Thunder Roads Colorado Magazine Volume 11 Issue 9 | Page 8

2016 Colorado General Assembly Wrap Up The 2nd Session of the 70th Colorado General Assembly ended on Wednesday, 5/11/16. During this session 217 Senate Bills and 58 various Senate Resolutions/Memorials were introduced. Also, 468 House Bills and 45 various House Resolutions/Memorials were introduced. Out of all those bills, there were five of direct concern to motorcyclists that I testified at or closely observed. There was one Senate Joint Resolution that I was actively involved in. HB16-1205 was a Lane-Splitting Bill introduced by Rep. Klingenschmitt. The bill was PI’d (postponed indefinitely – effectively killed) on 2/17 in the House Transportation and Energy Committee. There was some support for the bill, but the opposition won out as the Committee Members questioned the safety aspect and the possible enforcement of the restrictions of the bill. The restrictions were that traffic must be going 5 MPH or less and the motorcyclist cannot go more than 10 MPH faster than the traffic. All was not lost though, as we learned what the opposition to the bill was and can possibly come back as a better bill in the future. SB16-123 was the bill this year that took most of my time down at the Capitol. It was a HOV/Transponder Bill. July 2015 CDOT introduced the switchable transponder needed for cars to use the HOV/HOT lanes in Colorado. Motorcycles would also need a transponder in the form of a decal put on your headlight for free access to a HOV lane. ABATE’s concern was the $35 cost for the decal and to set up an account to ride for “free” in the HOV lane. [Motorcycles are considered a high occupancy vehicle under all conditions per Federal Statute – U.S.C.; Title 23; 166 (b) (2) (A).] While looking for a sponsor to introduce a bill to correct this problem for motorcyclists, we found Sen. Lundberg’s proposal of SB16-123, which initially proposed to get rid of all switchable transponders and the requirement for motorcycles to need a decal. The bill passed the Senate Transportation Committee (4 – 1) on 2/19, but when it got to the Senate Floor for the 2nd reading, there was a lot of opposition and things changed. To make a long story short, after many meetings and another 2nd reading on the Senate Floor, the new version said motorcyclists would need to use switchable transponders but weren’t required to pay for them. A consensus among all parties involved was that motorcycles would not need transponders/decals. The bill passed 2nd & 3rd readings in the Senate and was sent to the House Transportation and Energy Committee. Executive Director of CDOT, Shailen Bhatt and Executive Director of E470, Tim Stewart were the main opponents of the bill at the 6 Thunder Roads Magazine® Colorado hearing. Prior to the hearing Director Bhatt distributed a letter stating, “Moving forward, motorcycles will not need a transponder to ride at no cost in HOV express lanes. We will start working with our partners at E470 on this solution, understanding it will take time to accommodate these changes”. So even though the bill got postponed indefinitely in the House Transportation and Energy Committee, progress was made. The issue was brought up on how long it would take to make these changes for motorcycles. While the bill was still being discussed, Director Stewart “guesstimated” about 10 months. Everyone seemed confused as to why so long. Couldn’t they just recognize a motorcycle when a license plate picture is taken and discard it? No explanation was given. Was it because the bill was still being discussed? A few days after that, Director Stewart invited 3 of us from ABATE to tour the E470 facility. It is quite an impressive operation, especially the “Command Center”. We watched as operators viewed and verified license photos then forwarded them for processing. It was here that it was explained that photos come in from all toll roads and HOV/HOT lanes. The first step would be to separate out the HOV lanes. The computer programmer said it wouldn’t take 10 months to do that, but they first had to wait for authorization from CDOT. So that’s where the holdup is right now. ABATE is still staying on top of the issue and is regularly asking for progress. SB16-175 was an E15 Fuel Bill introduced by Sen. Grantham on 3/28. The bill would have given a State Income Tax Credit to retail dealers selling E15 gasoline. Consequently it would have increased the sale of E15 in Colorado. If you read my article in last month’s issue of Thunder Roads Colorado, you’d know how bad E15 is for motorcycles, certain cars, small engines, and the environment. We don’t need E15 in Colorado. The bill was PI’d in the Senate Finance Committee on 4/14. But a larger threat exists on the National level with Federal Grants from the USDA and H.R 4673 (REFUEL Act) which would provide more for Federal Grants to expand the availability of E15. Have you heard of a blender pump? Again see last month’s article for more details (you can find the article online at http://thunderroadscolorado.com/back-issues/ and click on the May 2016 issue). Also of indirect concern to motorcyclists is SB16-122 (More Oversight of CDOT). While the bill mostly deals with bidding and reporting of transportation projects, our concern was “the requirement of the State Auditor to conduct a risk-based audit of CDOT”. I testified how this was important to motorcyclists because of the need to audit the MOST program. More on that issue in another article. The Governor signed SB16-122 bill on 4/14. June 2016 www.thunderroadscolorado.com