| Summary |
The bill makes modifications to several aspects of the regional
transportation district (district), including modifications to increase transit
ridership and to promote district transparency and accountability.
Regional fixed guideway mass transit systems. In connection
with the district's authority to implement regional fixed guideway mass
transit systems, section 2 of 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
fixed-route transit service plans;
•
Ensure that district 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; and
•
Acknowledge established transit centers and provide a
preference for transit centers when determining transit
services and routes.
In addition, section 2 requires the department of transportation
(department), in consultation with DRCOG, to contract with a third party
to conduct a study regarding the size of the district and transit-reliant
services and to submit the results of the study to specified entities by
March 1, 2026. The district board of directors (board) is required to take
into consideration the findings of the study in the creation of its 10-year
strategic plan, which section 13 requires the board to create.
Section 3 specifies that in operating a fixed guideway mass transit
system, the district is required to coordinate its schedule with the
schedules of other transit providers to facilitate the use of transit across
the district and relevant transit entities.
Current board through December 31, 2024. Currently, the board
consists of 15 directors, each of whom is elected to serve a 4-year term by
the eligible electors in one of 15 director districts. District elections are
held in November of even-numbered years, and each director represents
only the residents of the director district in which the director was elected.
Of the 15 directors on the current board, 8 directors were elected in
November 2020 for terms that expire on December 31, 2024, and 7
directors were elected in November 2022 for terms that expire on
December 31, 2026.
Section 4 terminates the current board on December 31, 2024, and
specifies that the offices of the 8 directors whose terms expire on
December 31, 2024, will not be filled at the district election in November
2024. Section 4 also specifies that the offices of the 7 directors whose
terms expire on December 31, 2026, will not be filled at the November
2026 district election, and that those 7 directors will serve the last 2 years
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. Beginning January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2026, the
district is governed by a board consisting of 11 voting directors and 3
nonvoting ex officio directors (transitional board), each of whom serves
the district at large. Section 5 specifies that the directors of the
transitional board include:
•
The 7 directors who were elected to the board at the district
election in November 2022 who will serve the second 2
years of their terms as voting directors on the transitional
board; except that a vacancy caused on or after January 1,
2025, by such a director will not be filled. In addition,
beginning January 1, 2025, each director elected at the
November 2022 district election represents the entire
district rather than only the director district that the director
was elected to represent at such election.
•
2 voting directors who are elected at large by the eligible
electors of the district at the November 2024 district
election for a 4-year term beginning on January 1, 2025.
Such directors serve the first 2 years of their terms on the
transitional board and serve the second 2 years of their
terms on a newly created board (new board) that will
govern the district beginning January 1, 2027.
•
2 voting directors who satisfy certain criteria who are
appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for
terms beginning January 1, 2025. Of such directors, one
serves a 2-year term that expires on December 31, 2026,
and one serves a 4-year term, the second 2 years of which
the director serves on the new board.
•
The executive director of the department or the director's
designee, who is a nonvoting ex officio director; and
•
2 nonvoting directors who satisfy certain criteria and who
are appointed by DRCOG for terms beginning January 1,
2025. Of such directors, one serves a 2-year term that
expires on December 31, 2026, and one serves a 4-year
term, the second 2 years of which the director serves on the
new board.
New board beginning January 1, 2027. Beginning January 1,
2027, the district is governed by a new board that consists of 7 voting
directors and 3 nonvoting directors, all of whom serve 4-year terms.
Section 6 specifies that the directors on the new board include:
•
5 voting directors who are elected by the eligible electors
of the district. Of the first 5 elected directors to serve on the
new board, 2 directors represent the district at large and are
the directors who were elected at the November 2024
district election and served the first 2 years of their terms
on the transitional board, and 3 are elected by the eligible
electors of one of 3 director districts at the November 2026
district election for terms beginning January 1, 2027.
•
2 voting directors who represent the district at large, satisfy
certain criteria, and are appointed by the governor and
confirmed by the senate. Of the first directors appointed by
the governor, one director is the director who served the
first 2 years of the director's term on the transitional board,
and one director is appointed by the governor by January 1,
2027, for a term beginning on January 1, 2027.
•
The executive director of the department or the director's
designee, who is a nonvoting ex officio director; and
•
2 nonvoting directors who represent the district at large,
satisfy certain criteria, and are appointed by DRCOG. Of
the directors appointed by DRCOG, one director is the
director who served the first 2 years of the director's term
on the transitional board and one director is appointed by
DRCOG by January 1, 2027, for a term beginning on
January 1, 2027.
Section 6 also requires the board, in cooperation with district staff
and with community input, to develop an onboarding program for
incoming directors and requires each incoming director to complete the
onboarding program.
District elections. Section 7 specifies that the last district election
held pursuant to current law, where directors were elected by the eligible
electors in one of 15 director districts, was the district election in
November 2022.
Section 8 specifies election procedures for the new board. Of the
5 elected directors, 2 directors, who are first elected at the November
2024 district election, must reside in the district but may reside anywhere
in the district and 3 directors, who are first elected at the November 2026
district election, must reside in and be elected by the eligible electors who
reside in one of 3 new director districts.
Based on information from the 2020 federal decennial census,
section 8 requires the director of research of the legislative council, with
the assistance of the director of the office of legislative legal services, to
apportion the population of the district into 3 compact and contiguous
director districts so that the 3 directors who are required to live in and be
elected by the eligible electors in a particular director district will
represent, to the extent practicable, a director district that is equal in
population to the other 2 director districts. The director of research of the
legislative council must complete the apportionment by August 31, 2025,
and submit the recommended apportionment to the Colorado supreme
court. The Colorado supreme court is required to amend or approve the
recommended apportionment by October 31, 2025. The director of
research of the legislative council, with the assistance of the office of
legislative legal services, is required to reapportion the district after the
2030 federal decennial census and after each federal decennial census
thereafter.
Section 8 also specifies that:
•
The regular district election is held jointly with the state
general election in every even-numbered year;
•
The district is required to use instant runoff voting for
district elections;
•
The regular term of office of elected directors is 4 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 signed by at least 250 eligible electors residing within
the district; and
•
A write-in candidate for director is not allowed.
Additional modifications to statutes governing the board. In
addition, the bill makes the following changes in connection with the
expiration of the current board and the creation of the transitional board
and the new board:
•
Section 1 modifies the definition of director district as
applicable to the current board, the transitional board, and
the new board;
•
Section 9 specifies that a vacancy caused on or after
January 1, 2025, by a director elected at the November
2022 district election, will not be filled. Section 10
specifies that a vacancy caused by an elected director of the
transitional board or the new board is filled by appointment
by the governor and that a vacancy of an appointed member
of the transitional board or the new board is filled by the
appointing authority.
•
Section 11 specifies that any action of the transitional
board or the new board requires a majority vote by the
directors entitled to vote who are present and voting; and
•
Section 12 specifies that the annual compensation for
directors of the transitional board and new board is an
amount equal to 20% of the salary paid to a county judge;
except that any director of the new board that is a full-time
state or local government official or a full-time state or
local government employee serves as a director without
additional compensation.
10-year strategic plan. By September 1, 2026, section 13 requires
the current board to develop and submit to the general assembly a 10-year
strategic plan that addresses the district's plans and strategies to increase
ridership, improve transparency, use district-owned land to prioritize
certain types of development, and update parking policies to achieve
specified goals; support state and regional climate, housing, and
transportation goals; and identify funding opportunities to expand transit
and improve system efficiency and equity.
In addition, the current board is required to continue working to
implement the recommendations of the 2021 RTD Accountability
Committee Final Report created by DRCOG and the 2020 performance
audit of the district and to report its progress to specified entities by
December 31, 2025.
Opportunities to increase ridership. Section 14 requires the
district to pursue and take advantage of opportunities to increase and
build ridership by working with entities that are hosting special events to
facilitate increased ridership to and from the events; working with entities
to facilitate increased ridership among youth; considering
recommendations and requests for changes in service routes or schedules
that would result in increased ridership; and 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. Section 15 requires the district to
make its annual budget and other specified budget information available
to the public on its website in a format that is easy to access, understand,
and navigate.
Section 15 also requires the district to create, maintain, and
regularly update on its website information regarding the district's
financial plan that includes specified information about district capital
projects and to create 3 public accountability dashboards, the first of
which provides financial information regarding each district capital
project, the second of which shows ridership by route and reliability of
service, and the third of which shows specified district workforce
statistics.
Fair market value for use of district transfer facilities. Current
law requires that a person using any portion of a transfer facility for the
provision of retail or commercial goods or services or for the provision
of residential uses pay rent at fair market value. Section 16 repeals the
requirement that a person pay rent at fair market value for such use of a
transfer facility.
Mass transit bus driver training program. Section 17 requires
the department to establish a mass transit bus driver training program to
assist in the development and placement of public mass transit bus
operators for department-sponsored mass transit services and for other
public mass transit operators.
Coordination between transit providers and metropolitan
planning organizations. Section 18 requires a transportation provider to:
•
Submit its proposed fixed-route transit service plans to the
metropolitan planning organization (MPO) in which it is
located for its 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.
Instant runoff voting for district elections. Sections 19, 20, and
21 modify the Uniform Election Code of 1992 to implement instant
runoff voting for district elections.
Money transferred to the department in connection with the
Burnham Yard rail property. On July 1, 2022, the state treasurer
transferred $6,500,000 from the general fund to the state highway fund
for an environmental study on relocating the consolidated main rail line
away from interstate highway 25 in connection with the development of
the Burnham Yard rail property. Section 22 authorizes the department to
instead use the money 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.
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