Reduce Aviation Impacts on Communities

Section 3 2 of the bill creates a state income tax credit for owners of aircraft that incur qualified qualifying expenses to enable an aircraft that is powered by leaded aviation gasoline to be certified to instead be powered by unleaded aviation gasoline. Sections 4 3 and 8 6 provide explicit authority in the existing state aviation grant program (grant program) for aviation fund (fund) grants (grants) :

• To general aviation airports and commercial airports at which there is significant general aviation activity to fund the design, engineering, construction, installation, acquisition, and inspection of infrastructure, including equipment, that allows the sale of unleaded aviation gasoline at such airports and to subsidize purchases of unleaded aviation gasoline at such airports;
• For airport noise monitoring devices;
• For evaluation, provision of education and technical assistance to airports about, prevention, or mitigation of adverse impacts to the health, safety, and welfare of individuals who reside or work near an airport; and
• At a time that electric aircraft technology has been appropriately certified by the federal aviation administration, for on-airport electric aircraft charging infrastructure.

Section 6 also:

• Requires the lesser of 10% of the amount awarded in grants per year or $1,500,000 per year in grants to be designated for the aviation purposes of aiding and accelerating the transition from leaded aviation gasoline to unleaded aviation gasoline with priority given to airports with significant general aviation traffic in urban and suburban areas where surrounding communities may be disproportionately impacted by such traffic; and
• Subject to specified exceptions, prohibits grants from being awarded to an airport that is located in a densely populated residential area or has a significant number of flights over a densely populated residential area unless the airport or entity operating the airport demonstrates to the satisfaction of the aeronautics division of the department of transportation (division) that:
• By January 1, 2026, it has adopted a plan, in accordance with applicable federal requirements and guidance, for phasing out sales of leaded aviation gasoline at the airport by January 1, 2030;
• It has established, in consultation with flight schools and pilots that regularly use the airport, a voluntary noise abatement plan that meets specified requirements; and
• It complies with the requirements of any avigation easements or contracts that it has entered into.

Section 4 adds to the division's duties:

• Working with the department of public health and environment (CDPHE) as it continues to provide data and information about the effects of leaded aviation fuel on human health to the department of transportation and airports; and
• Educating airports with significant general aviation activity, as determined by the division, regarding:
• The need to expedite the transition from leaded aviation gasoline to unleaded aviation gasoline; and
• Specified funding opportunities for projects and unleaded aviation gasoline subsidies, if offered by the division, that support the transition from leaded aviation gasoline to unleaded aviation gasoline and impose requirements for accessing that funding and, if offered, those subsidies.

Section 6 5 increases the Colorado aeronautical board (board) from 7 to 9 voting members by requiring the appointment of 2 members who are residents of communities that are affected by general aviation airport traffic or traffic at a commercial airport at which there is significant general aviation activity and makes the executive director of the department of public health and environment (CDPHE) CDPHE , or the executive director's designee, an ex officio nonvoting member of the board. In appointing the 2 new voting members, the governor is required to give priority to individuals who are not trained pilots, are familiar with airport infrastructure, aviation, and the mission of the board, and who reside directly in the predominant flight path of a high-traffic general aviation airport or a commercial airport at which there is significant general aviation activity and in an area that has a population density of more than 3,000 individuals per square mile in a community that is significantly impacted by noise or lead emissions by a high-traffic airport with significant general aviation activity. The governor is also required to make appointments to the board so as to ensure a balance broadly representative of the activity level of airports throughout the state and further ensure that the racial, ethnic, and gender makeup of the board is representative of communities that are disproportionately impacted by general aviation airport traffic or traffic at a commercial airport at which there is significant general aviation activity. Section 8 requires prioritization of grant program grants to general aviation airports or commercial airports at which there is significant general aviation activity, as determined by the division of aeronautics (division), in urban or suburban areas that use a predominant flight pattern that includes a county or municipality that has a population density of more than 3,000 individuals per square mile. Section 8 also prohibits money from being expended from the fund for an airport that the division has identified as being located in a densely populated residential area or as having a significant number of flights over a densely populated residential area unless the airport or entity operating the airport demonstrates to the satisfaction of the division that:

• By January 1, 2026, it has adopted a plan for phasing out sales of leaded aviation gasoline at the airport;
• It has voluntarily established and enforces an effective noise mitigation plan in accordance with specified criteria, requirements, or guidelines that the division is required to develop; and
• It complies with the requirements of any avigation easements or contracts that it has entered into.

However, the limitation on the expenditure of money from the fund does not apply to money expended for an aviation project that is determined by the division to be designed and intended to mitigate significant adverse impacts on the health, safety, and welfare of individuals who reside near the airport at which the aviation project will be completed. Section 7 imposes similar limitations on certain federal money that the state may apply to receive for aviation purposes. Section 9 7 requires the division and CDPHE to work together to evaluate, prevent, and mitigate and educate and provide technical assistance to airports about, the adverse impacts of aircraft noise and the use of leaded aviation gasoline on public on health, safety, and welfare and specifies prioritization and other minimum requirements for the mitigation activities. and requires the division to prioritize these activities at airports with significant general aviation activity that are located in densely populated residential areas or have a significant number of flights over such areas. Section 9 also creates the unleaded aviation gasoline enterprise in the aeronautics division of the department of transportation for the purpose of remediating impacts caused by the use of leaded aviation gasoline by imposing a leaded aviation gasoline impact remediation fee on purchases of leaded aviation gasoline and using fee revenue to provide grants, loans, and rebates to fund infrastructure and programs at general aviation airports that are designed to increase the use of unleaded aviation gasoline in lieu of leaded aviation gasoline. Section 8 appropriates $44,609 from the general fund to the department of revenue and reappropriates $2,591 of the appropriation to the department of personnel for implementation of the bill.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)