DENVER – An effort to allow off-highway vehicles on county roads has stalled – again.
State Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio, said he has run up against familiar troubles with the proposed legislation, forcing him to switch gears.
“It’s sure not what I would like to see. I have people come up to me every day and say, ‘keep after that off-highway vehicle bill,’” Brown said.
Optimism grew this fall after the Legislative Council last month approved a bill for introduction in the legislative session that begins in January.
But finance issues – which also plagued the legislation last session – has driven the measure into a roadblock. The problem revolves around how much revenue would be generated from the program.
The bill would have raised an estimated $6 million in revenue from registration fees, increasing the amount required to be refunded to taxpayers under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR. Lawmakers would have had to cut important areas of the state budget to account for the additional refunds.
Brown was hopeful after revenue estimates consistently decreased. There also was talk of collecting fees in separate local funds outside the Department of Revenue, thereby creating an exemption. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to quell budget concerns.
“We really kicked that around in the interim committee, but when it came down to it, the county clerks work with the Department of Revenue, and to start collecting outside the Department of Revenue was really difficult,” Brown said.
Instead, Brown is working on legislation that would allow county governments to impose safety rules and regulations for ATVs on county roads within their jurisdictions. It would simply state that any county that requires liability insurance and/or a valid driver’s license to operate an off-highway vehicle would not be in conflict with the state or face penalties from the state. It would avoid the registration requirements.
The laws around allowing ATVs on county roads are hazy. The San Juan Mountains counties of Hinsdale, Ouray, San Juan and San Miguel have enacted off-highway vehicle ordinances that put them at odds with state law. Several counties have gone as far as to require liability insurance and a valid driver’s license to operate the vehicles.
The state, for the most part, has not interfered. But counties were hoping for legislation to clarify authority.
Ouray County Commissioner Lynn Padgett, a Democrat, explained that counties have the authority to close country roads, which in high alpine areas can be rocky and dangerous. But she said control is limited after that, including imposing age restrictions and helmet requirements.
She was careful to point out that the legislation would likely include exemptions for agricultural uses for ATVs so that local restrictions don’t burden farmers and ranchers.
“We don’t want to close our county roads,” Padgett said. “We like them to be open and open to something that makes sense and has the right safety level given that we all have very different conditions on our roads.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com
