Colorado § 35-5.5-116 - Noxious weed management fund - creation - allocation of funds.

§ 35-5.5-116. Noxious weed management fund - creation - allocation of funds.

(1) There is hereby created in the office of the state treasurer the noxious weed management fund. The fund consists of any civil penalties collected pursuant to section 35-5.5-118; any gifts, donations, and grants received pursuant to section 35-1-104 (1)(cc); and any moneys appropriated or transferred thereto by the general assembly. All interest derived from the deposit and investment of moneys in the fund shall be credited to the fund. The general assembly shall annually appropriate state moneys in the fund to the department of agriculture for the purposes specified in this section. Any unexpended and unencumbered moneys from an appropriation from the fund remain available for expenditure by the department in the next fiscal year without further appropriation.

(2) The interest earned on moneys in the noxious weed management fund and appropriated to the department of agriculture shall be expended for costs incurred by the department of agriculture in administering this article, and any moneys appropriated that exceed the amount needed for such costs may be expended for noxious weed management projects in accordance with this section.

(3) The department may expend moneys through grants or contracts to communities, weed control districts, or other entities it considers appropriate for noxious weed management projects.

(4) The department may expend moneys for the following purposes:

(a) Noxious weed management programs with local weed control districts, if expenses are shared with such districts;

(b) With the approval of the agricultural commission, the department may make special grants to local weed control districts to eradicate or contain state noxious weeds, which grants may be issued without matching funds from the district;

(c) Administrative expenses incurred by the department;

(d) Any project the agricultural commission determines will significantly contribute to the management of noxious weeds within the state;

(e) With the approval of the agricultural commission, grants to the Colorado state university cooperative extension service, the Colorado state university experiment station, and universities for weed management research, evaluation, and education;

(f) Employment of a new and innovative noxious weed management project or the development, implementation, or demonstration of any noxious weed management project that may be proposed, implemented, or established by local, state, or national organizations, whether public or private. Such expenditures shall be shared with such organizations.

(5) If a new and potentially harmful noxious weed is discovered growing in the state and its presence is verified by the department, the governor may declare a noxious weed emergency. In the absence of necessary funding from other sources, the department is authorized to allocate up to fifty thousand dollars of the principal in the noxious weed management fund to government agencies for emergency relief to manage or confine the new noxious weed species.

Source: L. 96: Entire section added, p. 773, § 17, effective May 23. L. 2016: (1) amended, (HB 16-1163), ch. 76, p. 199, § 1, effective April 12.