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DENVER, CO— The Transportation Legislation Review Committee (TLRC) today advanced five bills to update Colorado’s transportation codes. If approved by the legislature next session, the bills would create a new license plate color scheme and issuing process starting in 2021, establish a grant program to provide driver education courses to foster children, among several others.
“Our committee has been hard at work during this interim session, and I’m proud to see our bipartisan legislation advance,” said TLRC Chair Rep. Matt Gray (D-Broomfield). “From providing driver’s education classes to foster kids to increasing transparency and making permanent a successful pilot program, the bills we passed today will move us forward in addressing our state’s critical transportation needs. I know my district in particular will be very pleased to hear that our committee has taken important steps towards improving accountability and transparency in public-private partnerships.”
“In our committee today, we brought forth new proposals that will improve our license plates, update permitting standards and continue to streamline VIN Verification for commercial vehicles,” said TLRC member Rep. Tony Exum, Sr. (D-Colorado Springs). “I am especially excited about the grant program we proposed to help counties provide foster youth with driver education courses.”
1. License Plate reissuance: The committee approved a bill to create a license plate re-issuance process for plates that expire on or after January 2021. The license plates expire for any owner who transfers or assigns their title or interest in another vehicle, and the plates may not be transferred to another vehicle. Owners retain a priority interest in the number and letter combination on the expiring license plates and may apply for personalized plates to keep their unique set of numbers and letters. If approved, this bill would also create a new license plate color scheme beginning at that same time. License plates with the new color scheme would not be issued until the remaining stock of current license plates is exhausted.
Sponsors: Sen. Kevin Priola and Rep. Alex Valdez
2. Public Private Partnership Transparency: The committee advanced legislation to increase transparency and accountability by requiring the High Performance Transportation Enterprise (HPTE) to include more information regarding public-private partnerships in their annual reports. This information will specifically cover public comment and selection processes and summaries of financial provisions in public-private partnership agreements.
Sponsors: Sen. Foote, Sen. Winter, Rep. Hooton and Rep. Gray
3. Foster Children Driver’s Education: TLRC advanced a bill that would create a grant program to fund driver education courses for foster youth ages 15-17. The grant would be housed within the Department of Human Services and would reimburse counties who pay for these driver’s education courses. It would also grant counties immunity from related liability.
Sponsors: Rep. Duran, Rep. Exum, Sen. Donovan and Sen. Hisey
4. Commercial Vehicle VIN Verification: The committee approved a proposal to make permanent a successful pilot program that allows third-party transportation associations or organizations to perform Vehicle Identification (VIN) verifications on commercial vehicles. This program is administered by the Colorado State Patrol in the Department of Public Safety.
Sponsors: Sen. Hisey, Sen. Winter, Rep. Catlin, Rep D. Valdez
5. Updating Permitting for Overweight Commercial Vehicles: Finally, TLRC advance a bill that would update permitting standards for commercial motor vehicle fleets in the non-interstate overweight divisible load category. The bill combines two separate annual non-interstate overweight divisible load permits and creates one annual fleet permit for non-interstate overweight divisible load quad axles and two or three axle trailers.
Sponsors: Sen. Scott, Sen. Hisey, Rep. D. Valdez, Rep. Gray
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