource mobilization
responsibilities . . . a call for change
that dates back to July 6, 1994 in the
South Canyon Fire ICP.
The CSFCA formalized its call to action
in 1997 with the distributed of its
“Five Point Plan for a Fire Safe
Colorado.” This document which was
developed to assist the legislature, the
executive branch and other stakeholders
to formulate and execute public policy
on the topic of fire protection in
Colorado, included the following
recommendations:
·
The CSFCA recommends that the State
develop an effective statewide disaster
management and resource mobilization
plan to quickly notify, assemble and
deploy the appropriate aid to any local
jurisdiction that has exhausted its
resources in attempting to control an
emergency incident.
·
The CSFCA recommends that one state
agency, with statutory authority and
adequate resources be assigned the
leadership role in fire protection and
disaster related services.
·
The CSFCA recommends the consolidation
of all fire safety activities
administered by the various state
agencies.
Who would have guessed that the 2012
Legislative Session would turn into a
discussion of the validity of the
recommendations made by the CSFCA in
1997? Who would have guessed that we
would turn around a relationship with
CDPS that had reached an all-time low in
late February to an all-time high at the
end of the session? Who would have
guessed that the CSFCA would have gone
from “barely known” in the Governor’s
Office at the beginning of the session
to “trusted advisor” status at the end?
As you know, the 2012 Legislative
Session came to a close at midnight last
night.
Attached is the
Status Sheet for bills of interest to
the CSFCA. During the course
of the 2012 Legislative Session, the
CSFCA monitored or was actively involved
in some 28 different pieces of
legislation. None of the four bills
that the CSFCA opposed survived the
session; all five of the bills we
supported (and one of the two bills we
passively supported) passed both houses
and have been or will be signed into
law.
The most significant legislative success
this year is also the one that will
require the most work on the part of the
CSFCA and its members to implement:
HB12-1283,
Concerning the Department of Public
Safety, and, in Connection therewith,
Renaming and Reorganizing Certain
Existing Entities
(Rep. Barker, Sen. Giron).
This is the bill that, among other
things, transfers all responsibilities
related to fire from Colorado State
University to the Colorado Department of
Public Safety (CDPS). This bill, and
the groundwork leading to its passage,
also sets the stage for having one
statewide resource mobilization plan for
all hazards.
As has been said throughout the past few
weeks regarding this transfer of
state-level responsibility for wildland
fire management, “the devil is in the
details.” There are a lot of pieces
that need to come together for
successful implementation of these
responsibilities in CDPS . . . but,
failure is not an option. Therefore, as
CSFCA President, I have pledged our full
support and whatever resources we can
provide, to ensure its success. The
CSFCA will be a part of the various
transition teams, and I will be calling
upon our members to be a part of those
teams.
You will see more about this in the
coming days, but for now I would like to
close by giving thanks to the CSFCA
Legislative Committee and its chair,
Chief Jerry Rhodes, the CSFCA Board of
Directors, and our Executive Director,
who worked tirelessly to represent the
Association throughout the Legislative
Session. I also wish to thank all of
the CSFCA members who took time from
their schedules to make phone calls or
send emails to legislators when the need
arose. I also need to acknowledge and
thank the allied professional
organizations that partnered with us on
issues of mutual concern, including CML,
SDA, CSOC, and the CSFFA.
Finally, I wish to thank the Governor’s
Office and the CDPS Executive Director
for working so closely with the CSFCA,
especially during the last month of the
legislative session.
Please direct any questions concerning
the legislative session to the CSFCA
Executive Director, our Legislative
Committee Chair, or to me.
Sincerely,
Steve
Steven J. Pischke, EFO
President, Colorado State Fire Chiefs
Association
Deputy Chief, Mountain View Fire
Protection District
Email:
spischke@colofirechiefs.org
Posted 05/10/12 |
