6 Colo. Code Regs. § 1007-3-6.07
The basis for these regulations was the passage of Senate Bill 116, during the 1991-1992 legislative session. That Act created the Hazardous Waste Commission and required that the Commission generate enough revenue through the imposition of fees to pay for the reasonable actual costs of the Commission's activities. The Commission was authorized to promulgate rules that established fees to offset the reasonable costs actually associated with the operations of the Commission and a filing fee to help defray reasonable administrative cost actually associated with processing petitions for interpretive rulings.
The Commission fees established for fiscal year 1992-93 were universally set at $55 for each category. The Commission determined as a matter of policy to set the fees for fiscal year 1993-94 based upon a graduated schedule. While no testimony was offered in support a graduated scheme, the Commission decided as a policy matter to assess higher fees for those categories that treat, store or dispose of hazardous waste or for categories that generate larger quantities of hazardous waste.
The fees for 1994-95 were based on the anticipated cost of approximately $158,445. The total amount of the assessed fees exceeded the anticipated spending authority. In fiscal year 1993-94 approximately 37% of the initial accounts receivable billed were uncollected because the entity was no longer in business, did not generate any waste or at the level originally reported, or failed to pay the fee. Thirty percent of the amount billed for fiscal year 1994-95 is anticipated to go uncollected for similar reasons. The Commission determined that a fee increase was not needed because of a slight reduction in the Commission's spending authority and budget needs and the conservative financial management of the Commission. For the reasons stated above, the fees for fiscal year 1995-96 will remain the same.
During the hearings for the Commission fees for 1993-94 the Commission heard and considered testimony from a transportation association which stated that a flat fee could not be imposed upon transporters because it is not otherwise authorized by federal law and is consequently subject to scrutiny under the preemptive authority of the federal Hazardous Materials Transportation Act of 1990 ("HMTA"). HMTA allows a state to impose a fee on transporters if it is equitable and used for purposes related to the transportation of hazardous materials. Hazardous waste is a subset of hazardous materials. The association testified that the fee for interstate transporters should be based upon the miles traveled in Colorado or by weight for packaged freight. The association representative also testified that a flat fee was acceptable for solely intrastate transporters. After consultation with legal counsel, the Commission determined that its fee assessed against transporters is equitable and is related to the transportation of hazardous materials consistent with HMTA. While the Commission agreed that a more finely calibrated user charge may arguably be more equitable, the evidence presented to it indicated that the administrative difficulties associated with its implementation made this scheme impracticable. No information submitted pursuant to the state hazardous materials and waste management program provides the necessary data required to assess fees based upon mileage or weight. Similarly, evidence in the record indicated that no other state agencies with jurisdiction over transporters collect the necessary information for such a scheme. Thus, imposition of any fee other than a flat fee would be an undue administrative burden because it would require the establishment of a program for the generation and collection of such data, creating additional costs. The Commission believes this to be unreasonable and would likely result in fees greatly in excess of those assessed in the current regulation.
The fee is assessed only to those entities which have a Colorado Environmental Protection Agency identification number because these entities have obtained their identification numbers through the state and appear on the state Resource Conservation Recovery Information System Notifiers List.
The Commission will repromulgate rules for each fiscal year and set the fees according to the costs for the operation of the upcoming fiscal year.
6 CCR 1007-3-6.07