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I_TLRC_2023A 07/24/2023 09:02:49 AM Committee Summary

PUBLIC
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING
INTERIM COMMITTEE  TRANSPORTATION LEGISLATION REVIEW COMMITTEE
Date 07/24/2023
Attendance
Boesenecker X
Cutter *
Dickson X
Exum X
Jaquez Lewis E
Lindsay X
Lindstedt X
Mabrey X
Mauro X
Parenti E
Pelton B. X
Priola *
Simpson X
Taggart X
Vigil X
Weinberg *
Wilson X
Winter T. X
Winter F. *
Froelich X
Time 09:02:49 AM to 03:10:05 PM
Place Old State Library
This Meeting was called to order by Froelich
This Report was prepared by Nina Forbes
Hearing Items Action Taken
Presentation from Public Utilities Commission Committee Discussion Only
Presentation from Division of Motor Vehicles Committee Discussion Only
Presentation from Colorado Department of Public Safety Committee Discussion Only
Presentation from Towing and Recovery Committee Discussion Only
Presentation from Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance Committee Discussion Only
Public Testimony on Towing Committee Discussion Only
Presentation from Sierra Club Committee Discussion Only
Presentation from Colorado Department of Transportation Committee Discussion Only
Railroad Panel Presentations Committee Discussion Only
Railroad Labor Organizations Presentation Committee Discussion Only
Public Testimony on Railroad Safety Committee Discussion Only

09:02:53 AM
Chair Froelich gave
opening remarks.



Presentation from Public Utilities Commission - Committee Discussion Only
09:03:19 AM  
Rebecca White, Division
Director of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Nate Reilly, Program
Manager at the PUC, and Ashley Young, Legislative Liaison for the Department
of Regulatory Agencies, introduced themselves and began their presentation.
The PUC's presentation is included as Attachment A. Ms. White gave an overview
of the Commission's role in the regulation of towing operations.  Ms.
White gave an update on House Bill 22-1314 and how it changed the towing
landscape.  Ms. White noted that the bill has resulted in almost a
100 percent increase in the number of submitted complaints.  Ms. White
discussed the interpretation of legislative intent for HB 23-1217 and possible
solutions to issues that have come up in relation to the bill.
09:15:57 AM  
Ms. White and Mr.
Reilly responded to questions from the committee on loans that towing carriers
are using to collect fees and whether that would be grounds for de-licensing.
 They answered additional questions about a letter from the Attorney
General regarding compensatory loans to recover debt for towing fees. Ms.
White and Mr. Reilly answered additional questions about impounding and
storage fees for towed vehicles which result in vehicles being relinquished.
They responded to additional questions about crime victims and the need
for better definitions around who constitutes a victim of a crime. Ms.
White and Mr. Reilly went over the complaint process for consumers and
how they advertise these services.  



Presentation from Division of Motor Vehicles - Committee Discussion Only
09:36:49 AM  
Brandon Huseman,
Policy Advisor for the Division Motor Vehicles (DMV), and Electra Bustle,
Senior Director at the DMV, introduced themsleves and explained the process
for the DMV's involvement in towing. Thy explained that the department's
role is limited to recordkeeping and transfer of ownership, and that it
has no role interacting with consumers. For recordkeeping, a towing agency
must report a tow to the DMV within 10 days so they DMV can perform a records
search to find the owner, any active liens, and if the vehicle has been
reported stolen.The DMV returns these records to the towing agency and
law enforcement within 10 days. The DMV doesn't receive any context on
the tow beyond the date and time of tow and whether it occurred on public
or private property. Law enforcement and towing companies can sell towed
vehicles if they send notice to the vehicle owners and the owners do not
retrieve the vehicle within 30 days. The DMV will transfer ownership for
the vehicle in these cases and provide additional documentation since law
enforcement and/or towing companies do not have the original title.  
09:43:19 AM  
Mr. Huseman answered
questions from the committee about how the lien holder gets notice about
impounded vehicles. Mr. Huseman responded to questions about whether the
DMV can accurately do its job without all the data, such as in the case
of crime victims, Mr. Huseman said statute is intended to protect vehicle
owner, so if different protections were put into statute, then the DMV
could treat them differently, but currently it's a unviersal policy towards
all vehicles.



Presentation from Colorado Department of Public Safety - Committee Discussion Only
09:46:27 AM  
Captain Honn, Legislative
Liaison for the Colorado State Patriol (CSP), Captain Hahn, CSP Motor Carrier
Safety Section, Director Robert Force,  Department of Public Safety
Auto Theft Prevention Authority, and Lieutenant Colonel Bratt, CSP Region
1 Commander, introduced themselves and gave a presentation on the intent
behind House Bill 23-1217, including what is considered a serious crime,
magnitude of crime victims, identifying towed vehicles with crime victims,
and issues to narrow the scope of the problem. Lieutenant Colonel Bratt
gave additional comments on how the interprestation of "non-consensual
tows" is very broad as well as "crime victims".  CSP's
presentation is included as Attachment B.



Presentation from Towing and Recovery - Committee Discussion Only
09:59:44 AM  
John Connolly, of
Connolly's Towing and President of Colorado Towing and Recovery, introduced
himself and began his presentation. Mr. Connolly provided a handout, which
is included as Attachment C. He explained that some towers have good intent
and presented himself as available to help victims. Trevor Forbes, CEO
of Summit Vehicle Solutions, introduced himself.  Mr. Connolly responded
to questions from the committee about tack-on fees for towing to help fund
victim's impound and towing fees. Mr. Connolly explained the issue of deciding
what a "victim" is and how broad the definition is.  Mr.
Forbes responded to questions on the number of complaints against Wyatt's
Twoing, the Attorney General's investigation of Wyatt's Towing, and loan
programs. Mr. Forbes answered additional questions about the loan program.
Mr. Connolly responded to questions about who would fall under the definition
of a crime victim.



Presentation from Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance - Committee Discussion Only
10:22:04 AM  
Mari Dennis, Executive
Director of the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance (COVA), and
Courtney Sutton, Public Policy Director, introduced themselves and gave
an overview of COVA's mission and services. COVA's presentation is included
as Attachment D. Ms. Dennis went over the COVA emergency fund. Ms. Sutton
discussed previous legislative attempts to help victims and towing and
impound fees in the news. Ms. Dennis discussed COVA staff capacity to help
victims.
10:33:22 AM  
Ms. Dennis answered
questions about what the federal and state funds COVA receives can go towards.
 Ms. Dennis also discussed when COVA deals with car theft victims,
which is only when there's a sexual violence (VRA) crime involved.



Public Testimony on Towing - Committee Discussion Only
10:38:08 AM  
There was no public
testimony on this topic.



Presentation from Sierra Club - Committee Discussion Only
10:39:03 AM  
The committee broke for lunch.
10:39:13 AM  
The committee came back to order.
12:47:06 PM  
Becky English, Chair
of the Transportation Committee for the Sierra Club, introduced herself
and began her presentation on the Uinta Basin Railway project. The Sierra
Club's presentation is included as Attachment E and a handout is included
as Attachment F. Ms. English gave an overview of the project and the concerns
of the Sierra Club and the surrounding communities, the response of elected
leaders, and funding for the project. Ms. English suggested that private
activity bonds could be limited.
01:01:56 PM  
Ms. English responded
to questions from the committee about the likelihood of train derailments
and calculating the cost of one spill.



Presentation from Colorado Department of Transportation - Committee Discussion Only
01:05:42 PM  
Chris Enright, Passenger
Rail System Design Engineer at the Colorado Department of Transportation
(CDOT), introduced himself and began his presentation on rail safety. CDOT's
presentation is included as Attachment G.  Mr. Enright gave an overview
of the status of rail safety in Colorado, statistics on rail accidents,
accident outcomes, regulatory authority and limitations, state agency in
rail safety, current federal legislation and regulation, actions in progress
in Colorado to support safety, research and development. grade crossing
safety improvements, and emergency response.
01:16:59 PM  
Mr. Enright answered questions about reporting thresholds for accident reporting, instances of accidents on public vs. private property, and the differential impacts of rail vs. vehicle crashes for hazardous materials.



Railroad Panel Presentations - Committee Discussion Only

01:27:12 PM  
Andy Williams, Director
of Public Affairs at BNSF Railway, and Jeff Hankins, BNSF Manager Hazardous
Materials, Field Operations, Emergency Responses, introduced themselves
and began their presentation. BNSF's presentation is included as Attachment
 H. Mr. Hankins went over safety measures, statistics on hazardous
materials rail transport, BNSF HAZMAT shipments, causes of train accidents
(mostly human caused), prevention and reducing risk, Colorado key routes,
detector spacing, first responder training, commodity flow studies, incident
mobilization, mobilization of pre-positioned hazmat responders, air monitoring
assets, training statistics, and AskRail application.
01:41:38 PM  
Mike Ogborn, Short
Line and Regional Railroad Association, introduced himself and began his
presentation. Short Line's presentation is included as Attachment I. He
discussed the short line connection to the freight rail system, safety
items, culture of safety, safety culture assessment model, training programs
on HAZMAT and related products, protecting the environment, environmental
activities, and some bipartisan options for railroads, labor organizations,
and the legislature to collaborate on.
01:54:20 PM  
Rod Doerr, Vice President
and Chief Safety Officer for Union Pacific Railroad, and Nathan Anderson,
Senior Director of Public Affairs at Union Pacific Railroad, introduced
themselves and began their presentation on Union Pacific's safety performance.
Union Pacific's presentation is included as Attachment J and a handout
is included as Attachment K. Mr. Doerr showed statistics on railroad safety
versus the safety of other industries (with railroad as the safest), technology
to create safer networks (including drones, machine visioning, and underground
fiber optic sound monitoring), and other methods to keep communities safe.
02:07:36 PM  
The panel responded
to questions from the committee on train length data reporting to the Federal
Railroad Administration, fire-fighting resources on the part of railroads,
maintenance of accident detectors, the interaction between freight and
passenger rail, crew levels, incident mobilization on the Western Slope,
tracking of road blockages, and Fort Collins specific concerns about road
blockages.



Railroad Labor Organizations Presentation - Committee Discussion Only

02:43:13 PM  
Paul Pearson, Chairman
of the Colorado State Legislative Board of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers and Trainmen (BLET),  and Carl Smith,  Colorado State
Legislative Director for the International Association of Sheet Metal,
Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART), introduced themselves and
began their presentation. Their presentation is included as Attachment
L and two handouts are included as Attachments M and N. They discussed
safe rail, HAZMAT incidents by shipping type, rail's key role in greenhouse
gas emmissions (GGE) reduction goals, and how rail helps meet GGE reduction
goals, safety concerns, how derailments are preventable, track-side detectors
and possible detector improvements, long trains and how they contribute
to train derailments, and blocked grade crossings as a safety concern and
prevention strategies, including setting maximum acceptable blocking times.
 
02:57:31 PM  
Mr. Pearson and Mr. Smith answered questions from the committee on optimal train length, blocked crossing time, the use of "cutting the crossing" as a way to solve a blocked crossing,



Public Testimony on Railroad Safety - Committee Discussion Only
03:08:23 PM  
There was no public
testimony on this topic.



03:08:35 PM
The Chair and Vice-Chair made closing remarks.


03:10:05 PM   The committee adjourned.






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