2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 25 - PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT (§§ 25-1-101 — 25-59-106) › ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL (§§ 25-6.5-101 — 25-18.9-105) › Article 7.5 - CLEAN MOTOR VEHICLE FLEET SUPPORT (§§ 25-7.5-101 — 25-7.5-103) › Section 25-7.5-101 - Legislative declaration

(1)
The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:
(a)
An increasing number of fleet motor vehicles are on the road to meet increasing demands for retail deliveries and rides arranged through transportation network companies;
(b)
These fleet vehicles are some of the most polluting vehicles on the road, which has resulted in additional and increasing air and greenhouse gas pollution and related adverse environmental and health impacts across the state;
(c)
The adverse environmental and health impacts of increased emissions from fleet motor vehicles used to make retail deliveries and provide rides arranged through transportation network companies can be mitigated and offset by supporting the widespread adoption of electric motor vehicles for use in motor vehicle fleets;
(d)
Instead of reducing the impacts of retail deliveries and rides arranged through transportation network companies by limiting retail delivery and transportation network company ride activity through regulation, it is more appropriate to continue to allow persons who receive retail deliveries and benefit from the convenience afforded by unfettered retail deliveries and to allow transportation network companies that arrange prearranged rides to continue to provide that service without undue restrictions and instead impose a small fee on each retail delivery and ride and use fee revenue to fund necessary mitigation activities; and
(e)
It is necessary, appropriate, and in the best interest of the state and all Coloradans to incentivize and support the use of electric motor vehicles and, to the extent temporarily necessitated by the limitations of current electric motor vehicle technology and availability for certain fleet uses, compressed natural gas motor vehicles that are fueled by recovered methane and that produce fewer emissions than gasoline or diesel powered motor vehicles, by businesses and governmental entities that use fleets of motor vehicles, including fleets composed of personal motor vehicles owned by individual contractors who provide prearranged rides for transportation network companies or make retail deliveries, and to enable the state to achieve its stated electric motor vehicle adoption goals because increased usage of electric motor vehicles in motor vehicle fleets:
(I)
Generally reduces emissions of air pollutants, including ozone precursors, particulate matter pollutants, other hazardous air pollutants, and greenhouse gases, that contribute to adverse environmental effects such as climate change and adverse human health effects, including but not limited to asthma, reduced lung capacity, increased susceptibility to respiratory illnesses, chronic bronchitis, heart disease, and lung cancer, and helps the state meet its statewide greenhouse gas pollution reduction targets established in section
25-7-102(2)(g)
, comply with air quality attainment standards, and reduce adverse environmental and health impacts across the state and in communities, including but not limited to disproportionately impacted communities;
(II)
Specifically reduces higher localized emissions of such air pollutants in communities, including but not limited to disproportionately impacted communities, where:
(A)
Fleet yards, warehouses, distribution centers, refineries, fuel depots, waste facilities, and major interstate highways are located;
(B)
Usage of fleet motor vehicles is concentrated; and
(C)
Residents experience increased risks of air-pollution-related health impacts such as asthma, reduced lung capacity, increased susceptibility to respiratory illnesses, heart disease, and lung cancer; and
(III)
By reducing fuel and maintenance costs, helps businesses and governmental entities operate more efficiently over time, allowing the cost savings to be reinvested in business growth or used for beneficial public purposes.
(2)
The general assembly further finds and declares that:
(a)
To incentivize, support, and accelerate the adoption of electric motor vehicles in motor vehicle fleets in the state and thereby minimize and mitigate the environmental and health impacts of the transportation system and reap the environmental, health, and business and governmental operational efficiency benefits that result from motor vehicle fleet electrification, it is necessary, appropriate, and in the best interest of the state to create a clean fleet enterprise to help businesses and governmental entities that own or operate fleets of motor vehicles use more electric motor vehicles, and, to the extent temporarily necessitated by the limitations of current electric motor vehicle technology for certain fleet uses, more compressed natural gas motor vehicles that are fueled by recovered methane, in their motor vehicle fleets;
(b)
The enterprise provides business services, including remediation services, when, in exchange for the payment of fees, it:
(I)
Provides financing through grant programs, rebate programs, revolving loan funds, or any other strategies that the board finds effective;
(II)
Helps owners and operators of motor vehicle fleets reduce the up-front and total costs of using more electric motor vehicles, and, to the extent temporarily necessitated by the limitations of current electric motor vehicle technology for certain fleet uses, more compressed natural gas motor vehicles that are fueled by recovered methane, in their fleets;
(III)
Supports companion services such as testing, inspection, and readjustment services;
(IV)
Provides outreach, education, or training to support the successful application and performance of entities receiving funds;
(V)
Supports the development of a clean transportation workforce that can support businesses as they transition to using more electric motor vehicles in their fleets;
(VI)
Assesses and supports the implementation of cleaner and more efficient commercial vehicle technology to support motor vehicle fleet electrification;
(VII)
Researches and develops strategies, business plans, and guidance to support the consistent application of grants and other enterprise business services, including remediation services;
(VIII)
Contributes to the implementation of the comprehensive regulatory scheme required for the planning, funding, development, construction, maintenance, and supervision of a sustainable transportation system; and
(IX)
Provides additional remediation services to offset impacts caused by fee payers as may be provided by law, including but not limited to:
(A)
Incentivizing the use of clean mobile equipment;
(B)
Providing planning services to support communities, including but not limited to disproportionately impacted communities; and
(C)
Providing scrappage services;
(c)
By providing remediation services as authorized by this section, the enterprise engages in an activity conducted in the pursuit of a benefit, gain, or livelihood and therefore operates as a business;
(d)
By providing remediation services as authorized by this section, the enterprise provides a benefit to fee payers when it remediates the impacts they cause and therefore operates as a business in accordance with the determination of the Colorado supreme court in
Colorado Union of Taxpayers Foundation v. City of Aspen,
2018 CO 36;
(e)
Consistent with the determination of the Colorado supreme court in
Nicholl v. E-470 Public Highway Authority,
896 P.2d 859 (Colo. 1995), that the power to impose taxes is inconsistent with enterprise status under section 20 of article X of the state constitution, it is the conclusion of the general assembly that the revenue collected by the enterprise is generated by fees, not taxes, because the fees imposed by the enterprise as authorized by section
25-7.5-103(7) and (8)
are:
(I)
Imposed for the specific purpose of allowing the enterprise to defray the costs of providing the remediation services specified in this section, including mitigating impacts to air quality and greenhouse gas emissions caused by the activities on which the fee is assessed, and contributes to the implementation of the comprehensive regulatory scheme required for the planning, funding, development, construction, maintenance, and supervision of a sustainable transportation system; and
(II)
Collected at rates that are reasonably calculated based on the impacts caused by fee payers and the cost of remediating those impacts; and
(f)
So long as the enterprise qualifies as an enterprise for purposes of section 20 of article X of the state constitution, the revenue from the fees collected by the enterprise is not state fiscal year spending, as defined in section
24-77-102(17)
, or state revenues, as defined in section
24-77-103.6(6)(c)
, and does not count against either the state fiscal year spending limit imposed by section 20 of article X of the state constitution or the excess state revenues cap, as defined in section
24-77-103.6(6)(b)(I)(D)
.
Added by 2021 Ch. 250,§11, eff. 6/17/2021.
L. 2021: Entire article added, (SB 21-260), ch. 1387, p. 1387, § 11, effective June 17.