Off-Highway Vehicles (07/20/2015)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLES

Date:	07/20/2015	ATTENDANCE

Time:	02:00 PM to 04:10 PM	Baumgardner	X
		Brown	X
Place:	RM 271	Donovan	X
		Hamner	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Scott	*
	Representative Court	Court	X

This Report was prepared by
	Erin Reynolds
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
Review of Committee Charge and Calendar-Setting Presentation and Q&A with Colorado Counties Incorporated Presentation and Q&A with Colorado State Patrol Presentation and Q&A with the Colorado Municipal League Presentation and Q&A with Department of Revenue		Committee Discussion Only Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only

02:05 PM -- Review of Committee Charge and Calendar-Setting

Representative Court, chair, called the meeting to order. A quorum was present. Representative Court discussed the purpose of the committee and distributed a handout on the TABOR limit from the Office of State Planning and Budgeting (Attachment A). The committee set the calendar for the remainder of the interim to include: a second information gathering meeting on August 13, a meeting to submit bill draft requests on August 17, and, finally, a meeting to vote on draft legislation on September 17.

Attachment A.pdf

02:20 PM

Representative Court initiated committee discussion about what stakeholders should be placed on the agenda for the following meeting. It was decided that all interested presenters would be fit into the August 13 meeting. Legislative Council Staff provided an overview of committee materials, highlighting the memorandum from the Office of Legislative Legal Services regarding House Bill 15-1054 (Attachment B).

Attachment B.pdf

02:28 PM

Committee discussion ensued about the committee charge.

02:33 PM -- Presentation and Q&A with Colorado Counties Incorporated

Eric Bergman and Tony Lombard, representing Colorado Counties Incorporated (CCI), came to the table and distributed a factsheet (Attachment C). Mr. Bergman provided an overview of CCI's involvement with Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) legislation and discussed current laws related to OHV use on county roads. He cited specific counties where OHVs are vital to the economy and present certain challenges: Rio Blanco; and Hinsdale, Ouray, San Juan, and San Miguel -- the four counties of the Alpine Loop trail system in the San Juan mountains. He discussed the stakeholder process during CCI's legislative involvement with OHVs. He said that preserving the agricultural exemption for OHV use and the OHV trails program funding were of paramount importance. He discussed House Bill 15-1054, sponsored by Representative Brown. He recommended breaking the issue apart into separate bills, so that different problems could be solved without sinking the whole bill. He discussed a recent ruling in the 7th Judicial District that has allowed Arizonians to ride their OHVs on Colorado roads if licensed in Arizona, which he said makes Coloradans second-class citizens in their own state. He discussed the Colorado State Patrol amendment to HB 15-1054, which prohibited riders under 16 and hurt the effort of the bill to promote local control. He discussed the safety concerns related to OHVs, including recent deaths in the San Juan mountains. Mr. Bergman responded to questions from the committee, including a request that he chart the various issues related to OHV use in the state.

Attachment C.pdf

02:42 PM

Mr. Lombard began his presentation by responding to an earlier committee question about the provenance of HB 15-1054. He discussed prior OHV bills, including House Bill 11-1264, House Bill 12-1066, and Senate Bill 13-280. He discussed the Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition. He stated that CCI took a lead role in fostering the discussions and legislative proposals that resulted in HB 15-1054. He reiterated that HB 15-1054 had several components, including: agriculture exemption, local control of OHV use, safety equipment mandates, insurance, titling and registration. He stated that the issues that resulted in the bill being postponed indefinitely included: age limits, use of paved roads, and TABOR. Mr. Lombard named participants in the HB 15-1054 process, including Club 20, Colorado Sheriffs, Colorado Conservation Association, and Trout Unlimited. He told the committee that the environmental community is very concerned with licensing OHVs for the purposes of enforcement. He stated that the coalition worked with the Department of Revenue, but ran into the issue of the licensing fees affecting state revenue and the TABOR limit. The witness from CCI responded to additional questions from the committee related to current law and local control.

02:52 PM -- Presentation and Q&A with Colorado State Patrol

Sergeant Dave Hall, legislative liaison for the Colorado State Patrol (CSP), came to the table and distributed a copy of his presentation to the committee (Attachment D). He stated that one-third of the CSP's workload takes place on county roads. CSP's primary OHV concerns are: children operating OHVs, OHVs on paved roads, enforcement mechanisms, and OHV design issues. He discussed CSP's opinion that public safety should trump issues of local control. He discussed the lack of safety mechanisms in OHVs and that OHVs are not designed for use on paved surfaces. He showed photos of fatal OHV injuries. Sergeant Hall responded to a question from the committee regarding terminology related to roads, and how it differs from county to county. The committee asked for specifics on OHV crashes, where they are happening, and where they result in fatalities. Sergeant Hall stated that those statistics are not available because DR2447 crash reports cannot be filled out for OHV accidents, since OHVs are not treated as motor vehicles.

Attachment D.pdf

03:03 PM

Sergeant Hall discussed enforcement mechanisms that the CSP would like to see, including: clearly legible license plates, the requirement of driver's licenses for OHV operators, and insurance. He discussed the OHV designs that made them unsuitable for use on roads, including: tires designed for off-road use, a high center of gravity, lack of a rear differential in some vehicles, and other varying vehicle dynamics. He stated his department's concern that there is no proficiency test for OHV riders as there is for motorcyclists. He requested that committee members keep public safety on the top of their minds while crafting legislation. Sergeant Hall responded to questions from the committee related to concessions his department is willing to make to appeal to local control issues.

03:13 PM

Committee members asked if there are other categories of usage to limit OHV operation on paved roads. He responded that pavement is the problem, and said that finding a way to build a trail that connects one end of loop to other end is much more feasible. Committee dialogue with the witness continued on solutions for a compromise. The chair encouraged stakeholders to talk offline before the next meeting to work out some compromises.

03:23 PM

Committee discussion continued on issues related to public safety. Sergeant Hall said that CSP did compromise last year on HB 15-1054 at driver's licenses and no OHV operation on paved roads. The committee discussed possible data collection solutions.

03:29 PM -- Presentation and Q&A with the Colorado Municipal League

Mark Radtke, representing the Colorado Municipal League, and Tom Acre, South Fork Interim Town Administrator, came to the table. Mr. Radtke suggested that the committee use Senate Bill 09-075, which defined and regulated the use of low-speed electric vehicles and golf carts on roads, as a template. He stated that SB09-075 left it as a local decision whether to allow these vehicles on county roads, prohibited their use on state highways, and outlined safety rules to be followed. Mr. Acre discussed South Fork's town ordinance on OHV use, and discussed Senate Bill 15-023 which allows OHVs to cross state highways.

03:37 PM -- Presentation and Q&A with Department of Revenue

Tony Anderson, representing the Titles and Registration section of the Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Revenue, came to the table and distributed a copy of his presentation to the committee (Attachment E). He set out to provide an overview of the following: definitions of OHVs for title and registration purposes, current titling requirements for OHVs pursuant to Senate Bill 13-280, number of OHVs in the state, potential registration taxes and fees for OHVs, and expenditure analysis if legislation is introduced. He responded to questions from the committee and committee discussion ensued about the definition of an OHV. He discussed the difficulty in assessing the number of OHVs in the state due to the subset of OHVs that do not register with the CPW for use of designated trails.

Attachment E.pdf

03:46 PM

Mr. Anderson continued responding to questions from the committee. He discussed DOR's registration fee and specific ownership tax estimates for OHVs if required by future committee legislation. Committee discussion ensued on the reason for registration fees and the definition of an OHV.

03:56 PM

Jery Payne, Office of Legislative Legal Services, came to the table to clarify the legal definition of a golf cart. Erin Reynolds, Legislative Council Staff, discussed the fiscal note for HB 15-1054.

4:10 PM

The committee adjourned.