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February 5, 2024 SB 24-091
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 24-0283
Sen. Pelton B.; Mullica
Rep. Martinez; Catlin
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
February 5, 2024
Senate Transportation & Energy
Colin Gaiser | 303-866-2677
colin.gaiser@coleg.gov
Bill Topic: RIGHTS-OF-WAY PERMITS FOR BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☒ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☒ TABOR Refund
☐ Local Government
☐ Statutory Public Entity
The bill requires the Department of Transportation to allow broadband providers fair
access to public rights-of-way for deployment and establishes a permit process.
Beginning in FY 2024-25, the bill increases state revenue and expenditures on an
ongoing basis.
Appropriation
Summary:
No appropriation is required. The State Highway Fund is continuously appropriated to
the Department of Transportation.
Fiscal Note
Status:
The fiscal note reflects the introduced bill. This analysis is preliminary and will be
updated following further review and any additional information received.
Table 1
State Fiscal Impacts Under SB 24-091
Budget Year
FY 2024-25
Out Year
FY 2025-26
Revenue State Highway Fund $343,707 $227,697
Total Revenue $343,707 $227,697
Expenditures State Highway Fund $286,863 $170,853
Centrally Appropriated $56,844 $56,844
Total Expenditures $343,707 $227,697
Total FTE 3.2 FTE 3.2 FTE
Transfers - -
Other Budget Impacts TABOR Refund $343,707 $227,697
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February 5, 2024 SB 24-091
Summary of Legislation
The bill requires the Department of Transportation (CDOT) to allow broadband providers fair
access to public rights-of-way (ROW) for the deployment of broadband. The bill establishes a
permit and fee process for access to ROW, and allows providers seeking access to pursue either
the permit process or the existing public-private initiative agreement process.
In issuing permits that grant access to ROW, the bill:
requires the CDOT to approve or deny a permit application within 30 days;
specifies that the term of any permit is 30 years and the CDOT cannot take ownership of
broadband infrastructure except if it is abandoned;
prohibits the CDOT from requiring the permit recipient to lay additional fiber;
prohibits the CDOT from requiring the permit recipient to provide any in-kind good or
services as a condition of granting access to ROW; and
the CDOT will produce an anticipated annual budget for the costs associated with the permit
application process and the anticipated annual forecast of revenue generated from the
permit fees.
The bill allows the CDOT to impose a one-time permit processing fee that does not exceed the
costs of granting and administering permits. The CDOT is prohibited from including any charge
in the permit processing fee to receive compensation for the fair market value of ROW or access
to ROW. However, if the attorney general declares this violates federal law and that the violation
will result in the loss of federal money apportioned to the state, the department must include
fair market value in the permit processing fee. In this case, the department must set the rate of
fair market value at a level that does not exceed the lowest rate of fair market value established
by any other state for access to that state's ROW for broadband deployment.
Background
Current ROW access fees. The Transportation Commission approved a resolution in December
2023 adopting initial and annual payments for fiber builds within CDOT ROW, which are
outlined in Table 2.
Table 2
Adopted Fee Structure for ROW Access and Use for Broadband (Fiber) Deployment
One-time Application Fee Annual Property Use Fee
$0.05 per foot $0.10 per foot for counties with >200k population
$0.03 per foot for rural counties <200k population
CDOT data show that up to 2,362 miles of new fiber may be built in CDOT ROW.
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February 5, 2024 SB 24-091
State Revenue
On net, the bill is expected to increase state revenue to the SHF by about $344,000 in
FY 2024-25 and $228,000 in FY 2025-26 to cover the costs of the bill’s expenditures. The bill
removes the annual fee for ROW access; however, CDOT is allowed to impose a one-time permit
processing fee to cover its actual costs for granting and administering permits. The fiscal note
assumes the total revenue from implementing this fee will not exceed the cost of the new
expenditures (see State Expenditures section below), plus any existing costs for permit
processing.
State Expenditures
The bill increases state expenditures in the CDOT by about $344,000 in FY 2024-25 and $228,000
in FY 2025-26, paid from the State Highway Fund. Expenditures are shown in Table 3 and
detailed below.
Table 3
Expenditures Under SB 24-091
FY 2024-25 FY 2025-26
Department of Transportation
Personal Services $166,757 $166,757
Operating Expenses $4,096 $4,096
Capital Outlay Costs $20,010 -
Computer Programming $96,000 -
Centrally Appropriated Costs
1
$56,844 $56,844
Total Cost $343,707 $227,697
Total FTE 3.2 FTE 3.2 FTE
1
Centrally appropriated costs are not included in the bill's appropriation.
Department of Transportation. Costs will increase in the CDOT in FY 2024-25 and ongoing
years to satisfy the bill’s requirements.
Staff. The CDOT requires 3.2 FTE of administrator work beginning in FY 2024-25 to meet
requirements of turnaround time for application processing. Currently, it takes CDOT about
45 days to process a fiber permit, so meeting the bill’s 30-day requirement necessitates
additional staff dedicated to processing fiber permits. The fiscal note assumes staff will begin
work in July 2024.
Computer programming. The bill requires CDOT to update Salesforce to process permits
under the new process created in the bill. Based on previous updates to Salesforce, the
CDOT will need two developers working 40 hours per week for eight weeks at $150 an hour.
This is 640 hours of work costing $96,000.
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February 5, 2024 SB 24-091
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 3.
State Highway Fund. Funding from the SHF is allocated by the Transportation Commission. The
commission will adjust spending from the SHF to accommodate the increase in CDOT
expenditures under this bill.
Other Budget Impacts
The bill is expected to increase the amount of state revenue required to be refunded to
taxpayers by the amounts shown in the State Revenue section above. This estimate assumes the
December 2023 LCS revenue forecast. A forecast of state revenue subject to TABOR is not
available beyond FY 2025-26. Because TABOR refunds are paid from the General Fund, increased
cash fund revenue will reduce the amount of General Fund available to spend or save.
Effective Date
The bill takes effect upon signature of the Governor, or upon becoming law without his
signature.
State and Local Government Contacts
Counties Information Technology Law
Local Affairs Regulatory Agencies 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.