C.R.S. § 43-4-1701: Legislative declaration.

(1) The general assembly finds and declares that:

(a) The continued prosperity of the state and its citizens requires a safe, well-maintained, integrated, multimodal, and sustainable surface transportation system that is accessible in all parts of the state and that allows efficient movement of people, goods, and information;

(b) The state highway system is a fundamental element of the surface transportation system, and the condition of the roadways comprising the state highway system are essential to the efficient movement of people, goods, and information;

(c) The condition of the state highway system, in particular the condition of the roadway surface, has deteriorated over time as a result of the aging of the system and increased demands upon it, including growing population and vehicle miles traveled;

(d) In particular oversize and overweight vehicles and longer vehicle combinations cause a disproportionate amount of wear and tear on the state's highway system;

(e) There is an urgent present need to improve the condition of the state highway system through increased investment in preventive maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of the roadway surface; and

(f) Due to the limited availability of state and federal funding and the need to complete preventive maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction projects to improve the condition of the roadway surface of the state highway system and to support the ongoing maintenance of the roadway surface, it is necessary to create a road enterprise and to authorize the enterprise to:

(I) Complete preventive maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction projects to improve the condition of the roadway surface of the state highway system and to support the ongoing maintenance of the roadway surface; and

(II) Impose permit fees for oversize and overweight vehicles and longer vehicle combinations at rates reasonably calculated to defray the costs of maintaining the roadway surfaces of the state highway system, receive and expend revenue generated by the permit fees and other money, issue revenue bonds and other obligations, and exercise other powers necessary and appropriate to carry out its purposes.

(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that:

(a) The road enterprise provides businesses services when, in exchange for the payment of permit fees for oversize and overweight vehicles and longer vehicle combinations, it completes preventive maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction projects to improve the condition of the roadway surface of the state highway system and supports the ongoing maintenance of the roadway surface;

(b) By completing roadway surface projects as services as authorized by this section, the road enterprise provides a benefit to fee payers by improving the condition of the roadway surface of the state highway system that offsets the wear and tear caused by those fee payers 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;

(c) Consistent with the determination of the Colorado supreme court in Nicholl v. E-470 Public Highway Authority, 896 P.2d 859 (Colo. 1995), the power to impose taxes is inconsistent with enterprise status under section 20 of article X of the state constitution, and, therefore, it is the conclusion of the general assembly that the revenue collected by the road enterprise is generated by fees, not taxes, because the permit fees for oversize and overweight vehicles and longer vehicle combinations imposed by the enterprise are:

(I) Imposed for the specific purpose of allowing the enterprise to defray the costs of providing the services specified in section 43-4-1703 (2); and

(II) Collected at rates that are reasonably calculated based on the costs of the services provided by the enterprise;

(d) So long as the enterprise qualifies as an enterprise for purposes of section 20 of article X of the state constitution, the revenue from permit fees for oversize and overweight vehicles and longer vehicle combinations 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)(G); and

(e) No other enterprise created simultaneously or within the preceding five years serves primarily the same purpose as the road enterprise, and the road enterprise will generate revenue from permit fees of less than one hundred million dollars total in its first five fiscal years. Accordingly, the creation of the road enterprise does not require voter approval pursuant to section 24-77-108.