RTD bill sees significant changes, moves through committee

As part of a collaborative effort with stakeholders, a once-contentious bill that seeks to address issues related to the Regional Transportation District (RTD) has undergone substantial revisions.

Originally, House Bill 1447 sought to reduce the size of RTD's board and alter the process for board member selection. However, after backlash from current board members and the transit community, sponsors implemented a strike-below amendment eliminating significant portions of the bill.

"As you can tell, we've spent a great deal of time these last few weeks trying to make this bill better with stakeholder work," bill sponsor Rep. William Lindstedt, D-Broomfield, said. "This is really, really important to get right, especially as the state is looking at providing more funding for mass transit to meet our housing and our greenhouse gas reduction goals. This is exciting; it's now a collaborative process and contains so many important recommendations that should be in place so that RTD can perform like the world-class agency it should be."

Provisions removed

According to bill sponsor Rep. Meg Froelich, D-Englewood, the amended version of the bill removes several of its most controversial elements, notably those concerning RTD board governance. Discussions on matters such as board size, salary and elections will be discussed with stakeholders during the interim instead.

Additionally, Froelich said, the bill no longer requires the Colorado Department of Transportation to take over RTD's driver training program. The amended version of the bill also eliminates the requirement for CDOT to collaborate with RTD in driver recruitment and abolishes a third-party study on RTD district sizes and transit service reliance.

Froelich said this bill is meant to work in conjunction with a package of bills introduced earlier this week. These bills propose levying a fee on the oil and gas industry, with a portion of the proceeds going to the state's transit endeavors.

Provisions added

Several items have been incorporated into the bill following conversations with stakeholders, including certain requirements for members of the subcommittee to be held during the interim. One of those subcommittee members must be from a disproportionately impacted community as defined by statute, and one must represent a local government of an "underserved community." The bill defines underserved communities as communities that generate three times or more revenue to its RTD district than it receives back within a five-year period. According to Rep. Jennifer Parenti, D-Erie, underserved communities include Parker, Broomfield, and Erie.

The amended version of the bill also defines RTD's ridership goals, which are to "improve service coverage and increase ridership connectivity and accessibility."

Following discussions with RTD employees who raised concerns about the organization's low retention rates, sponsors have introduced a requirement for an operator and mechanic retention report. This report must be conducted in collaboration with the labor union representing the greatest number of RTD employees and will be tasked with legislative changes they believe could increase workforce numbers. The report must be presented to the General Assembly by Nov. 1 of this year.

Lindstedt said employee retention has been an issue at RTD since at least 2016, and that the organization's vacancy rate is currently about 20%.

"We need to solve this," he said. "It's an issue of the legislature's concern; we need a very clear set of recommendations."

Lindstedt said there were more amendments coming from other stakeholder organizations, but for now, he and his co-sponsor were content they had reached a compromise with invested parties.

The bill passed through the House Transportation, Housing, & Local Government Committee on a party-line vote of 8-3. Its next stop is the House Appropriations Committee; as introduced, it carried a fiscal note of over $1.5 million, but according to sponsors, the amended version will entail approximately $100,000 in costs.