SecondSB051_H_APP.004 RegularHOUSE SessionCOMMITTEE Seventy-secondOF GeneralREFERENCE AssemblyREPORT STATE_______________________________ OFJune COLORADO10, ENGROSSED2020 ThisChair Versionof IncludesCommittee AllDate AmendmentsCommittee Adopted on SecondAppropriations Reading. in the House of Introduction LLS NO.

20-0343.01After Jasonconsideration Gelenderon x4330the SENATEmerits, BILLthe 20-051Committee SENATErecommends SPONSORSHIPthe Priola,following: Moreno, Pettersen, Scott HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Valdez A., Catlin, Duran, Froelich, Gray, Hooton Senate Committees House Committees Transportation & Energy Finance Appropriations A BILL FOR AN ACT C ONCERNING LICENSE PLATES , AND , IN CONNECTION THEREWITH , SPECIFYING THAT , IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE POTENTIAL LOST REGISTRATION REVENUE ,THE LICENSE PLATES OF A MOTOR VEHICLETHATISCLASSIFIEDAS C LASS C PERSONALPROPERTY EXPIRE UPON THE SALE OR TRANSFER OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE , AND MAKING AN APPROPRIATION .

BillSB20-051 Summarybe (Note:amended as follows, and as so amended, be referred to the Committee of the Whole with favorable recommendation:

ThisAmend summary applies to this bill as introduced and does notreflectanyamendmentsthatmaybesubsequentlyadopted.Ifthisbill passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that applies to the reengrossed versionbill, ofpage this8, billstrike willlines be5 availablethrough at10 http://leg.colorado.gov/.)and gsubstitute: d e 0 Transportation Legislation Review Committee.

The"SECTION bill6. T R 0 A n 4 Shading denotes HOUSE amendment.

Double underlining denotes SENATE amendment.

E d e Capital letters or bold & italic numbers indicate new material to be added to existing stJtute.

Dashes through the words indicate deletions from existing statute.

e A specifies that:

! The license plates of a motor vehicle that is Class C personal property for purposes of the laws governing the levying of specific ownership tax and registration of vehicles expire upon the transfer of the owner's title or interest in the motor vehicle;

! If either the expired license plates are personalized license plates or the owner wishes to continue to use the same combination of letters or numbers on the owner's expired license plates that were not originally issued as personalized license plates, the owner retains the priority righttousethecombinationoflettersornumbersdisplayed on the expired license plates to the extent provided for in current law and may apply for personalized license plates thatusethe combination in the mannerspecifiedincurrent law when registering another motor vehicle;

and ! Any resulting incremental costs of producing and distributingadditionalnewlicenseplatesareexcludedfrom thecalculationoftheamountnecessarytorecoverthecosts of license plate, decal, and validating tab production, and distributionthatisusedtoannuallyestablishtheamountof the fee charged to cover those costs.

ClassCpersonalpropertyincludespassengercars,noncommercial light trucks, and motorcycles.

The bill does not apply to the transfer or assignment of an owner's interest in Class C personal property that is a horseless carriage.

On and after January 1, 2021, the bill also requires each type of license plate that is not a group special license plate and that, as of January1,2020,hadacolorschemeofdarkgreenlettersandnumberson a background of white mountains and a dark green sky to be manufactured to have a color scheme of white letters and numbers on a background of dark green mountains and a white sky.

The department of revenuemustexhaustitsstockoflicenseplateswiththeoldcolorscheme before issuing license plates with the new color scheme.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:

SECTION1.

Legislativedeclaration.(1) Thegeneralassembly finds and declares that:

(a) Recent national studies have determined that 4% of vehicles on the road in the United States are not properly registered or the -2- 051 registration is expired.

In Colorado it is estimated that as many as 4 out of every 10 cars on the road are not properly registered and licensed.

(b) Vehicles out of registration compliance also commonly lack insurance coverage and emissions testing documentation.

(c) Unregistered and improperly licensed vehicles contribute to significant state and local shortfalls in revenue for critical transportation and other needs.

(d) Thefinancialimpactof trafficcongestionintheUnitedStates is calculated to be $166 billion annually, reaching $225 billion by 2025.

Readable license plates may be needed to implement traffic congestion mitigation measures in the future.

(e) Law enforcement and public safety officials rely on plate readability and reflectivity to maintain safety on Colorado roads during critical operations, such as an Amber alert.

Seventy percent of serious crimes involve a vehicle, and license plates are a low-cost and effective way for law enforcement to identify vehicles.

License plates must be readable from a safe distance and readable from a vehicle in motion.

(f) License plates are often the only highly reflective element on vehicles, providing a critically important safety feature for stalled vehicles at night.

(g) Automatedtollingsystemson Colorado roads require legible, readable license plates to ensure accurate record keeping and to capture revenue from tollway users during the day and at night.

(h) The substantial increase in new residents from other states drivingvehiclesthatarenotregisteredinColoradohascontributedtothe loss of critical revenue for transportation and other purposes.

(i) Despite substantial growth in thenumberof motorvehicleson -3- 051 Colorado's roads, Colorado has not implemented a periodic license plate replacement program in nearly 30 years.

(j) A phased-in license plate reissue program will provide for increased public safety and effectiveness of license plates while minimizing costs and maximizing convenience for drivers.

7 (k)Onaverage,licenseplateslose50%oftheirreflectivitywithin 5 to 10 years of use and the average age of motor vehicles in Colorado is 7 to 10 years.

(2) Therefore, the general assembly declares that it is in the best interest of the people of the state of Colorado to implement a phased-in license plate reissue program that will extinguish license plates upon the sale or transfer to a new owner and require motorists to get new license plates at no additional cost to them.

Phasing in new license plates in this fashion will improve registration and license plate compliance, generate new and needed revenue for transportation and other purposes, improve vehicle insurance compliance rates, improve vehicle emission control compliance rates, enhance public safety and law enforcement, and improve tollway revenue capture rates.

SECTION 2.

In Colorado Revised Statutes, 24-30-2208, amend (2)(b) as follows:

24-30-2208.

Sale of registration numbers.