Section 43-4-1201 - Legislative declaration(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:(a) Retail deliveries are increasing and are expected to continue to increase in communities across the state;(b) The motor vehicles used to make retail deliveries are some of the most polluting vehicles on the road, which has resulted in additional and increasing air and greenhouse gas pollution;(c) The adverse environmental and health impacts of increased emissions from motor vehicles used to make retail deliveries can be mitigated and offset by supporting the widespread adoption of electric buses for transit fleets and reducing vehicle miles traveled by encouraging people to choose clean, efficient, public transit options instead of personal motor vehicle travel;(d) Instead of reducing the impacts of retail deliveries by limiting retail delivery activity through regulation, it is more appropriate to continue to allow persons who receive retail deliveries to benefit from the convenience afforded by unfettered retail deliveries and instead impose a small fee on each retail delivery and use fee revenue to fund necessary mitigation activities;(e) It is necessary, appropriate, and in the best interest of the state and all Coloradans to incentivize, support, and accelerate the electrification of public transit in rural and urban areas throughout the state because electrification: (I) Reduces emissions of air pollutants, including hazardous air pollutants and greenhouse gases, that contribute to adverse environmental effects, including but not limited to climate change, and adverse human health effects in and between communities, including communities near high-use transit corridors and disproportionately impacted communities, and helps the state meet its statutory greenhouse gas pollution reduction targets and comply with air quality attainment standards; and(II) By reducing fuel and maintenance costs associated with the use of motor vehicles, helps public transit providers operate more efficiently, use cost savings to provide more reliable and convenient transit service to more riders, and further reduce emissions by reducing personal motor vehicle use; and(f) By reducing motor vehicle emissions, transit fleet electrification effectively remediates some of the impacts of retail deliveries by offsetting a portion of the increased motor vehicle emissions resulting from such deliveries.(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that:(a) In order to incentivize, support, and accelerate the electrification of public transit and thereby reap the environmental, health, business, and operational efficiency benefits of electrification, it is necessary, appropriate, and in the best interest of the state to create a clean transit enterprise that can provide specialized remediation and other services that help public transit providers fund both the construction of the charging infrastructure needed to support electrification and the acquisition of electric motor vehicles;(b) The specific focus of the enterprise is the equitable reduction and mitigation of the adverse environmental and health impacts of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions through incentivization, support, and acceleration of the electrification of public transit in rural and urban areas throughout the state;(c) The enterprise provides impact remediation services when, in exchange for the payment of clean transit retail delivery fees by or on behalf of purchasers of tangible personal property for retail delivery, it acts to mitigate the impacts of residential and commercial deliveries on the state's transportation infrastructure, air quality, and emissions by:(I) Making grants or loans or providing rebates to fund the acquisition of clean, quiet, and cost-efficient electric motor vehicles for use in transit fleets and the construction of charging infrastructure that supports the use of such electric motor vehicles for public transit and thereby:(A) Improving transportation options for fee payers and the general public, making transit more attractive to new or infrequent users, and reducing personal motor vehicle emissions; and(B) By making transit more attractive, reducing traffic congestion, which allows more timely and efficient retail deliveries, further reduces emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gas pollutants from motor vehicles, and reduces and mitigates the adverse environmental and health impacts of such emissions;(II) Contributing in a unique and targeted way to the implementation of the comprehensive regulatory scheme required for the planning, funding, development, construction, maintenance, and supervision of a sustainable transportation system; and(III) Providing additional remediation services to offset impacts caused by fee payers as may be provided by law;(d) By providing remediation services as authorized by this section, the clean transit enterprise engages in an activity conducted in the pursuit of a benefit, gain, or livelihood 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 clean transit retail delivery fee imposed by the enterprise as authorized by section 43-4-1203 (7) is:(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 specified in this section; 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 clean transit retail delivery fee 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).Amended by 2023 Ch. 153,§ 8, eff. 7/1/2023.Added by 2021 Ch. 250, §52, eff. 6/17/2021.L. 2021: Entire part added, (SB 21-260), ch. 1451, p. 1451, § 52, effective June 17.