2016 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 43 - Transportation
General and Administrative
Article 1 - General and Administrative
Part 1 - Department of Transportation
§ 43-1-106. Transportation commission - powers and duties - repeal

(1) There is hereby created a transportation commission, which shall consist of eleven members. The initial members of the commission shall be the members of the state highway commission immediately prior to July 1, 1991, and each such commission member shall continue to represent the same district.

(2) One member of the commission shall be appointed by the governor from each of the following districts:

(a) District 1: The city and county of Denver;

(b) District 2: The county of Jefferson;

(c) District 3: The counties of Arapahoe and Douglas;

(d) District 4: The counties of Adams and Boulder;

(e) District 5: The counties of Larimer, Morgan, and Weld;

(f) District 6: The counties of Rio Blanco, Grand, Moffat, Routt, Gilpin, Clear Creek, and Jackson;

(g) District 7: The counties of Chaffee, Eagle, Garfield, Lake, Summit, Pitkin, Delta, Gunnison, Mesa, Montrose, and Ouray;

(h) District 8: The counties of Alamosa, Archuleta, Conejos, Costilla, Dolores, Hinsdale, La Plata, Mineral, Montezuma, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan, and San Miguel;

(i) District 9: The counties of El Paso, Fremont, Park, and Teller;

(j) District 10: The counties of Baca, Bent, Crowley, Custer, Huerfano, Kiowa, Las Animas, Otero, Prowers, and Pueblo; and

(k) District 11: The counties of Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Logan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma.

(3) Each district member shall actually reside in the district he or she represents. If a district member ceases to reside in the district he or she represents, such district member shall be deemed to have resigned as a member of the commission.

(4) (a) Each member of the commission shall be appointed by the governor, with the consent of the senate, for a term of four years.

(b) The terms of members of the commission who are transferred from the state highway commission on July 1, 1991, shall expire as follows:

(I) The terms of members of the commission representing districts 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 11 shall expire on July 1, 1991; and

(II) The terms of members of the commission representing districts 1, 3, 7, 8, and 10 shall expire on July 1, 1993.

(c) As the terms of the members of the commission expire, the governor shall consider the appointment to the commission of one or more individuals with knowledge or experience in mass transportation in order to provide for a commission with expertise in different modes of transportation and shall consider the appointment to the commission of at least one individual with knowledge or experience in engineering. In making appointments to the commission, the governor is encouraged to include representation by at least one member who is a person with a disability, as defined in section 24-45.5-102 (2), C.R.S., a family member of a person with a disability, or a member of an advocacy group for persons with disabilities, provided that the other requirements of this paragraph (c) are met.

(5) All members of the commission, before entering upon the duties of their office, shall take the oath prescribed by the constitution of this state for state officers and file the same in the office of the secretary of state.

(6) The commission shall meet regularly not less than eight times a year, but special meetings may be called by the governor, the chairman of the commission, the executive director, or a majority of the members of the commission on three days' prior notice by mail or, in case of emergency, on twenty-four hours' notice by telephone or other telecommunications device. The commission shall adopt rules in relation to its meetings and the transaction of its business. Six members shall constitute a quorum of the commission. All meetings of the commission, in any suit or proceedings, shall be presumed to have been duly called and regularly held, and all orders, rules, and proceedings of the commission to have been authorized, unless the contrary is proved. Each member of the commission shall receive seventy-five dollars per day for each regular or special meeting of the commission actually attended and shall be reimbursed for his or her necessary expenses incurred in the discharge of such member's official duties. Mileage rates shall be computed in accordance with section 24-9-104, C.R.S.

(7) The members of the commission thus designated or appointed and their successors shall constitute a body corporate to be known by the name and style of the "transportation commission of Colorado", shall have the power to adopt and use a common seal and to change and alter such seal at will, and shall have and exercise all powers necessarily incident to a body corporate or as provided by law.

(8) In addition to all other powers and duties imposed upon it by law, the commission has the following powers and duties:

(a) To formulate the general policy with respect to the management, construction, and maintenance of public highways and other transportation systems in the state and, in that capacity, to receive delegations, including county commissioners and municipal officials interested therein;

(b) To assure that the preservation and enhancement of Colorado's environment, safety, mobility, and economics be considered in the planning, selection, construction, and operation of all transportation projects in Colorado;

(c) To make such studies as it deems necessary to guide the executive director and the chief engineer concerning the transportation needs of the state;

(d) To prescribe the administrative practices to be followed by the executive director and the chief engineer in the performance of any duty imposed on them by law;

(e) Repealed.

(f) To require the executive director and the chief engineer to furnish whatever reports, statistics, information, or assistance it may request in studying any particular transportation problem or with respect to the operation of the department generally;

(g) To furnish the executive director and the chief engineer with advice on any transportation problem with which they may be confronted;

(h) To promulgate and adopt all department budgets, subject to section 43-1-113, and state transportation programs, including construction priorities and the approval of extensions or abandonments of the state highway system and including a capital construction request, based on the statewide transportation improvement programs, for state highway reconstruction, repair, and maintenance projects to be funded from the capital construction fund as provided in section 2-3-1304 (1) (a.5), C.R.S. The provisions of this paragraph (h) shall not apply to the budget of the aeronautics division; except that the commission has the authority to adopt the portion of the division's budget pertaining to its administrative costs and to make an allocation therefor.

(i) To act as consultants and to provide services and information, to the boards of county commissioners, which in the discretion of the commission are deemed beneficial to the state of Colorado. Such duty shall include the establishment of a formal hearing process for the boards of county commissioners.

(j) To do all other things necessary and appropriate in the construction, improvement, and maintenance of the state highway and transportation systems;

(k) To make all necessary and reasonable orders, rules, and regulations in order to carry out the provisions of this part 1 but not inconsistent therewith, but nothing in this section shall be deemed or construed to give the commission or any member thereof the power to direct any officer or any employee, other than the executive director of the department, to do or not to do anything;

(l) To do all things necessary and appropriate in the construction, improvement, and maintenance of the public roads serving the state parks and recreation areas and, to this end, to cooperate with the parks and wildlife commission and the director of the division of parks and wildlife;

(m) To do all things necessary and appropriate in the construction, maintenance, and improvement of recreational trails along and across new or existing state or interstate highways and, to this end, to cooperate with the parks and wildlife commission and the director of the division of parks and wildlife;

(n) To prepare an inventory of, description of use of, evaluation of future plans for, and assessment of the value of property, except for operating highway rights-of-way, held by the department and to determine whether or not the transfer, sale, lease, or other disposition of such property would result in a substantial net benefit to the highway users tax fund or any other fund to which such moneys would be directed. Upon such determination, the commission shall direct the department to dispose of any property that is not anticipated for use for transportation purposes in the reasonably foreseeable future, as determined by the chief engineer, subject to the provisions of section 43-1-210 (5).

(o) To require the internal auditor to perform such audits and furnish such other information or assistance as is set forth in subsection (12) of this section;

(p) (I) To promulgate all necessary and reasonable regulations to establish an emerging small business program for the department. In promulgating such regulations, the commission may provide such assistance to eligible small businesses as the commission determines is appropriate to promote the participation of small businesses in the performance of highway construction work, professional services work, and practice of research work and thereby to increase the competition and lower the cost to the state for such work. For the purposes of this paragraph (p), "professional services" shall have the meaning provided for such term in section 24-30-1402 (6), C.R.S. For the purposes of this paragraph (p), "practice of research" means the performance of professional services involving the design, data collection and data analysis of studies such as evaluation studies, usage studies, feasibility studies, environmental impact studies, polling studies, and other such studies performed by a person qualified by education or training or actual performance in the field.

(II) The assistance that is provided to small businesses under the regulations promulgated by the commission pursuant to the provisions of subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (p) may include, but is not necessarily limited to, the following:

(A) Assistance in developing business plans;

(B) The provision of technical assistance to small businesses;

(C) The provision of payments to prime contractors and consultants for the actual costs incurred by such contractors and consultants in providing job training to small business subcontractors and subconsultants;

(D) The restriction of certain smaller projects to only eligible small businesses;

(E) The provision of assistance to small businesses with bonding and retainage requirements, including, but not necessarily limited to, the waiver of bonding or retainage requirements for certain smaller projects;

(F) Increasing the number of smaller projects that could be completed by small businesses in construction and nonconstruction areas; and

(G) The adjustment of the points awarded in the evaluation of any prospective consultant who is an eligible small business or who will hire eligible small businesses as subconsultants in construction and nonconstruction areas.

(q) (I) To cooperate or contract with the department of transportation of one or more states, regional or national associations, or not-for-profit organizations to provide any function, service, or facility lawfully authorized to each, including the sharing of costs, concerning the research, development, implementation, or utilization of transportation studies, issues, and new transportation technology. Said studies, issues, and technology shall include intelligent vehicle highway systems only if such cooperation or contracts are authorized by each party with the approval of its legislative body or other authority.

(II) Any such contract shall set forth fully the purposes, powers, rights, obligations, and responsibilities, financial and otherwise, of the contracting parties.

(III) Where other provisions of law provide requirements for special types of intergovernmental contracting or cooperation, those special provisions shall control.

(IV) Any such contract may provide for the joint exercise of any function, service, or facility, as specified in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (q), including the establishment of a separate legal entity to do so.

(r) Subject to section 2-3-1307, C.R.S., to cooperate with the executive director in complying with the requirements of section 24-1-136.5, C.R.S., concerning the preparation of operational master plans, facilities master plans, and facilities program plans for the department;

(s) To promulgate rules or guidelines for the maintenance and administration of the transportation infrastructure revolving fund in accordance with section 43-1-113.5.

(9) The commission may adopt rules and regulations to provide that traffic lanes of state highways, or portions thereof, may be designated as diamond lanes for the preferential treatment of buses. The commission may also by rule and regulation provide that diamond lanes, or portions thereof, may also be available for use by vanpools and carpools. Such rules and regulations may include, but shall not be limited to, the minimum number of persons that would constitute a vanpool or carpool, the conditions under which such vanpools and carpools may use such diamond lanes, time restrictions, if any, conformance with existing intergovernmental agreements, and variances between highways. The commission shall report to the senate transportation committee and the house transportation and energy committee as to the utilization of high-occupancy vehicle traffic lanes, and their overall impact on traffic flow and air quality. Any hearings held pursuant to article 4 of title 24, C.R.S., shall be presided over by the commission, its designee for rule-making, or an administrative law judge appointed pursuant to part 10 of article 30 of title 24, C.R.S.

(9.5) (a) The commission shall promulgate and implement written policies based upon the policy directive number 1604.0 issued by the commission on November 18, 1999, or any subsequent policy directive as amended or revised requiring the department to notify and disseminate information regarding transportation construction projects to the public and to residential neighborhoods and businesses that may be affected by transportation construction projects. Such policies shall include at a minimum:

(I) Notification procedures to communities, residences, and businesses affected by a proposed transportation construction project, including time periods for notification and information about lane closures and detours;

(II) Notification and signage requirements to be followed by contractors for a transportation construction project;

(III) Requirements for mitigation of impacts, including but not limited to noise, dust, and access to property caused by a transportation construction project.

(b) The policies issued pursuant to this subsection (9.5) shall not be construed to reopen the project public participation process for any transportation construction project for which the public participation process has been completed prior to June 1, 2002.

(10) The commission shall define the succession of administrative officers in the department so that in the absence of the executive director, the deputy director, or the chief engineer there may always be a designated officer to act in his or her stead and to assume the obligation of his or her office.

(11) The commission shall act only by resolution adopted at a duly called meeting of the commission, and no individual member of the commission shall exercise individually any administrative authority with respect to the department.

(12) (a) Subject to the provisions of section 13 of article XII of the state constitution, the executive director of the department shall appoint an internal auditor, who shall have the status of a division director and shall have the authority to appoint such personnel as may be necessary for the efficient operation of his office. The executive director shall give presumptive consideration to the recommendations of the commission prior to appointing the internal auditor.

(b) The internal auditor shall conduct and supervise:

(I) Internal audits on the department;

(II) External audits on persons entering into contracts with the department, as deemed necessary or advisable by the commission;

(III) Such federally required audits as are delegated to the commission or the department to perform;

(IV) Financial audits in order to ensure the financial integrity of the department; and

(V) Performance audits to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations of the department.

(c) The commission shall establish an audit review committee from the commission membership which shall oversee the operations of the internal auditor and his staff.

(d) The executive director may direct the internal auditor to conduct such other audits as the executive director may deem necessary.

(e) It is the intent of the general assembly to shift reporting of, supervision of, and control of the department's internal auditor to the commission.

(13) Repealed.

(14) The commission shall seek to enter into intergovernmental agreements with local governmental entities in order to encourage cooperation between the department and local governments and to maximize the efficiency of transportation systems in Colorado. Such intergovernmental agreements shall be negotiated by the chief engineer or the executive director pursuant to the provisions of section 43-1-110 (4).

(15) In addition to any other duties required by law, the commission shall have the following charges:

(a) To study the feasibility of generating income for highway operations through the usage of the powers granted to the department under the provisions of part 2 of article 3 of this title;

(b) To study the feasibility of transferring some or all of the existing tunnel and highway authorities to the department and to examine the building of a highway beltway in the Denver metropolitan area;

(c) To study whether the regulation of private and public bus companies should continue to be performed by the public utilities commission or whether such regulation should be performed by the department;

(d) To study and make recommendations for existing and future transportation systems in Colorado with a focus of such study and recommendations being a ten-year plan for each mode of transportation. Such ten-year plan shall be based on what can be reasonably expected to be implemented with the estimated revenues which are likely to be available.

(e) To examine the application of traffic systems management and intelligent vehicle highway systems for Colorado highways. The commission shall complete such examination as soon as practicable.

(16) Repealed.

(17) (a) The commission shall reestablish the standing efficiency and accountability committee that was initially established in 2009 and disbanded in 2013. The committee shall seek ways to maximize the efficiency and accountability of the department to allow increased investment in the transportation system over the short, medium, and long term. The committee shall include:

(I) From the executive branch of state government:

(A) One member of the commission designated by the commission;

(B) One member from the office of the executive director designated by the executive director;

(C) One member from each of the divisions of the department created in section 43-1-104 (1) designated by the executive director after consultation with the directors of each division; and

(D) Any other employees of the department that the executive director may designate;

(I.5) From the legislative branch of state government:

(A) Two members of the house of representatives, one appointed from the majority party by the speaker of the house of representatives and one appointed from the minority party by the minority leader of the house of representatives; and

(B) Two members of the senate, one appointed from the majority party by the president of the senate and one appointed from the minority party by the senate minority leader;

(II) From outside state government, representatives of:

(A) The construction industry;

(B) The engineering industry;

(C) The environmental community;

(D) Transportation planning organizations;

(E) Public transportation providers;

(F) Counties;

(G) Municipalities;

(H) Nonpartisan good governance organizations; and

(I) Any other industries or groups that the commission determines should be represented on the committee; and

(III) Any individuals or representatives of informally constituted groups of individuals that the commission determines should be represented on the committee.

(b) The efficiency and accountability committee shall seek to ensure that the commission and the department execute their duties efficiently and in compliance with all applicable federal and state legal requirements. The committee shall periodically report to the commission and the executive director in order to recommend means by which the commission and the department may execute their duties more efficiently, point out any failures of the commission or the department to comply with applicable federal and state legal requirements, and recommend improvements to commission or department procedures that reduce the likelihood of inadvertent legal compliance failures. The committee shall also specifically examine actions taken by the commission and the department in response to the August 2015 performance audit report prepared by the state auditor titled "Collection and Usage of the FASTER Motor Vehicle Fees" and report its findings regarding the appropriateness, effectiveness, and efficiency of those actions. The executive director or the executive director's designee shall report at least once per calendar year to either the committees of the house of representatives and the senate that have jurisdiction over transportation or the transportation legislation review committee created in section 43-2-145 (1) regarding the activities and recommendations of the efficiency and accountability committee and any actions taken by the commission or the department to implement recommendations of the committee. Notwithstanding section 24-1-136 (11) (a), C.R.S., the reporting requirement continues indefinitely.

(c) A member of the efficiency and accountability committee who has a personal or private interest that could reasonably be expected to be affected if the commission or the department implements a proposed committee recommendation shall disclose the interest to the committee and shall abstain from any committee vote to adopt or reject the recommendation.

(d) This subsection (17) is repealed, effective July 1, 2019. Before its repeal, this subsection (17) is scheduled for review in accordance with section 2-3-1203, C.R.S.