By Ed Sealover | Colorado Politics
While state broadband officials ready their action plan to expand fiber to 99% of Colorado, a dispute over the amount of fees that telecommunications companies must pay to install lines along public rights of way has stalled dueling legislative efforts to define those fees.
A bipartisan quartet of legislators introduced Senate Bill 91 just two weeks into the 2024 session on Jan. 24 at the behest of Colorado Counties Inc. and rural telecom companies. The bill lets the Colorado Department of Transportation impose a one-time permitting fee to lay broadband fiber along rights of way but prohibits it from charging annual fees — reversing a policy enacted in December by the Colorado Transportation Commission.
Meanwhile, the Joint Technology Committee continues to work on a separate bill that would pull the new fees generated from broadband providers into a state enterprise so that the money is exempt from the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights revenue cap. A draft version of the bill supplied to The Sum & Substance would require imposition of both a one-time administrative fee and annual fees, though it doesn’t define what those fees would be.