The House Appropriations Committee moved Senate Bill 320 forward with a favorable recommendation, approving changes to Colorado’s bridge-and-tunnel impact fee that sponsors said will fund maintenance of those structures.

Representative Taggart told the committee the bill increases an anticipated impact fee on diesel from 5¢ per gallon to 7¢ per gallon beginning in the current fiscal year and applies to gallons of diesel collected in a manner similar to the state’s road-usage fee. The fees are held in an enterprise and are to be used for bridge and tunnel maintenance.

Taggart also said the bill reinstates a low-emission vehicle exemption that had expired on Dec. 31, 2024. The exemption will apply beginning Aug. 1, 2025, and extend through Dec. 31, 2028 for heavy-duty trucks that meet federal EPA emission standards and have a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds.

"These fees are applied to a gallon of diesel fuel, and they're collected in a similar manner as the state's road usage fee," Taggart said. He added the exemption applies to heavy-duty vehicles meeting EPA standards.

No public witnesses testified on the bill in Appropriations. Representative Taggart moved the bill to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; the committee recorded the motion as passing 8 to 3.

The bill’s sponsors framed the measure as an infrastructure-maintenance funding step and said the low-emission exemption is targeted to trucks using alternative fuels or meeting EPA emission standards. Committee discussion did not include estimates of revenue or the number of vehicles that would qualify for the exemption.