Colorado lawmakers backed down from a bill that would have prevented the Colorado Department of Transportation from charging annual fees to broadband providers for access to state rights of way.

SB-91 was introduced early in the legislative session but was pulled from the calendar for additional work. It was brought back and narrowly missed passing through the Senate Transportation & Energy Committee by a 4-to-3 vote on May 1, The Sum & Substance reported. That bill would have allowed CDOT to impose a one-time permitting fee to lay broadband fiber infrastructure along rights of way but would have prevented an annual fee as enacted by the Colorado Transportation Commission (CTC) in December.

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CDOT intends to impose an initial permitting fee of 5 cents per foot of fiber, in addition to annual fees of 3 cents per foot in rural counties and 10 cents per foot in counties with populations greater than 200,000 residents.

Broadband providers and county commissioners of rural parts of the state argued not only would the extra fees lower the amount of the $826 million in Colorado’s share of the federal Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program that would go toward connecting residents, it would also dissuade some providers from participating in the program.

“I believe this will still continue the digital divide,” LaPlata County Commissioner Matt Salka said during the December CTC meeting. “Every dollar of annual right-of-way fees paid to CDOT will result in fewer unserved locations receiving new service.”

SB-91 would have required the CDOT permitting fee not to exceed the department’s annual costs in connection with administering the permits. CDOT could only attempt to receive fair market value for rights-of-way if the Colorado attorney general determined the state prohibition conflicted with federal law. Even then, CDOT would have been required to set the fair market value at a level that wouldn’t exceed the lowest rate established by any other state.

The bill also introduced a “shot clock” to speed up deployment and would have required CDOT to act on a permit application within 30 days. Additionally, the legislation would have required CDOT to specify a 30-year term for the permits and prevented the department from requiring recipients to lay additional fiber for use by third parties.

Sen. Byron Pelton (R-Sterling), who co-sponsored SB-91, said CDOT is seeking exorbitant fees. “It’s starting to look to me that CDOT wants to get its hands in the money coming from the federal government for broadband,” he said. CDOT officials argued state law requires them to seek fair market value for state rights-of-way used by private companies.

It is unfortunate SB-91 narrowly missed consideration by the entire Colorado Senate, given it featured provisions that not only would reduce costs, but also cut red tape to speed up broadband deployment. Hopefully, Colorado lawmakers attempt to reintroduce a similar bill in 2025.

Johnny Kampis is director of telecom policy for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.