HB 26-1067

HB 26-1067, also known as the Diseased Livestock Indemnity Fund bill, allows the Colorado Department of Agriculture to use money in a special fund not just for compensating livestock owners whose animals are destroyed due to disease but also for preparing and responding to new threats that could harm livestock. This means the fund can now be used more flexibly to protect animal health beyond just paying out after an incident occurs. The bill has been signed into law, so these changes are now in effect.

Official Summary

Currently, money in the diseased livestock indemnity fund may be used only to pay indemnity to a livestock owner whose herd has been sold for slaughter or destroyed because the herd was exposed to or diagnosed with an infectious or contagious disease. The bill expands the permissible uses of the money in the diseased livestock indemnity fund by allowing the commissioner of agriculture to authorize using the money to prepare for and respond to certain emerging threats to livestock health. The bill renames the fund the "livestock health preparedness, response, and diseased livestock indemnity fund" (fund).Money in the fund consists of the unexpended and unencumbered balance appropriated by the general assembly for the services of commissioned or appointed personnel in the animal health division of the Colorado department of agriculture. Civil penalties collected for violations of the "Livestock Health Act" are also credited to the fund. The bill preserves these statutory funding streams and does not alter the amount of money in the fund.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

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