I_TLRC_2023A 07/24/2023 09:02:49 AM Committee Summary PUBLICSTAFF SUMMARY OF MEETINGINTERIM 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 hPresentation from Public Utilities Commission Committee Discussion Only hPresentation from Division of Motor Vehicles Committee Discussion Only hPresentation from Colorado Department of Public Safety Committee Discussion Only hPresentation from Towing and Recovery Committee Discussion Only hPresentation from Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance Committee Discussion Only hPublic Testimony on Towing Committee Discussion Only hPresentation from Sierra Club Committee Discussion Only hPresentation from Colorado Department of Transportation Committee Discussion Only hRailroad Panel Presentations Committee Discussion Only hRailroad Labor Organizations Presentation Committee Discussion Only hPublic Testimony on Railroad Safety Committee Discussion Only 09:02:53 AM Chair Froelich gave opening remarks. Presentation from Public Utilities Commission - Committee Discussion Only Attachment Tag File Name Attachment A http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/427314F041CC...$File/Attachment A.pdf?OpenElement Attachment A.pdf 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 Attachment Tag File Name Attachment B http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/BCB7AB3DDB4A...$File/Attachment B.pdf?OpenElement Attachment B.pdf 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 Attachment Tag File Name Attachment C http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/D1B659A55B44...$File/Attachment C.pdf?OpenElement Attachment C.pdf 09:59:44 AM John Connolly, of Connolly's Towing and President of Colorado Towing and Recovery, introduced himself and began his presentation. Mr. Connolly provided a handout, which is included as Attachment C. He explained that some towers have good intent and presented himself as available to help victims. Trevor Forbes, CEO of Summit Vehicle Solutions, introduced himself. Mr. Connolly responded to questions from the committee about tack-on fees for towing to help fund victim's impound and towing fees. Mr. Connolly explained the issue of deciding what a "victim" is and how broad the definition is. Mr. Forbes responded to questions on the number of complaints against Wyatt's Twoing, the Attorney General's investigation of Wyatt's Towing, and loan programs. Mr. Forbes answered additional questions about the loan program. Mr. Connolly responded to questions about who would fall under the definition of a crime victim. Presentation from Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance - Committee Discussion Only Attachment Tag File Name Attachment D http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/CC9C71BBAED2...$File/Attachment D.pdf?OpenElement Attachment D.pdf 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 Attachment Tag File Name Attachment E http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/40951F1D6D1D...$File/Attachment E.pdf?OpenElement Attachment E.pdf Attachment F http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/9AE2E96138C4...$File/Attachment F.pdf?OpenElement Attachment F.pdf 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 Attachment Tag File Name Attachment G http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/104D3DF58D82...$File/Attachment G.pdf?OpenElement Attachment G.pdf 01:05:42 PM Chris Enright, Passenger Rail System Design Engineer at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), introduced himself and began his presentation on rail safety. CDOT's presentation is included as Attachment G. Mr. Enright gave an overview of the status of rail safety in Colorado, statistics on rail accidents, accident outcomes, regulatory authority and limitations, state agency in rail safety, current federal legislation and regulation, actions in progress in Colorado to support safety, research and development. grade crossing safety improvements, and emergency response. 01:16:59 PM Mr. Enright answered questions about reporting thresholds for accident reporting, instances of accidents on public vs. private property, and the differential impacts of rail vs. vehicle crashes for hazardous materials. Railroad Panel Presentations - Committee Discussion Only Attachment Tag File Name Attachment H http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/CC06B91F3B4A...$File/Attachment H.pdf?OpenElement Attachment H.pdf Attachment I http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/BEF27C158DC3...$File/Attachment I.pdf?OpenElement Attachment I.pdf Attachment J http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/57D122F6C8C7...$File/Attachment J.pdf?OpenElement Attachment J.pdf Attachment K http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/056CC84AFB48...$File/Attachment K.pdf?OpenElement Attachment K.pdf 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 Attachment Tag File Name Attachment L http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/EE852F6C016D...$File/Attachment L.pdf?OpenElement Attachment L.pdf Attachment M http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/3C48E9A0BE37...$File/Attachment M.pdf?OpenElement Attachment M.pdf Attachment N http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2023A/commsumm.nsf/0/9E88BB8E7A49...$File/Attachment N.pdf?OpenElement Attachment N.pdf 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.