Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE

FISCAL NOTE

No General Fund Impact

Cash Fund Revenue Impact

TITLE:            CONCERNING THE EXCEPTION OF SCENIC RAILROADS FROM COLORADO PUBLIC UTILITIES RATE REGULATION.

Summary of Legislation

            The bill would exempt scenic railroads from rate regulation by the Public Utilities Commission. The bill would become effective upon the Governor’s signature.

State Revenues

            Railroads are subject to assessments to the Public Utility Commission’s Fixed Utilities Fund in the Department of Regulatory Agencies. Defining a scenic railroad and removing it from rate regulation would decrease revenue to the fund. The reduction in revenue would be made up by redistributing the loss to other railroads and increasing their assessments. This would result in a shift in fees from one group to another. Therefore, this bill is assessed as a fiscal impact.

Fee Impact on Individuals, Families or Business

            Pursuant to Section 2-2-322, C.R.S., which requires legislative service agency review of legislative measures which include the creation or increase of any fee collected by a state agency, the following analysis is provided.

            Removing one railroad from an assessment would shift the revenue increase to over 100 companies that are assessed fees based on a percentage of their gross operating intrastate proceeds. Those with the largest gross operating intrastate proceeds would have the largest increase. The impact to railroads would be small since they currently have much lower assessments than other utilities which contribute to the fund.

State Expenditures

            Scenic railroads would remain under the safety regulation of the PUC. The PUC’s workload would not be impacted.

Departments Contacted

            Regulatory Agencies