House committee advances bill to let Colorado use indemnity fund for livestock disease preparedness

Representative Brett McCormick, sponsor of House Bill 10‑67, told the committee the bill would give Colorado’s animal health authorities more flexibility to use an existing state fund for proactive disease preparedness and rapid response rather than only for post‑loss indemnity. "This bill will give more flexibility to our animal health division and the state veterinarian to utilize the fund in a more proactive and preparedness approach," McCormick said.

Dr. Maggie Baldwin, state veterinarian and director of the Animal Health Division at the Colorado Department of Agriculture, described recent disease impacts and explained the operational need behind the bill. "We've had the largest foreign animal disease outbreak ongoing since 2022 that has now impacted over 11,000,000 domestic poultry in our state as well as impacted 75% of our dairy herds in Colorado," Baldwin said. She told the committee her division currently has no reserve funding at the end of the fiscal year and that the fund’s statutory scope is now limited to indemnity payments.

Witnesses representing producers and agricultural groups urged the committee to support the measure as a fiscally prudent, readiness‑focused change. Madeline Robertson of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union said the bill "represents a common sense update to our agricultural health protocols providing our agricultural professionals with critical tools to help our livestock producers," and Brandon Melnikov of the Colorado Farm Bureau described the approach as a "common sense" way to authorize expenditures to prepare or respond to emerging threats.

Animal welfare and producer groups also highlighted operational details the bill could enable. Ali Granger of the Animal Welfare Institute urged that funds be used to plan humane depopulation approaches and to avoid methods she described as causing significant animal suffering. Erin Spohr of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association said proactive measures reduce the likelihood of reactive actions and cited foot‑and‑mouth disease as a concern producers fear.

During questions, Representative Goldstein asked whether vaccines or treatments exist for the so‑called new world screw worm; Baldwin said preparedness priorities include training producers to identify cases, exercising response plans, and coordinating with federal partners to secure resources and workforce capacity if an outbreak occurs.

Representative McCormick moved HB10‑67 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; the motion was seconded and the committee recorded unanimous support. The chair announced the bill "passed unanimously" and will go the Committee of the Whole for further consideration.

The committee took no amendments on the bill and recorded no fiscal increase tied to the proposal; sponsors characterized the change as enabling more flexible use of existing appropriations and unspent personal services funds already directed to the existing Livestock Disease Indemnity Fund. The next procedural step is consideration in the Committee of the Whole.