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April 16, 2024 HB 24-1447
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 24-1080
Rep. Lindstedt; Froelich
Sen. Winter F.
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
April 16, 2024
House Trans., Hous. & Local Govt.
Nina Forbes | 303-866-4785
nina.forbes@coleg.gov
Bill Topic: TRANSIT REFORM
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☒ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☐ TABOR Refund
☒ Local Government
☒ Statutory Public Entity
The bill makes several statutory changes to the operations of the Regional
Transportation District (RTD). It increases state, local, and statutory public entity
expenditures beginning in FY 2024-25. It may also increase state revenue.
Appropriation
Summary:
For FY 2024-25, the bill requires an appropriation of $1.2 million to the Department of
State from the Department of State Cash Fund. No appropriation is required for the
Department of Transportation, as the State Highway Fund is continuously
appropriated to the department.
Fiscal Note
Status:
The fiscal note reflects the introduced bill.
Table 1
State Fiscal Impacts Under HB 24-1447
Budget Year
FY 2024-25
Out Year
FY 2025-26
Out Year
FY 2026-27
Revenue - - -
Expenditures State Highway Fund $321,295 $64,625 $64,625
CDOS Cash Fund
1
$1,240,568 - $1,040,000
Centrally Appropriated $18,817 $18,817 $18,817
Total Expenditures $1,580,680 $83,442 $1,123,442
Total FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
Transfers - - -
Other Budget Impact
- - -
1
Costs paid from the CDOS Cash Fund may be higher, depending on the potential increase to county election cost
reimbursement (see State Expenditure and Technical Note sections below).
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April 16, 2024 HB 24-1447
Summary of Legislation
The bill makes several statutory changes to the operations of the Regional Transportation
District (RTD). These changes are discussed below.
Regional fixed guideway mass transit systems. The bill requires the district to:
submit its proposed fixed-route transit service plans to the Denver Regional Council of
Governments (DRCOG) for its review and input;
coordinate with DRCOG regarding the implementation of the plans;
ensure that RTD service decisions are consistent with the DRCOG Regional Transportation
Plan;
coordinate transit and land-use decisions to ensure that transit services will be provided to
new and existing transit-oriented communities;
acknowledge established transit centers and give preference for transit centers when
determining transit services and routes; and
requires RTD to coordinate its fixed guideway mass transit system schedule with the
schedules of other transit providers to facilitate the use of transit across the district and
other transit entities.
Study on district size and transit-reliant services. The bill requires the Department of
Transportation (CDOT), in consultation with DRCOG, to contract with a third party on a study
regarding the size of the district and transit-reliant services. CDOT must submit the study
findings to the RTD Board of Directors (board), the Transportation Legislation Review Committee
(TLRC), and the Governor’s Office by March 1, 2026. The board must take the study findings into
consideration when creating its 10-year strategic plan (described below).
RTD board composition. The bill makes phased-in changes to the board as outlined below.
Current board. The bill terminates the current board effective December 31, 2024, and
specifies that the seats of the eight directors whose terms expire on December 31, 2024, will
not be filled during the November 2024 district election. The bill additionally specifies that
the seats of the seven directors whose terms expire on December 31, 2026 will not be filled
during the November 2026 district election and that those seven directors will serve the
remainder of their terms on a newly created transitional board that will govern the district
from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2026.
Transitional board. From January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2026, a transitional board
composed of 11 voting directors and 3 non-voting ex officio directors all serving the district
at-large will govern RTD. The directors of the transitional board will include:
the seven directors elected to the Board during the November 2022 election
(representing the district at-large rather than their elected director districts) serving the
last two years of their elected terms;
two voting directors elected at-large during the November 2024 district election for a
four-year term beginning January 1, 2025, which will span the two years of the
transitional board and the first two years of the new board (described below); Page 3
April 16, 2024 HB 24-1447
two voting directors appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate with terms
commencing January 1, 2025, one of whom will serve a two-year term expiring
December 31, 2026 and the second serving a four-year term, with the latter half as a
member of the new Board;
the CDOT Executive Director, or their designee, as a non-voting ex officio director; and
two non-voting directors appointed by DRCOG for terms commencing January 1, 2025,
one of whom will serve a two-year term expiring December 31, 2026 and the second
serving a four-year term, with the latter half as a member of the new Board.
New board. Beginning on January 1, 2027, RTD will be governed by a new board consisting
of seven voting directors and three non-voting directors, all serving four-year terms. The
directors of the new board include:
five voting directors, including two at-large directors and three directors elected in
director districts;
two voting directors representing the district at-large appointed by the Governor and
confirmed by the Senate, one of whom served the first two years of their term on the
transitional board and the other appointed by DRCOG by January 1, 2027;
the CDOT Executive Director, or their designee, as a non-voting ex officio director; and
two non-voting directors appointed by DRCOG, one of whom served the first
two years of their term on the transitional board and the other appointed by DRCOG by
January 1, 2027.
The bill also requires the board, with RTD staff and community input, to develop an onboarding
program for incoming directors and requires all incoming directors to complete the program.
The bill specifies that any action of the transitional board or new board requires a majority vote
of the directors entitled to vote and who are present and voting.
The bill specifies that the annual compensation for the directors of the transitional and new
boards is an amount equal to 20 percent of the salary paid to a county judge, except if the
director of the new board is also a full-time start or local government official or employee must
serve as director without additional compensation.
RTD Board Election Procedures. The bill makes changes to the board’s election procedures.
The bill directs the Director of Research of the Legislative Council Staff (LCS), with the assistance
of the Director of the Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS), to apportion the population of
the district into three compact and contiguous director districts that are, to the extent
practicable, equal in population to each other. The LCS director must complete the
apportionment by August 31, 2025, and submit the recommended apportionment to the
Colorado Supreme Court. The Colorado Supreme Court must amend or approve the amended
apportionment by October 31, 2025. The LCS director, with the assistance of the OLLS director,
must reapportion the district after the 2030 decennial census and after each federal decennial
census thereafter.
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April 16, 2024 HB 24-1447
The bill specifies election procedures for the new board, including:
the two directors who are first elected in the November 2024 election must reside in the
district but may reside anywhere within the district;
the three directors who are first elected in the November 2026 election must be elected by
eligible electors who reside within one of three new director districts;
the regular district election is held jointly with the state general election in every
even-numbered year;
the district must use instant runoff voting for district elections;
the regular term of an elected director is four years;
nominations for the election of directors for the transitional board and the new board are
made by petition in accordance with the general election laws of the state and must be
signed by at least 250 eligible electors residing within the district; and
write-in director candidates are not allowed.
Ten-year strategic plan. The RTD board must develop a 10-year strategic plan and submit it to
the General Assembly by September 1, 2026. The plan must address the district’s plans and
strategies to:
increase ridership;
improve transparency;
use district-owned land to prioritize certain types of development;
update parking policies;
support state and regional climate, housing, and transportation goals; and
identify funding opportunities to expand transit and improve system efficiency and equity.
The Board must continue to implement the recommendations of the 2021 DRCOG RTD
Accountability Committee Final Report and the 2020 performance audit and to report its
progress to specified entities by December 31, 2025.
Increasing ridership. The bill requires RTD to pursue and take advantage of opportunities to
increase and build ridership by:
working with entities hosting special events to encourage use of public transit to and from
the events;
working with entities to encourage youth to ride transit;
consider recommendations and requests for changes to service routes or schedules that
would lead to increased ridership;
identifying land use policies, strategies, and financial tools to enable the development of
affordable housing and dense, walkable, mixed-use communities near transit stations and
routes.
District budget and planning. The bill requires RTD to post the following items on its website:
the RTD annual budget and other budget information, in a format that is easy to access,
understand, and navigate; Page 5
April 16, 2024 HB 24-1447
RTD’s financial plan, including information about capital projects; and
three public accountability dashboards detailing financial information on capital projects,
ridership by route and reliability of service, and district workforce statistics.
Fair market value for use of district transfer facilities. Current law requires RTD to charge
retail, commercial, or residential users of a portion of a transfer facility to pay fair market value
for the use of the facility. The bill repeals this requirement.
Mass Transit Bus Driver Training Program. The bill requires CDOT to develop a mass transit
bus driver training program to assist in the development and placement of public mass transit
bus operators for CDOT-sponsored mass transit services and for other public mass transit
operators.
Transit provider and Metropolitan Planning Organization coordination. The bill requires
transportation providers to:
submit its proposed fixed-route transit service plans to the relevant metropolitan planning
organization (MPO) for review and input;
coordinate with the MPO regarding the implementation of fixed-route transit service plans;
ensure that the transit provider’s service decisions are consistent with the MPO’s regional
transportation plan;
coordinate transit and land use decisions to ensure that transit services will be provided to
new and existing transit-oriented communities; and
acknowledge established transit centers and provide a preference for transit centers when
determining transit services and routes.
Burnham Yard Rail Property. In July 1, 2022, the State Treasurer transferred $6,500,000 from
the General Fund to the State Highway Fund for CDOT to use for an environmental study on
relocating the consolidated main rail line away from I-25 in connection with the development of
the Burnham Yard rail property. The bill authorizes CDOT to instead use the $6,500,000 for site
preparation, site enhancements, planning, and facilitating a track alignment that preserves
buildable land while promoting transit and rail capacity and increasing safety in connection with
the development of the Burnham Yard rail property.
Background
The General Assembly created RTD in 1969 to create, operate, and maintain a transit system in
the RTD service area. The original RTD board consisted of 21 taxpaying electors. In 1980, a
citizen-initiated ballot measure changed the composition of RTD's board to its current structure,
a 15-member board of directors. Directors are elected for four-year terms and elections are
staggered so that eight seats are open in one general election and seven in the next. State law
gives the RTD's board the power to enter into contracts; borrow and invest money; purchase
and maintain property; and levy taxes. The board is also charged with setting RTD policy,
adopting the annual budget, and establishing RTD's short- and long-term transit goals. Page 6
April 16, 2024 HB 24-1447
RTD is a statutorily created entity, similar to a special district. However, RTD is not a regional
transportation authority, as it was created as a separate statutory political subdivision. Current
law gives RTD's elected board wide authority to operate and maintain the transportation system
within its district boundaries. The legislature plays a limited role in the administration of RTD;
however, RTD is required to provide copies of its annual budget to the TLRC, and other
information, data, testimony, or audits as requested by the committee.
RTD currently serves 3.08 million people in 2,342 square miles of service area, including all or
part of the following eight counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas,
Jefferson, and Weld.
State Revenue
The Department of State (SOS) is responsible for setting its fees to approximate its expenses.
Under the bill, the SOS will likely need to raise its fees to generate the revenue necessary to
cover its costs under bill. In addition to the estimated costs described in the State Expenditures
section below, the amount of revenue to be raised will also depend on any changes to
reimbursable county election expenses (explained further in the Technical Note below) and the
CDOS Cash Fund balance at fiscal year-end.
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State Expenditures
Spending from the State Highway Fund by the CDOT will increase by $340,000 in FY 2024-25
and by about $83,000 starting in FY 2025-26 and on an ongoing basis. Expenditures from the
CDOS Cash Fund by the SOS will increase by about $1,240,000 in FY 2024-25 and about
$1,000,000 in both FY 2026-27 and FY 2028-29. These costs are shown in Table 2 and discussed
below.
Table 2
Expenditures Under HB 24-1447
FY 2024-25 FY 2025-26 FY 2026-27
Department of Transportation
Personal Services $63,345 $63,345 $63,345
Operating Expenses $1,280 $1,280 $1,280
Capital Outlay Costs $6,670 - -
Third-Party Study Costs $250,000 - -
Centrally Appropriated Costs
1
$18,817 $18,817 $18,817
FTE – Personal Services 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
CDOT Subtotal $340,112 $83,442 $83,442
Department of State
IT Division: Personal Services $1,240,568 - -
Local Election Reimbursement TBD TBD TBD
Voter Education and Awareness - - $1,040,000
SOS Subtotal at least $1,240,568 TBD at least $1,040,000
Total Cost at least $1,580,680 $83,442 at least $1,123,442
Total FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
Department of Transportation. CDOT requires 1.0 FTE on an ongoing basis for the Mass
Transit Bus Driver Training Program. Additionally, CDOT requires one-time costs of $250,000 to
fund a third-party study on the size of the district and transit-reliant services. CDOT’s costs are
paid from the State Highway Fund.
Staff. CDOT requires 1.0 FTE Training Specialist III to provide formal education and training
to administer the bus operator training program alongside the existing operator training
program.
Third-party study. The bill requires CDOT to contract a third-party study on the size of the
district and transit-reliant services. The study will cost approximately $250,000.
Department of State. The SOS requires funding to make a variety of software and hardware
changes and conduct and outreach campaign. Page 8
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Software and equipment. The SOS requires one-time costs of $1,240,568 to make changes
to the voting system software and equipment, the Risk-limiting Audit (RLA) software, the
centralized ballot tabulation system; the Election Night Reporting (ENR) system, and the
Ballot Access applications.
Voter education and outreach campaign. The SOS requires $1,040,000 in FY 2026-27 and
again in FY 2028-29 to carry out a voter education and outreach campaign for the 2026 and
2028 elections.
County reimbursement. Under current law pursuant to SB 23-276, the SOS reimburses
counties 45 percent of eligible election costs to conduct elections with state-certified
content. This bill requires that all costs associated with the new instant runoff voting for RTD
elections be paid from the Department of State Cash Fund. At this time, an estimate of this
reimbursement amount is not available (see Technical Note section below).
Legislative Department. The bill will minimally increase the workload of LCS and OLLS to
redistrict the RTD districts by October 31, 2025, and each year following a census. The increase
in workload can be accomplished within existing resources.
Judicial Department. The bill minimally increases the workload of the Judicial Department. The
Colorado Supreme Court will need to create a new type of case regarding challenges to RTD
districts, which will need to be entered into its case management System. The Supreme Court
will also need to set aside deliberative time to consider the proposed apportionment by
August 31, 2025. The work can be accomplished within existing resources.
Governor’s Office. Workload will minimally increase for the Governor’s Office of Boards and
Commissions to make the required appointment under the bill. This work can be accomplished
within existing appropriations.
Centrally appropriated costs. Pursuant to a Joint Budget Committee policy, certain costs
associated with this bill are addressed through the annual budget process and centrally
appropriated in the Long Bill or supplemental appropriations bills, rather than in this bill. These
costs, which include employee insurance and supplemental employee retirement payments, are
shown in Table 2.
Local Government
The bill will result in additional administrative costs for local governments who are part of
DRCOG in order to coordinate with RTD as required, primarily in Section 2 of the bill, including
coordinating on district size, services, and land use decisions as well as coordinating with CDOT
for the study. Municipalities that provide transit services will incur costs to coordinate with
MPOs under Section 18 of the bill.
In the event that a local government official serves as a director on the new RTD Board, they will
incur administrative costs to serve in the role and will not receive additional compensation if
they are a full-time local government employee. Page 9
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Counties within RTD will have increased costs under the bill. Specifically, county clerks will need
to be prepared to run a multi-county IRV race by 2026, including training election workers and
judges, working with the SOS to correctly test, tabulate, and audit ranked voting elections. The
work will continue into 2028 when all counties within RTD will need to be capable of running
a single transferrable vote (STV) method election to conduct ranked choice voting for the
two at-large district electors. Douglas County uses the Clear Ballot voting system, which does
not support ranked voting. The Clear Ballot system is working on adding that capability, but it is
unknown if that will be available by 2026. If it is not, Douglas County will need to adopt a new
voting system to tabulate the election. County costs may be partly or wholly reimbursement by
the state, depending on the method of reimbursement (see Technical Note below).
Statutory Public Entity
The bill will increase expenditures and workload for RTD by approximately $1.0 million to
develop the district’s ten-year strategic plan. RTD will have various other changes to its costs
associated with its modified board, coordination with DRCOG, and other requirements of the
bill.
Technical Note
Starting with the 2024 election, the SOS reimburses counties 45 percent of the costs of
conducting a coordinated election with state-certified ballot content. This reimbursement is
currently funded from a blend of General Fund dollars and CDOS Cash Fund. However, this bill
requires the SOS to reimburse counties for all reasonable increased costs to conduct a regional
transportation district election, paid entirely from the CDOS Cash Fund. This will result in
additional complexity to the rules, guidelines, estimation, and auditing of county
elections-related expenses, and it may be unclear which costs should be paid under which
reimbursement methodology. The fiscal note may be updated to provide additional information
on potential county reimbursement costs after further research and consultation with counties
and the SOS.
Effective Date
The bill takes effect upon signature of the Governor, or upon becoming law without his
signature.
State Appropriations
For FY 2024-25, the bill requires an appropriation of $1,240,568 to the Department of State from
the Department of State Cash Fund.
The State Highway Fund is continuously appropriated to the Department of Transportation.
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State and Local Government Contacts
Municipalities County Clerks Governor’s Office
Judicial Legislative Council Staff Legislative Legal Services
Regional Transportation District Secretary of State Transportation
The revenue and expenditure impacts in this fiscal note represent changes from current law under the bill for each
fiscal year. For additional information about fiscal notes, please visit the General Assembly website.