Lawmakers are fast-tracking a bill this week to fix a 2024 plumbing bill that inadvertently raised worries about public health.
That measure, House Bill 24-1344, caused the state plumbing board, with the support of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), to take the unusual step of putting on hold any enforcement action resulting from the law, while the General Assembly came up with a fix.
HB 1344 was a sunset bill intended to reauthorize the state plumbing board for another eight years.
The issue deals with backflow devices, that little valve on the water line that forces water to flow in only one direction.
Before the passage of HB 1344, nationally certified technicians could inspect, evaluate, or repair those devices.
However, during the House Business Affairs & Labor Committee hearing on the bill last year, the sponsors agreed to an amendment that allows only licensed plumbers to do that work â a nod to plumbers’ unions.
It was only after the bill passed and signed into law that the problems became apparent.
Colleen Morrison of Morrison Backflow Testing told 9News in July the change in law would eliminate 44% of her business, as well as put the public at risk if bad water got into the water supply. It also would increase costs for customers who need backflow work, Morrison said.Â
A petition on Change.org, also in launched July, called the amendment a “power grab,” adding the amendment got only a 30-second explanation before passing the committee.
“Only the plumberâs union, plumbing industry, and plumbing board were present” when the amendment was passed,” the petition said. The state’s health agency, water operators, irrigation professionals, and independent backflow servicers were not a part of the conversation, the petition added.
“Most importantly, it seems legislators were not sufficiently aware that Coloradoâs drinking water regulations and backflow device servicing is covered by Regulation 11 and the CDPHE,” the petition said.Â
According to the state health agency, that led to the potential for a backlog in getting those devices inspected and evaluated, which could risk the state’s clean water supply.
Last July, CDPHE Executive Director Jill Hunsaker Ryan said in a statement that without technicians on the ground doing inspections, tests, and repairs, “we run the risk of a backlog that could endanger public health.”
“Certified cross-connection control technicians play a vital role in safeguarding the health and safety of Coloradans by protecting our water systems and preventing contaminants from compromising our clean drinking water,” she said.
That statement came when the state plumbing board announced it would not enforce the law until April 1, 2025, giving the legislature time to reverse that section. The board exercised its enforcement discretion in deciding to put enforcement on hold.
In September, the Water Resources and Agricultural Review Committee gave the 2025 bill a thumbs-up.
The sponsors of the proposed fix, Reps. Sheila Lieder, D-Lakewood and Naquetta Ricks, D-Aurora, offered a mea culpa during House Bill 25-1077‘s committee hearing on Wednesday and in the House on Thursday.
Lieder and Ricks, who sponsored the 2024 bill, said they thought the amendment would “clarify” the scope of licensed plumbing but instead inadvertently repealed the ability of nationally certified technicians to inspect and evaluate those devices.
The 2025 bill says people who inspect, test, and repair backflow devices are exempt from licensure. Those who install or remove those devices must be licensed plumbers.
HB 1077, which strips out the amendment, passed the business committee on a 13-0 vote Wednesday and won preliminary approval from the House on Thursday. It heads for a final House vote as soon as Friday.
