City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2009 01 27

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application for a development permit or other request for land use approval by a local government be subject to any regulation of the local government that is pending at the time of the application or request, so long as the pending regulation is adopted on or before the date a decision is made on the application or request, and so long as the local government has not unreasonably delayed its decision on the application or request HB 1106 also authorizes a local government to adopt a regulation when necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health or safety and to enforce such a pending regulation in relation to an application or request that is pending at the time of the adoption of the regulation. Bill: HB 09-1106, Pending ordinance doctrine Sponsors: Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Longmont; Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-S ilverthorne Status: H Local Government lobbyist: Erin Goff Sewer bill back up into Capitol A dispute between the City of Littleton and a couple of special districts to whom the City sells sewer service is the subject of a bill recently introduced. HB 09-1006 proposes to amend a long-standing municipal statute that provides that municipalities may sell extraterritorial savvier service at rates that are "just, reasonable and necessary." The districts, which are complaining that the City's actions were unjust and unreasonable, are proposing to add to the statute a va riety of new standards, limitations and protest procedures in order to improve their position in their ongoing fight with the City of Littleton. The League is urging members of the Local Government Committee that this local dispute between the City and a couple of special districts that chose to purchase service on the open market rather than develop their own wastewater treatment capacity is a local matter. The current law is completely adequate; if the districts have a problem, they should be taking it to the courthouse, not the Statehouse. Bill: HB 09-1006, Extraterritorial sewer rates Sponsors: Rep. Jim Kerr, R-Litlleton; Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Litlleton Status: H Local Government Position: Oppose lobbyist: Geoff Wilson 4 Sales tax collections At the urging of Colorado Counties Inc., Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, has introduced a bill that would permit county commissioners to locally collect their sales tax, similar to the prerogative of home rule municipalities under the Colorado Constitution. Presently, counties, like statutory municipalities, have their sales tax collected by the Department of Revenue. While CML has been aware that a county local collection bill was in the offing (CCI staff has been very forthcoming with us on this issue), review of the bill actually introduced raises some troubling issues for municipalities. CML will be discussing our concerns with CCI, to see if we can resolve them. For example, the bill would have counties collecting not just their own taxes locally, but state and statutory municipal sales taxes as well. The bill contains little or nothing addressing whether a county must demonstrate professional, fiscal and administrative capability to assume the critical role of collecting municipalities' sales tax. Further, the bill permits multi- jurisdictional retailers (that is, virtually all large retailers, other than independent, "mom and pop" businesses) to continue to remit state, county and municipal sales tax to the State. So, local businesses will remit municipal tax to the county, while big businesses will remit municipal tax to the State. CML is troubled by this aspect of the billr as \Ne do not see any municipal benefit in dividing collection of our main revenue stream between two levels of government Also troubling is that the bill is devoid of any provision for consultation with a municipality by the county proposing to collect the municipality's taxes. This bill arises from county frustration with collection efforts on their behalf by the Department of Revenue. CML has always felt, and have shared this with CCI, that a three-way discussion with the Department of Revenue involving counties and municipalities over collection efforts is far preferable to bills at the Statehouse. This bill proposes a complicated "solution" to a problem that is, as yet, ill-defined. The League would prefer a more deliberate approach to defining the problem, before a solution is proposed. Bill: HB 09-1130, Sales tax collections Sponsors: Rep. Bob. Gardner, R-Colorado Springs; Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus Status: H Local Government Position: Neutral lobbyist: Geoff Wilson Transportation - Funding CML joined Gov. Bill Ritter and other supporters last Wednesday to rollout a transportation finance bill dubbed FASTER (Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery Act). The bill has not been introduced as of this printing. It is an extensive bill that increases vehiCle registration fees with two surcharges for road safety projects and a special bridge enterprise fund. The average passenger vehicle or light truck would pay an additional $41 a year. Local governments will share the road safety money on the Highway Users Tax Fund formula (18 percent to municipalities). The Colorado Department of Transportation estimates that fund will raise a total of $160 million - making the municipal share nearly $29 million. Municipalities currently gain about $100 million each year from HUTF. $100 million from a separate vehiCle registration surcharge will be dedicated to state bridge projects. The bill also reorganizes the CDOT Tolling Enterprise. It allows tolling of existing lanes with the consent of affected local governments. The bill encourages CDOT look for public-private partnerships and other alternatives that use private sector investment for public projects. A pilot program to study the advisability of switching the gasoline tax to a vehicle miles traveled tax is included, as well as creating an internal CDOT efficiency commission. Finally, the bill expands the elements that regional transportation plans must look at to inClude topics such as transit alternatives and greenhouse gas generation. FASTER is a direct result of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel in which CML has been heavily involved for the past two years. Bill: FASTER Sponsors: Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne; Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton Status: Position: Support lobbyist: Mark Radtke Transportation - Highways - State highway abandonment HB 09-1114 is an even larger state turnback bill than last year's defeated effort. The bill requires the Transportation Commission to identify all state highways within Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization boundaries that carry 80 percent of their traffic to and from destinations within that MPO. Those segments of state highway would then be transferred to the appropriate county or STATEHOUSE REPORT