Wildlife Collision Prevention

     Beginning on January 1, 2027, the bill authorizes an optional collision prevention fee (fee), which is collected at the time of registration of a passenger motor vehicle, a light-weight truck, a motorcycle, or a recreational vehicle (motor vehicle). An individual may decline to pay the fee when registering a motor vehicle, and nonpayment of the fee does not affect the individual's ability to register the motor vehicle. In connection with imposing the fee, the statewide bridge and tunnel enterprise (enterprise) within the department of transportation (department) is required to:

• Collaborate with the department of revenue to develop language to notify individuals about the fee, including explicit language regarding the ability to decline to pay the fee and the fact that nonpayment of the fee will not affect an individual's ability to register a motor vehicle; and
• Collaborate with the department of revenue, the department, county clerks, the division of parks and wildlife, and other impacted stakeholders to conduct a public outreach campaign to educate the public about the fee and what benefits the fee will provide.

The fee amount is set at $5 and, beginning in state fiscal year 2028-29, the enterprise is allowed to adjust this fee amount upward for inflation.

     Seventy-five percent of the revenue from the fee is credited to the newly created collision prevention fund (fund), which is continuously appropriated to the enterprise for use in the following ways:

• To fund wildlife safe passage projects, defined as one or more projects that reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and improve habitat connectivity by providing wildlife road crossings;
• To provide matching money as required by federal grant programs relating to wildlife safe passage projects;
• For administrative and personnel expenses related to those purposes; and
• To promote the fee and fund to maximize participation in the optional fee, in collaboration with the department of revenue, impacted stakeholders, and interested organizations.

In determining which wildlife safe passage projects the enterprise will undertake, the enterprise is required to:

• Consult with the division of parks and wildlife (division) and the Colorado wildlife and transportation alliance;
• Consult with the tribal government if the project is on or adjacent to tribal land;
• Consult with relevant local governments with jurisdiction over the area of the proposed project and any relevant local organizations engaging in work to reduce vehicle collisions;
• Consider studies concerning the prioritization of wildlife within the state;
• Consider whether the wildlife safe passage project is related to a bridge or tunnel project undertaken by the enterprise; and
• In consultation with the division, consider opportunities for landowner agreements or additional conservation efforts that may be necessary to ensure the continued functionality of infrastructure associated with a proposed wildlife safe passage project.

     Twenty-five percent of the revenue from the fee is credited to the wildlife cash fund and continuously appropriated to the division of parks and wildlife to provide services related to wildlife connectivity and wildlife crossing-related conservation efforts.

     The bill also modifies the process for the keep Colorado wild pass fee, which is also an optional fee paid at the time an individual registers a motor vehicle, to align with the process for the collision prevention fee by removing the presumption that an individual who declines to pay the keep Colorado wild pass fee is presumed to decline to pay that fee in subsequent years with respect to registration of the same motor vehicle. With this change, an individual must affirmatively opt out of the payment of both the keep Colorado wild pass fee and the collision prevention fee each year that the individual registers the motor vehicle.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)