Gov. Jared Polis shot down a bill Tuesday that would have required Coloradans under the age of 21 to complete driver’s education and training to be eligible for a driver’s license. 

Under the bill, Coloradans younger than 18 would have had to finish a 30-hour driver’s education course and receive six hours of behind-the-wheel training from an instructor, or 12 hours from a parent. Adults under 21 years old would have had to take a four-hour driver awareness program. Prospective drivers would have had to pay for this additional education themselves from third-party companies, though there would have been a voucher for qualifying low-income households. 

Colorado lawmakers passed House Bill 1147 in a final vote on the last day of the legislative session, sending it to the governor for approval on Monday. The next day, Polis vetoed it. 

“While I commend the goal of the sponsors and stakeholders, I am deeply concerned about the increase in cost for driver’s licenses,” Polis wrote in his veto letter. Polis specifically referenced a portion of the bill that would have increased driver’s license fees for everyone to create the voucher program to help low-income families pay for driver’s education and license tests. 

HB 1147 had a long journey in the state legislature, passing the House in April after three months of work, only to be completely rewritten by the Senate. 

The bill started out as an effort to cap the price of behind-the-wheel license tests at $25 for an initial test and $50 for subsequent retests. This comes after, in 2020, Colorado’s Division of Motor Vehicles stopped providing free driver’s tests, forcing drivers to pay up to $115 to take the tests with third-party companies. 

To cap the prices, the bill would have created a $6 fee for all driver’s permits and licenses, with the money being used to reimburse third-party driving schools that charge over the new rate limits. The original bill would have also created a free online 30-hour driver’s training course provided by the state, and required testers to provide translation services to students, among other changes.

Bill sponsor Rep. Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins, said it was meant to roll back the increasingly high cost of getting a driver’s license in Colorado. 

“This has created economic barriers to getting driver’s licenses for a lot of people,” Kipp said during the bill’s introduction. “One of my own colleagues told me that she had to spend $750 on behalf of her child to take the driver’s training and to take the driver’s testing. … How many people can afford that?” 

The bill’s Senate sponsor Sen. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, amended HB 1147 to essentially turn it into her other bill, Senate Bill 11, which passed two Senate committees in January but never made it onto the Senate Appropriations calendar. Kipp said it made sense to combine the bills as they were “walking hand-in-hand.” 

SB 11 was the original bill seeking to increase education requirements for young drivers, mandating the 30-hour driver’s education course and six hours of behind-the-wheel training for minors, and the four-hour driver awareness program for those under 21. 

Winter said the bill was intended to increase road safety by better preparing young drivers. In 2022, Colorado had the most roadway deaths since 1981. 

“Our roadways are becoming more and more dangerous every single year,” Winter said while presenting SB 11. “Working to make sure that we’re preparing our youth for the tremendous responsibility that is to drive is incredibly important and I think this is a step forward to do that.” 

The Senate amendments to HB 1147 added all of the driver’s education requirements from SB 11, removed the cap on the costs of third-party behind-the-wheel driving tests, and removed the free online 30-hour driver’s training course. It also reduced the license fee to $2 to fund the newly-added voucher program. 

In Polis’ veto letter, he said the $2 fee would not be nearly enough to cover the driver’s education and license tests of Colorado’s eligible low-income population. Polis said those costs total nearly $15.5 million, requiring a fee increase of more than $10, based on Department of Revenue estimates.

“The establishment of a new enterprise that adds to the cost of a driver’s license is not something to be taken lightly,” Polis said. “(The fee) covers less than 15% of the average cost of education and testing, and could raise the potential for an immediate fee increase to cover additional costs.”

Colorado residents have reported spending hundreds of dollars and months of their time trying to get a driver’s license. That’s without the additional costs and training HB 1147 would have required for many, which could total hundreds of more dollars depending on the third-party company that provides the driver’s education. 

DriveSafe, the largest driving school in the state, currently charges $109 for its online 30-hour driver’s education course and $549 for its six-hour behind-the-wheel training – plus an additional $100 to take the driver’s license test with the company under a bundle package, according to DriveSafe’s website.

With Polis’ veto, Colorado’s driver’s license laws will remain the same, only requiring driver’s education courses for those between 15 and 16 years old trying to get a learner’s permit.