republic-os/legislation/us/states/co/2017a/sb-17-036.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Appellate Process Concerning Groundwater Decisions"
description: "Under current law, the decisions or actions of the ground water commission (commission) or the state engineer regarding groundwater are appealed to a district court, and the evidence that the district court may consider is not limited to the evidence that was presented to the commission or state engineer. Therefore, unlike appeals from other state agencies' decisions or actions under the 'State Administrative Procedure Act', a party appealing a decision or action of the commission or state engineer may present new evidence on appeal that was never considered by the commission or state engineer."
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2017A"
identifier: "SB 17-036"
citation: "Colorado SB 17-036 (2017A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Don Coram", "Jeni Arndt", "Jon Becker", "Ray Scott"]
version_count: 12
action_count: 17
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2017-01-11T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2017-04-18T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0a9c3926-94cb-4adb-be90-cbffb1cf05ea"
source_url: "http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb17-036"
source_hash: "30c7d1b54641cfec64ccc96babcce59308387a884ae555e3db60460fbfc42e40"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-co"]
---

# Colorado SB 17-036 (2017A) — Appellate Process Concerning Groundwater Decisions

Under current law, the decisions or actions of the ground water commission (commission) or the state engineer regarding groundwater are appealed to a district court, and the evidence that the district court may consider is not limited to the evidence that was presented to the commission or state engineer. Therefore, unlike appeals from other state agencies' decisions or actions under the 'State Administrative Procedure Act', a party appealing a decision or action of the commission or state engineer may present new evidence on appeal that was never considered by the commission or state engineer.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Amendment L.011** (committee substitute) — [source](http://coga.prod.acquia-sites.com/sites/default/files/html-attachments/h_jud_2017a_20170321t110721z0__hearing_summary/17HouseJud0321AttachE.pdf)
2. **Amendment L.013** (committee substitute) — [source](http://coga.prod.acquia-sites.com/sites/default/files/html-attachments/h_jud_2017a_20170321t110721z0__hearing_summary/17HouseJud0321AttachC.pdf)
3. **Amendment L.015** (committee substitute) — [source](http://coga.prod.acquia-sites.com/sites/default/files/html-attachments/h_jud_2017a_20170321t110721z0__hearing_summary/17HouseJud0321AttachD.pdf)
4. **Committee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017a/bills/cr/2017A_SB036_H_JUD_001.pdf)
5. **Engrossed (02/13/2017)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017A/bills/2017a_036_eng.pdf)
6. **Final Act (04/06/2017)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017A/bills/2017a_036_enr.pdf)
7. **Introduced (01/11/2017)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017A/bills/2017a_036_01.pdf)
8. **PA1 (03/22/2017)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017A/bills/2017a_036jud_01.pdf)
9. **Reengrossed (02/14/2017)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017A/bills/2017a_036_ren.pdf)
10. **Rerevised (03/27/2017)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017A/bills/2017a_036_rer.pdf)
11. **Revised (03/24/2017)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017A/bills/2017a_036_rev.pdf)
12. **Signed Act (04/18/2017)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017A/bills/2017a_036_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- Adopt amendment L.011 (Attachment E). The motion passed without objection. — **0–0** (pass) · legislature
- Adopt amendment L.015 (Attachment D). The motion passed without objection. — **0–0** (pass) · legislature
- Refer Senate Bill 17-036, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 7-4. — **7–4** (pass) · legislature
- Refer Senate Bill 17-036 to the Committee of the Whole with a recommendation that it be placed on the consent calendar. The motion passed on a vote of 11-0. — **11–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Don Coram — primary (person)
- Jeni Arndt — primary (person)
- Jon Becker — primary (person)
- Ray Scott — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-04-18T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2017-04-13T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-04-06T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2017-04-05T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2017-03-30T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **2017-03-30T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Reconsider
- **2017-03-29T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Not Concur - Request Conference Committee
- **2017-03-28T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Laid Over Daily
- **2017-03-27T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `reading-3, passage`
- **2017-03-24T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Passed with Amendments - Committee `reading-2`
- **2017-03-21T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2017-03-07T07:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Judiciary Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only
- **2017-02-21T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary `introduction`
- **2017-02-14T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `reading-3, passage`
- **2017-02-13T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
- **2017-02-09T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Agriculture, Natural Resources, & Energy Refer Unamended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2017-01-11T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Agriculture, Natural Resources, & Energy `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0a9c3926-94cb-4adb-be90-cbffb1cf05ea`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).