The Commission adopted revisions to Regulation No. 31, The Basic Standards and Methodologies for Surface Water, on August 15, 2000.
The Commission submitted the entire regulation to the Secretary of State for republication and to the Office of Legislative Legal Services for review in accordance with section 24-4-103(8)(d), C.R.S. The Legislative Legal Services staff raised a concern that section 31.6 of the Basic Standards, concerning "Section 25-8-207 Reviews," did not incorporate all provisions of section 25-8-207, C.R.S. That statutory section includes water quality designations among the matters subject to review, while the regulation did not. The Commission agrees that Regulation 31 should include appropriate references to water quality designations. In addition, the Commission concludes that conforming changes to the Procedural Rules will be necessary.
If the Commission does not adopt revisions to Regulation 31 and the Procedural Rules on an emergency basis, the General Assembly Committee on Legal Services will need to address this issue. In view of the Commission's conclusion that its regulations should be modified to address this provision of section 25-8-207, C.R.S., the public interest will be best served by a prompt resolution with minimum expenditure of resources. Compliance with the procedures and notice requirements in section 24-4-103, C.R.S., would engender unnecessary delay in achieving conformance of the Commission regulations to Colorado statute. The Commission finds that immediate adoption of these revisions to Regulation 31 and the Procedural Rules is imperatively necessary to comply with state law and that compliance with the requirements of section 24-4-103, C.R.S., would be contrary to the public interest.
5 CCR 1002-21.30