State Legislation

The Colorado business community acts in good faith to protect consumers while also growing our competitive economy. This bill, though it increases timelines and complexity for business, is a good compromise between the rights of business and consumers. For this reason, the Chamber remains neutral on this bill.

This approach incentivizes and aids employers in providing alternative transportation options for their employees. We support incentives that help employers provide these types of benefits to their employees, which also help reduce congestion on our roadways and improve our state’s air quality and environment.

The Chamber recognizes that the lack of affordable workforce housing slows Colorado’s economic growth, undermines our ability to attract and retain talent, and poses a significant challenge to employees across the state. The affordable housing tax credit is a proven, effective and efficient solution to this problem, and we support the expansion and continuation of this program. We acknowledge, however, that the affordable housing crisis in Colorado is a multifaceted issue and will need a symmetrical response.

The Chamber supports implementing the steps established in the 2015 Colorado Water Plan, a plan designed to address Colorado’s future water needs and measure its progress. This bill implements one of the actions recommended in the plan and addresses a reuse strategy.

This bill puts unnecessary restrictions on public-private partnerships (P3s), creating a burdensome and economically unattractive environment to anyone looking partner with or invest in Colorado.

This bill will provide analysis on the feasibility of integrating advanced technologies into government operations, further diversifying and advancing our state’s aerospace industry
while improving public safety.

The Chamber maintains a firm position that local fracking bans are unconstitutional. We support this bill because it recognizes the private property rights of mineral owners and compensates owners for the financial loss if they are precluded from accessing resources that belong to them.

The Chamber recognizes that the need for transportation infrastructure funding is a statewide issue and must be addressed in a way that provides solutions for all of Colorado. This bill removes funding from CDOT by reducing HOV lane collections; it also focuses solely on one area, designating that any additional funding CDOT receives must be allocated to this one project. This is not a collaborative solution. Finally, this bill attempts to legislate CDOT, requiring them to focus resources on a particular project rather than allowing them to best determine where the greatest need lies.

This is a process that is already addressed by many authorities and doesn’t need to be legislated. Urban renewal and tax-increment financing are important tools for revitalizing, reenergizing and redeveloping communities and creating economic development; this bill may stifle development in the areas that need it most.

Although we support finding a long-term solution to addressing the needs of our roads and bridges, this bill isn’t meaningful unless we pair it with significant revenue.

The Chamber is supportive of this pilot program, as prescribed in the Colorado Water Plan, as it provides an alternative method for farmers to monetize their water rights rather than simply selling them.

This program promotes energy efficiency and reduces energy costs of businesses and individuals. The bill does not preclude a utility from exceeding the program targets and thereby helping business and residential customers achieve higher energy savings.

The Chamber is supportive of a diverse energy economy and this bill encourages investment in innovation, infrastructure and these alternative energy technologies.

The Chamber supports implementing the steps established in the 2015 Colorado Water Plan, a plan designed to address Colorado’s future water needs and measure its progress. This bill implements one of the actions recommended in the plan and encourages people to participate in water conservation programs.

This bill offers a long-term statewide solution to addressing the needs of transportation infrastructure by pairing it with sustainable funding. Without significant investment in our state’s infrastructure, our economy and ability to attract workers will suffer. This bill aligns with the Chamber’s transportation principles.

Colorado has the most stringent oil and gas regulations in the country, which are regarded as best practices nationally and internationally. This legislation undermines the legitimacy of the 2015 Colorado oil and gas task force, which produced a number of comprehensive recommendations from a diverse group of stakeholders.

This bill helps ensure homeowners are informed and able to resolve issues without having to resort to costly and time-intensive litigation. Although we realize that House Bill 1279 alone will not solve all of Colorado’s housing problems, we hope it will help spur the development of attainable housing options for our millennials, seniors, public servants and other Coloradans struggling to buy a home.

The Chamber supports implementing the steps established in the 2015 Colorado Water Plan, a plan designed to address Colorado’s future water needs and measure its progress. This bill implements one of the actions recommended in the plan.

The Chamber remains a strong believer in protecting private property rights; however, this bill and its sponsors attempt to address a very complex issue very late in the session and without engaging all stakeholders in the process. Therefore, it fails to achieve a balanced solution. Additionally, this proposal doesn’t consider the innovations in technology that, coupled with the current set of stringent rules for oil and gas development, allows for minimal impact to the environment.

This bill removes funding from CDOT by reducing HOV lane collections and will exacerbate the already critical transportation infrastructure funding crisis the state is experiencing.

Expanding uses for reclaimed water is a critical part of the state water plan approved in 2015. We know that using reclaimed water safely in this manner will free up other sources of fresh water for more appropriate uses. We are committed to maximizing the water we receive on the Front Range instead of asking for more.

Expanding uses for reclaimed water is a critical part of the state water plan approved in 2015. We know that using reclaimed water safely in this manner, will free up other sources of fresh water for more appropriate uses. We are committed to maximizing the water we receive on the Front Range instead of asking for more.

We are committed to maximizing the water we receive for the Front Range; expanding uses for reclaimed domestic wastewater is a critical part of the state water plan approved in 2015. The use of reclaimed water that has been treated according to water quality standards, protects public health and safety, maximizes our resources and will free up other sources of fresh water for more appropriate uses.

Colorado is recognized as a national and international model of responsible oil and gas development. This bill would allow the Commission to tackle larger environmental projects that take more than one year’s worth of funds to address, which is essential to maintaining that balance between responsible development and enforcement of environmental safeguards.

This bill duplicates current reporting required by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for oil and gas operations in Colorado. Colorado is recognized as a national and international model of responsible oil and gas development with the most stringent oil and gas regulations in the country.

Technology is vital to the future of transportation and connected mobility in Colorado. This bill will enable solutions that improve roadway reliability, efficiency and safety, providing the state with a more easily accessible, technologically advanced and seamlessly integrated mobility system.

Energy storage systems can reduce costs, support the increased use of diverse energy sources and increase the safety and reliability of our grid, all of which makes Colorado more a competitive state for economic development. Although this bill is a step to move energy storage forward, the Chamber’s support of this bill is contingent upon an amendment that would allow this initiative to start as a pilot program to limit unintended consequences and allow for necessary fixes prior to full scale.

This bill imposes a mandate on business and doesn’t consider the innovations in technology and user-friendly mobile applications already in use today by mobile device users to limit distracted driving.

We support responsible energy development, and strong public health, safety and environmental safeguards. However, this bill is unnecessary, the marketplace on its own is moving in the direction of lower greenhouse gas emissions without the need for a mandate. The requirements in this bill are arbitrary and unsupported by any research; and the bill lacks a clear plan in place for how to achieve the reductions it calls for.

This bill fails to consider the innovations in technology that, coupled with the state’s administered set of stringent rules for responsible oil and gas development, allow for minimal impact to the environment.

While the Chamber does not oppose the notion of net neutrality, we believe it is a matter of federal jurisdiction. This bill, in its current form, is overly burdensome regulation that expands the current Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regulatory powers and allows the state to issue preferential contracts thereby creating an unfair playing field for Colorado internet service providers.

We have underfunded transportation for decades, and it’s costing us $6.8 billion each year because of traffic congestion delays, damage to vehicles, accidents and lost gas efficiency. The Chamber is supportive of proposals in the long bill and its satellite bills that aim to provide ongoing investments in our transportation system.

Colorado is recognized as a national and international model of responsible oil and gas development. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which is charged with regulating oil and gas development, has already set forth stringent regulations that place strong emphasis on public health and safety and set distance requirements on oil and gas production activities from high-occupancy facilities. This bill expands on those regulations arbitrarily and would significantly restrict oil and gas development in Colorado.

Allowing utilities to work with local governments to create more personalized service agreements adds more flexibility into the grid, while protecting and keeping costs stable for ratepayers. This added flexibility could also help attract businesses to Colorado by ensuring their energy needs can be met.

This bill encourages local workforce housing in rural Colorado, which supports the growth of our state’s economy by providing diverse housing options for our workers throughout Colorado communities.

We have underfunded transportation for decades, and it’s costing us $7.1 billion each year because of traffic congestion delays, damage to vehicles, accidents and lost gas efficiency – and those costs will only continue to increase if we don’t fund transportation appropriately. This bill will further reduce funding for transportation and encourage single occupant driving by exempting certain vehicles from paying toll lane fees regardless of the number of passengers in the vehicle. This will only exacerbate the underfunding and congestion problems we face rather than helping to fix them.

This proposal addresses one of the primary causes of accidents and congestion on the I-70 mountain corridor, especially during peak periods in winter conditions. Traffic congestion delays, damage to vehicles, accidents and the related lost gas efficiency add to the $7.1 billion Colorado citizens pay each year in transportation related costs – and those costs will only continue to increase. This proposal can reduce accidents and congestion on the I-70 mountain corridor and assist in mitigating the increase in transportation cost along the I-70 corridor.

Since the original bill was signed into law in January 2015, the state has seen the impact of the low-income housing tax credit. This program has leveraged over $465 million in private sector investment into Colorado and has helped support the development and preservation of over 4,000 affordable apartments. The Chamber will continue to support solutions that incentivize the building of attainable housing for our workforce so that Colorado remains an attractive place to do business and live.

This is a commonsense approach that will allow Colorado housing manufacturers to be more competitive in the national market.

The Chamber is supportive of efforts to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. However, this bill sets standards that are unattainable for most smaller utility providers with limited resources; it lacks clear direction on how to achieve the standards; and it delegates all authority to the Colorado Air Quality Commission, an appointed regulatory body with no experience in this type of regulation and one that does not allow for appropriate citizen engagement in their rule-setting processes. For Colorado to get this right, there must be a more thoughtful, deliberate process involving all stakeholders.

The Chamber is supportive of efforts to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. This bill creates a sound regulatory pathway for large utility providers to achieve aggressive carbon emission reduction goals while ensuring system reliability and comprehensive transition planning for employees -- without mandating a one-size-fits-all plan for smaller utility providers with more limited resources do the same.

This bill creates another incentive and, importantly, a market-driven solution to help grow the affordable housing stock in Colorado. With this tool, developers can partner with the state and local communities to build more affordable housing by removing regulatory burdens, which have made it more difficult to secure financing for projects. The Chamber will continue to support solutions that incentivize the building of attainable housing for our workforce so that Colorado remains an attractive place to do business and live.

This bill requires taxpayers to pay for an expensive study of a concept that we do not support. The concept allows communities to choose an outside utility to provide services but use the existing utility’s infrastructure without paying to support that infrastructure. It raises costs for those who remain on the existing system – businesses and consumers alike – and does nothing to decrease carbon emissions or improve the environment.

The Chamber maintains a firm position that local fracking bans are unconstitutional. This bill recognizes the private property rights of mineral owners and compensates owners for the financial loss if they are precluded from accessing resources that belong to them.

While we fully support broadband access for our rural and unserved communities, this bill creates a more subjective process that potentially politicizes how broadband grants are awarded and risks that fewer unserved areas receive access.

This bill assumes outcomes and directs the AQCC to set emissions standards stricter than those of the EPA for the four air toxics outlined in the bill rather than relying on long-standing, evidence-based and scientifically valid means for establishing regulations. The Chamber supports the thoughtful, evidence-based approach we take with the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment today.

We have underfunded transportation for decades, and it’s costing us $7.1 billion each year because of traffic congestion delays, damage to vehicles, accidents and lost gas efficiency – and those costs will only continue to increase if we don’t fund transportation appropriately. This bill will further reduce funding for transportation and encourage single occupant driving by exempting certain vehicles from paying toll lane fees regardless of the number of passengers in the vehicle. This will exacerbate the underfunding and congestion problems we face rather than helping to fix them.

With the high cost of housing in Colorado, we understand and appreciate the need for affordable housing. This bill would give legislators and constituents information on an annual basis to ensure taxpayer dollars address affordable housing in a meaningful way and anticipate future needs and priorities.

Contractors withhold money for contracts to ensure customers receive the quality of work that was promised and 10% is a long-standing industry standard that we don’t believe should be changed through statute.

Given that the state already has grant programs dedicated to disaster mitigation, this bill is duplicative and would unnecessarily drive premium costs up for Coloradans across our state who may or may not directly benefit from the mitigation efforts.

We were initially opposed to this legislation due to concerns about its impact on development. The bill required homeowners associations to transition control to residents sooner than current statute allows. In order for developers to optimize their ability to implement their vision for communities and adjust to the market over time, developers need the ability to have control of the HOA during the development period. Without that ability, developers face too much uncertainty to invest significant capital, and developments will no longer happen on a scale needed to address our supply issues. Amendments to this legislation have resolved our concerns.

The Chamber has supported Colorado’s Water Plan since its initial development and sees this as a critical infusion of funding to help implement key projects across the state.

We oppose this bill because it lays the groundwork for CCE, a concept that we oppose without clear cost protections. CCE may duplicate infrastructure expenses for our utility sector, leading to increase costs for consumers and businesses. While this bill is only a study, it actively takes time and attention away from existing efforts to ensure low cost, low carbon solutions in Colorado.

Homeownership is one of the best ways for people to build wealth for themselves and their families, but Colorado’s high cost of housing is preventing many Coloradans, particularly people of color and women, from entering the housing market. This bill will provide stimulus dollars to help local governments increase affordable housing through strategies that match their communities’ needs. This aligns with the Chamber’s work through its affiliate Prosper CO.

While we support efforts to create more energy-efficient spaces and understand the need to standardize reporting at the state level, we oppose the benchmarking requirements in this legislation, as well as the penalties specified. It is challenging to set reduction targets without an understanding of how buildings are currently performing. This initial step should be taken before any reduction measures and penalties for missing these measures are implemented.

The Chamber supports incentivizing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This bill helps promote cost-effective research, development and deployment of innovative energy technologies and facilitates industry and public-private partnerships to help achieve zero-carbon electricity.

This bill creates a grant program that will increase community resilience and provide core services to the community in case of a disaster in cooperative and municipal utilities service territories. During extreme weather events and natural disasters, microgrids can continue to generate and deliver electricity to essential resources in a community, such as hospitals, fire stations, law enforcement facilities, government offices and emergency shelters. We believe this bill provides communities at high risk of wildfire and other natural disasters the opportunity to enhance reliable power systems to serve as backup during emergency service situations.

Concerns raised by the business community have been addressed through a series of amendments that lower the penalty structure and give courts more discretion over penalties; clarify that actual knowledge, rather than an accidental oversight of a false claim, is required; and create safeguards against abuse by whistle blowers and their attorneys. Most importantly, adopted amendments create significant incentives for self-reporting, including lower penalties and a streamlined settlement process.

The market is trending toward electrification and resource efficiency, and businesses are preparing for this market transition by proactively building the infrastructure necessary to support green initiatives. We trust that the business community offers resources to consumers based on market demand. This bill is another significant mandate from the legislature to force a market transition and in this case one that is already happening on its own.

Developers play a pivotal role in creating affordable housing. This bill allows them to access vital state funds so that Colorado's vibrant and competitive workforce can afford to live and work in the state.

The Chamber believes that our economy functions best when prices are set by the market. As such, introducing rent stabilization measures in one housing sector could lead us down a slippery slope that would end with negative consequences for our entire housing supply. We hope to continue to work with legislators and stakeholders in support of common-sense, market-driven approaches to housing.

Providing grants to non-profits and local governments is an effective way to increase housing inventory. We support the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to address this critical issue, allowing Colorado to remain a competitive place to do business.

This bill requires adequacy reporting, which allows the state to better understand the feasibility of a wholesale energy transition, especially as we progress toward electrification and a net-zero goal by 2050. This would help ensure there is a realistic transition and will be beneficial to framing the conversation around any future policy goals discussed by the General Assembly. We believe that having the business community lead the energy transition will ensure reliable and functional policies.

Metro districts are essential mechanisms to allow for robust community development and act as a powerful financing tool. With such a lack of housing in the Metro Denver area, further restricting the business of Metro Districts will have detrimental effects on inventory and affordability.

The Chamber opposes this bill because it adds undue burden to landlords. It eliminates flexibility for landlords to roll over their property to different tenants and creates added requirements and regulations, driving up housing costs and decreasing the amount of available housing.

Free transit services proved to increase ridership, which had the additional benefits of making transit safer and restoring the vibrancy of commercial centers. As we strive to decongest our roads, retain public transit customers, and remedy the brown cloud, finding incentives to increase ridership are extremely important. This bill would continue to support the effort to increase ridership while also mitigating pollution by decreasing the number of commuters to and from our metro region.  

This legislation is duplicative of existing statute and creates added administrative mechanisms to study already well-established data and understanding surrounding these organizations.

Repealing the prohibition on rent control opens the door to municipalities creating a patchwork of regulations. This prohibition adds artificial pressures on the rental market and will cause new rental construction to grind to a halt, further exacerbating our housing shortage.

While the Chamber believes addressing housing affordability is vital for workforce retention and recruitment, this bill would repel capital investment and make it more difficult to build affordable housing stock. Provisions in the bill, such as allowing local governments to offer less than a competitive private offer and still purchase the property, or allowing a local government to take 13 months to close on a property, does not respect private property rights in the state. The best way to bring down housing costs is to support development in a meaningful way—cutting regulations, working to reform zoning, construction litigation reform, and incentivizing development professionals to invest and build in communities that need housing the most.

With housing affordability top of mind for workforce, we support this legislation because it extends timelines to use already-allocated funds to support grant programs for affordable housing. This is a commonsense way to ensure we are allocating funds that have already been earmarked to create a more affordable place for the workforce to live. In addition, the extension of this timeline will allow the housing taskforce to continue supporting homelessness initiatives, which supports economic competitiveness.

While the Chamber recognizes that the intent of this bill is to expand broadband capabilities to rural Colorado, repealing these government restrictions would not achieve that goal. Instead, it would have a detrimental effect on local communities and allow for discriminatory practices and unfair competition in the telecommunications industry.

This bill would impose significant uncertainty around energy storage applications, utilization and connectivity, particularly as it relates to connecting with the utility power grid. The unknown increased costs would be passed on to all consumers, including commercial customers, regardless of whether they are utilizing this technology.

This bill addresses the three most critical components of construction defect litigation reform that will make a meaningful difference in increasing for-sale workforce housing while maintaining strong consumer protections. The Chamber has been working on these reforms with a broad coalition focused on energizing the construction of for sale condominiums throughout Colorado.

While this bill contains some meaningful changes to current law regarding construction defect litigation, the Chamber is concerned that, as written, it supersedes local municipality efforts to incorporate ADR as an option to avoid costly and time-consuming litigation. The Chamber supports a process that allows for a quick resolution of construction issues while providing sufficient consumer protections to all owners in a community.

This bill would remove incentives to invest in alternative fuel vehicles, something the Chamber has been supportive of in past years. Although we support finding a long-term solution to addressing the funding needs of our roads and bridges, this bill doesn’t provide a significant source of revenue.

The Chamber sees the strong value of urban renewal projects as a tool for revitalizing, reenergizing and redeveloping our communities and for economic development. We support these necessary technical fixes to streamline the process and to help local governments and the development community achieve greater certainty when investing in these projects.

Although we support finding a long-term solution to addressing the needs of our roads and bridges, this bill isn’t meaningful unless we pair it with significant revenue. In order to fund this bill, the state would be forced to forego needed maintenance on existing roads, bridges and tunnels. Furthermore, this bill focuses only on highways and fails to include local governments to address mass transit and other mobility needs across the state.

We have underfunded transportation for decades, and it’s costing us $6.8 billion each year because of traffic congestion delays, damage to vehicles, accidents and lost gas efficiency. The Chamber is supportive of proposals that will provide ongoing investments in our transportation system. Without significant investment in our state’s infrastructure, our economy and ability to attract workers will suffer.

Advancements in technology have made significant impacts on everything, from the way we access health care to the way we utilize education. These changes make it critical for rural and underserved communities throughout Colorado to have access to broadband.

Since the original bill was signed into law in January 2015, the state has seen tremendous success with the low-income housing tax credit. This bill would extend the program’s life and further provide families and individuals with opportunities for affordable housing in the state of Colorado. This is a great example of a successful public private partnership in Colorado

Residents of Colorado receive compensation when they distribute energy back to the grid. Without the ability to measure the amount of energy redistributed, the utility cannot adequately compensate a customer for his or her energy. Furthermore, without the ability to monitor the levels of energy returned to the grid, safety is at risk, as the extra energy could result in voltage issues that can cause power surges and grid blackouts.

Expanding uses for reclaimed water is a critical part of the state water plan approved in 2015. We know that using reclaimed water safely in this manner will free up other sources of fresh water for more appropriate uses. We are committed to maximizing the water we receive on the Front Range instead of asking for more.

Colorado has a distinct way of doing business that involves working together, respecting proven processes, compromising and finding common ground. As a state that is recognized as a national and international model of responsible oil and gas development, with strong regulations on all oil and gas production activities, including enforcement of environmental safeguards and protection against waste, a patchwork of local regulations doesn’t make sense. Allowing regulation to vary from each municipality would create unnecessary complication and add an increased administrative burden that would negatively impact the industry and our economy.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has already set forth stringent regulations on oil and gas that benefit the environment and enhance public safety. SB18-063 increases the financial assurance required by the commission to prohibitively high levels. This would lead to the failure of many small operators and even cause the largest of operators to deter investment into Colorado which, in the end, has negative impacts to our state’s overall economy and jobs.

Colorado is already very aggressive in the transition toward an “all of the above” approach when it comes to the usage of renewable energy sources. The marketplace on its own, is moving in the direction toward complete use of renewable energy without the need for a mandate.

The creation of this commission streamlines the call process to conduct excavation projects in Colorado, bringing important enforcement procedures up-to-date, increasing clarity and public safety.

The Chamber supported the original FASTER legislation signed into law in 2009 (SB09-108), which generates about $200 million every year from registration fees and fines for critical state transportation projects across Colorado. Terminating the use of FASTER fee revenue for transit would eliminate funding available to improve roadway safety, repair bridges and support and expand transit across Colorado. If passed, this bill would be harmful to communities that rely on FASTER funds to complete multimodal projects that reduce traffic and congestion on our roads.

The Chamber is supportive of a diverse energy economy. This bill encourages investment in innovation, infrastructure and alternative fuel and energy technologies.

Colorado is recognized as a national and international model of responsible oil and gas development. By proactively updating this statute and providing more protections for non-consenting mineral rights owners, this bill allows the pooling process to be facilitated more fairly for all parties involved.

We have underfunded transportation for decades, and it’s costing us $7.1 billion each year because of traffic congestion delays, damage to vehicles, accidents and lost gas efficiency – and those costs will only continue to increase if this issue goes unaddressed. The Chamber is supportive of proposals that will provide ongoing investments in our transportation system. Without significant investment in our state’s infrastructure, our economy and ability to attract workers will suffer.

This bill jeopardizes CDOT’s ability to utilize public-private partnerships (P3s) by increasing costs of using such innovative funding options at a time when transportation is greatly underfunded in Colorado. We support P3s as a funding strategy to complete much-needed infrastructure projects across our state and therefore oppose legislation aimed at curbing their use.

Colorado is recognized as a national and international model of responsible oil and gas development. The Chamber has long supported developing oil and gas regulations in a collaborative manner that includes multiple stakeholders. This legislation was drafted without a robust stakeholder process and does not take into account differing sides on this issue or modern research and technology. The Chamber affirms its commitment to work on energy regulations and urges our legislative leaders to consider additional stakeholder input that would take this from one-sided legislation to sound public policy for Colorado.

The Chamber is appreciative of the approach to incorporate apprentices into existing projects – an opportunity to continue education and training while fulfilling talent needs of our businesses. However, this bill goes beyond adding opportunities for apprentices. The additional provisions in this bill would increase costs for infrastructure projects upwards of 10 percent, will make it harder for small and minority-owned businesses to compete and could jeopardize safety by prolonging construction and repairs as contractors go through this process.

Rent stabilization policies do not accomplish what they set out to achieve. Rent controls worsen housing shortages, cause existing buildings to deteriorate and disproportionately benefit higher-income households.

In 2006, the Chamber convened leaders from public and private sectors, via an initiative called Mobility Choice, to develop key strategies to plan for the future of transportation in the metro Denver area, leveraging both current assets and new technologies. This bill conducts a similar study that’s statewide, complementing and expanding this type of work. The mobility agencies should collaborate, in partnership with community, nonprofit and private sector leaders, to carefully consider a range of effective and efficient solutions to the challenges and opportunities presented by emerging mobility technologies.

Tiered rate structures incentivize conservation, enable greater utilization of renewables and lower the bills of efficient users and low-income consumers. This bill would increase rates for many users and remove this important tool that can help incentivize behavior that helps utilities achieve policy goals.

We have underfunded transportation for decades, and it’s costing us $7.1 billion each year because of traffic congestion delays, damage to vehicles, accidents and lost gas efficiency – and those costs will only continue to increase if this issue goes unaddressed. The Chamber is supportive of proposals that will provide ongoing investments in our transportation system. Without significant investment in our state’s infrastructure, our economy and ability to attract workers will suffer.

The Chamber is supportive of proposals that will provide ongoing investments in our transportation system. By delaying this referral measure, CDOT will be able to issue a Certificate of Participation (COP), which will give them an additional $500 million in funding now, rather than having to wait for funding through bonding. Without significant investment in our state’s infrastructure, our economy and ability to attract workers will suffer.

The Chamber is supportive of efforts to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. This bill creates a pathway for investor-owned utilities to test emerging energy technologies which, if successful, would allow them to achieve aggressive carbon emission reduction goals.

We have underfunded transportation for decades, and it’s costing us $7.1 billion each year because of traffic congestion delays, damage to vehicles, accidents and lost gas efficiency – and those costs will only continue to increase if this issue goes unaddressed. Because transportation system is primarily funded through gas tax, it cannot account for electric motor vehicles and their impact. While we prefer a system where usage is tied directly to fees, we recognize that there are challenges in doing so at this time and support efforts to ensure all drivers are contributing to maintaining the roads they use.

This bill undermines the progress the Chamber helped make on construction defects reform by increasing the likelihood of litigation, driving up building costs and making for-sale housing, a critical component in our housing market, more expensive.

This program essentially taxes water customers twice, once for the water services they already receive through water rates and a second time to fund the enterprise. Furthermore, the enterprise makes water customers pay for projects in other communities from which they see little to no benefit themselves.

This bill ensures that the rulemaking process includes ample stakeholder outreach and maintains focus on the intended subject of rulemaking rather than unrelated, and often distracting, alternative proposals. We see this effort as a positive step toward streamlining rulemaking while continuing to engage impacted parties.

This bill would drastically alter the relationship between landlords and tenants and greatly expand landlord liability, jeopardizing the state’s already limited options for Coloradans in need of affordable workforce housing. It would also implement requirements that would make it more difficult for landlords to pay their mortgages on time when a tenant is behind in rent.

The Chamber has serious concerns about creating hard targets in legislation. Hard targets inhibit an industry’s or sector’s flexibility when working to implement legislative goals. In this case, hard targets for specific industries ultimately do not reduce carbon emissions wholesale, but rather shift those emissions from one industry to another. Furthermore, this legislation did not go through a robust stakeholder outreach process—a process that could have addressed carbon-shifting concerns and would have raised the need for consumer and reliability protections. Finally, this bill attempts to expedite carbon reduction efforts that are already underway by circumnavigating the governor’s office and stakeholders who are currently and collaboratively engaged in this conversation.

We recognize that the pandemic and a shift to work-from-home culture has devastated our commercial centers and metropolitan areas. This bill funds creative solutions to unused space while forging business opportunities that will boost our economic recovery.

Our members know we must invest more in transportation and have supported doing so for years. While this policy isn’t perfect, it is a bill rooted in the reality of our situation that secures more of the funding we so desperately need in Colorado. We support this bill with the understanding that questions about its constitutionality will be determined by the courts. This bill doesn’t solve all our problems, and we will continue to advocate for more general fund investment in infrastructure and longer-term, sustainable transportation funding solutions.

Removing the current 120%-of-usage cap on consumer-sited distribution generation facilities will increase costs for a majority of energy users, both commercial and residential. It will require additional infrastructure updates. The customers who require the updates will not share in those costs. Additionally, it will require energy providers to pay those consumers a higher rate for their excess energy, further increasing costs for other customers.

The Chamber is supportive of efforts to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. This bill offers the flexibility utilities need to be able to successfully implement changes that will reduce the emission of these gases.

This bill supports a continuum of housing for the often-overlooked “missing middle.” At a time when housing prices are skyrocketing, this bill creates an opportunity for our workforce to access affordable housing. The fund has previously proven to be effective, and we applaud the legislature for continuing a viable program without re-inventing the wheel.

Housing is one of the Chamber’s top legislative priorities, and we applaud the General Assembly for crafting a public-private partnership system to deliver desperately needed housing stock to market. This bill is effective because it inventories underutilized state lands and repurposes them to build affordable housing, slashing costs to developers and passing savings on to consumers. The Chamber appreciates the General Assembly’s approach to housing using an incentives-based, public-private partnership model, rather than a one-size-fits-all mandate system.

The Chamber opposes this bill unless amended. While the Chamber supports tax credit incentives to ease the cost of transitioning to electric energy for businesses, we trust that the current targets for the state’s emission reduction plan are sufficient to meet the net-zero goal by 2050. We oppose changing interim targets on emission reduction standards because it places an onus on businesses to retrofit their property in time to meet these targets. The cost of these changes will have a damaging impact on the economy with most of the financial burden being placed on the back of businesses. We encourage the sponsor of this bill to remove the interim targets and clarify the incentive language.

The Chamber supports this legislation because it provides clarity to the operationalization of the middle-income housing authority, so that our state can increase sorely needed housing inventory. We encourage the General Assembly to continue advancing a public-private partnership model because it is a commonsense way to increase housing stock and create affordable housing for our workforce.

While the Chamber is actively engaged in finding solutions to incentivize the building of attainable housing for our workforce, we oppose this bill because it would have a negative effect. An increase in real estate transfer taxes would result in higher real estate costs. When examining public funding to support building affordable housing, we believe every stakeholder ought to contribute toward the solution and no individual or group alone should bear the burden of solving this. Additionally, this proposal will add yet another formula to our state’s constitution, an issue that the Chamber adamantly opposes because of its inherent potential to create budgeting and funding problems in the future.

Gas tax is a diminishing source of transportation funding because cars are becoming increasingly fuel efficient. The Chamber, along with a broad coalition of partners from across the state, identified sales tax as an appropriate method for funding the maintenance of our roads. This resolution would remove a diminishing revenue source and replace it with a stable one, also allowing tourists to pay a share in maintaining our transportation infrastructure.