Opponents said Rep. Sal Pace’s proposed law to mitigate economic and ecological impacts of originating communities in water transfers duplicates processes already in place, but the bill passed through committee by a 9-4 vote. Urban water interests and some agricultural voices offered the criticisms Wednesday during a House Agriculture Committee meeting of HB1159, offered by Pace, D-Pueblo. The bill, similar in some ways to one that died amid urban legislators’ opposition in 2004, would require mutually agreed upon mitigation compacts between communities where water transfers take place and those that benefit from the transfers. When the two groups can’t reach a compromise, a water court will decide the terms of mitigation.