republic-os/legislation/us/states/co/2026a/hb-1340.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revegetate or Dry Farm Formerly Irrigated Agricultural Land"
description: "The act requires a water right owner that changes the use of their water right in water division 2 from agricultural irrigation purposes to another beneficial use on or after January 1, 2027, to engage in revegetation or a conversion to dryland farming with effective erosion control and weed management on the formerly irrigated agricultural land. The act implements a procedure that includes:The identification of site-specific criteria and an associated scientific and objective evaluation methodology to measure and determine the success of the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming;A requirement that the water court appoint a third-party revegetation or dryland farming expert to conduct annual field reviews and issue reports concerning the success of the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming until the revegetation or conversion is successfully established; andA requirement that the water court:Order the water right owner to provide financial assurance to the local land use authority to cover the anticipated cost to achieve successful revegetation;Place limitations on the timing of use or percentage of the water that may be used for the new beneficial use during the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming process; orIf the water right owner has obtained a permit or entered into an intergovernmental agreement that requires financial assurance or establishes requirements governing the timing of use or percentage of the water that may be used for the new beneficial use, incorporate those requirements into the change-of-use decree.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2026A"
identifier: "HB 1340"
citation: "Colorado HB 1340 (2026A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Water"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["N. Hinrichsen", "R. Pelton", "T. Mauro", "T. Winter"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 15
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2026-03-25"
last_action: "2026-05-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f089aea5-f2f0-4c2a-8dd4-9a0202a070c3"
source_url: "https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/HB26-1340"
source_hash: "7558e475c7dc1b51e494aa38959801956225283dcca852cd0a7639bae246eb4d"
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 HB 1340 (2026A) — Revegetate or Dry Farm Formerly Irrigated Agricultural Land

The act requires a water right owner that changes the use of their water right in water division 2 from agricultural irrigation purposes to another beneficial use on or after January 1, 2027, to engage in revegetation or a conversion to dryland farming with effective erosion control and weed management on the formerly irrigated agricultural land. The act implements a procedure that includes:The identification of site-specific criteria and an associated scientific and objective evaluation methodology to measure and determine the success of the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming;A requirement that the water court appoint a third-party revegetation or dryland farming expert to conduct annual field reviews and issue reports concerning the success of the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming until the revegetation or conversion is successfully established; andA requirement that the water court:Order the water right owner to provide financial assurance to the local land use authority to cover the anticipated cost to achieve successful revegetation;Place limitations on the timing of use or percentage of the water that may be used for the new beneficial use during the revegetation or conversion to dryland farming process; orIf the water right owner has obtained a permit or entered into an intergovernmental agreement that requires financial assurance or establishes requirements governing the timing of use or percentage of the water that may be used for the new beneficial use, incorporate those requirements into the change-of-use decree.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/113725/download)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115358/download)
3. **Final Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116730/download)
4. **Reengrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/115515/download)
5. **Rerevised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116310/download)
6. **Revised** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116163/download)
7. **Signed Act** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/116869/download)

## Votes

- REPASS — **pass** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Adopt amendment L.001, as amended — **pass** (pass) · lower
- CONCUR — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Refer House Bill 26-1340, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Refer House Bill 26-1340, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Adopt amendment L.002 — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- N. Hinrichsen — primary (person)
- R. Pelton — primary (person)
- T. Mauro — primary (person)
- T. Winter — primary (person)
- A. Boesenecker — cosponsor (person)
- B. Titone — cosponsor (person)
- C. Clifford — cosponsor (person)
- C. Kipp — cosponsor (person)
- C. Simpson — cosponsor (person)
- J. Bacon — cosponsor (person)
- J. Caldwell — cosponsor (person)
- J. Jackson — cosponsor (person)
- J. Joseph — cosponsor (person)
- J. McCluskie — cosponsor (person)
- K. McCormick — cosponsor (person)
- K. Nguyen — cosponsor (person)
- K. Stewart — cosponsor (person)
- L. Goldstein — cosponsor (person)
- L. Smith — cosponsor (person)
- M. Duran — cosponsor (person)
- M. Rutinel — cosponsor (person)
- M. Soper — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-05-29** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2026-05-28** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-28** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-05-28** Signed by the Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-05-12** House Considered Senate Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **2026-05-11** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-05-08** Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2026-05-07** Senate Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources Refer Amended to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2026-05-01** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Agriculture & Natural Resources `introduction`
- **2026-04-30** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-04-29** House Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2026-04-28** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2026-04-23** House Committee on Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2026-04-20** House Committee on Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only
- **2026-03-25** Introduced In House - Assigned to Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f089aea5-f2f0-4c2a-8dd4-9a0202a070c3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).