6 Fort Lupton Press
June 23, 2021
Bag fees on horizon as bill goes to Polis Polystyrene foam would be banned for use as restaurant containers BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN
Colorado lawmakers on June 8 sent Gov. Jared Polis House Bill 1162, which would establish a fee for single-use products, like plastic and paper grocery bags, and let retailers keep some of the proceeds. The bill would also ban the use of polystyrene-foam containers by restaurants starting in 2024. The measure has long been a priority of Democrats, but it has taken years to get the policy to the point where it had enough votes to clear the legislature, despite ongoing business opposition. The measure would ban single-use plastic bags in Colorado starting in 2024 — but there are asterisks. Restaurants that prepare or serve food in individual portions for immediate on- or off-premises consumption would be exempt, as would stores that operate solely in Colorado and have three or fewer locations. Businesses that are still allowed to offer plastic bags must collect a fee of at least 10 cents on each bag. The fee may be higher if a city or county enacts a higher charge. (More on that later.) “We’re hoping that they also make the culture-change decision,” said Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat and prime sponsor of the bill. Businesses that are prohibited from offering plastic bags may distribute them, with fees, between January and July 2024 if they were in their inventory before the start of that year. Starting on Jan. 1, 2023, all busi-
Customers stroll in and out of a King Soopers store in Erie on March 23. Starting in 2024, large grocery chains would not be allowed to distribute plastic bags under new legislation. PHOTO BY STEVE PETERSON/SPECIAL TO THE COLORADO SUN
nesses would be required to impose at least a 10-cent fee on plastic and paper bags. The fee may be higher if a city or county enacts a higher charge. People who are in federal or state food assistance programs wouldn’t have to pay the fees as long as they can prove that they are enrolled in one of those initiatives. Businesses would be required to send 60% of the bag-fee revenue they collect to the municipality they operate in. If the business is within an unincorporated part of a county, the money would be sent to the county. Local governments would be required to spend the money on bag-fee enforcement costs and on waste-diversion programs, such as outreach and education. The remaining 40% of the bag-fee revenue would be kept by businesses but not subject to sales taxes.
Stores that collect less than $20 in bag fees in a given quarter don’t have to remit the revenue to their municipality or county and can keep the money. Under the bill, businesses would be forced to “conspicuously display” a sign inside or outside of their stores alerting customers to the bag fee. The charge would also be listed on patrons’ receipts. The fee cannot be refunded. It’s not just plastic bags that lawmakers are aiming to do away with. The bill would also ban polystyrenefoam products across the state starting on Jan. 1, 2024. The only exception is that restaurants would be able to continue using polystyrene-foam products for takeout after that date until their inventory is gone. Municipalities and cities would be able to sue businesses that don’t
comply with the new bag-fee and polystyrene-foam rules. They also may assess fines of $500 for a second violation and $1,000 for a third or subsequent violation. The fines would be assessed per violation during a retail sale. In other words, if a business illegally handed out 10 plastic bags during one transaction, they would only be considered to have violated the law once. The measure also repeals a restriction on local governments, barring them from introducing restrictions on plastic materials that are more stringent than the state’s. This story is from The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. Used by permission. For more, and to support The Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com.
Fee increases will pay for highway projects Polis signs transportation bill that adds to costs of gasoline, rideshares BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN
FLOYD HILL — Shaded by an Interstate 70 bridge that has fueled steering-wheel-pounding rage for generations, Gov. Jared Polis on June 17 signed a transportation fee and spending bill that seeks to inject more than $5 billion into Colorado road and transit projects over the next 11 years. “Everybody knows we need to fix it,” Polis said of Colorado’s road and highway system before signing Senate Bill 260 under the curved I-70 bridge at the bottom of Floyd Hill, a structure over Clear Creek that chokes traffic and ruins the best-laid plans of skiers, snowboarders, hikers and bikers every weekend. “If it was easy it would have been done already.” Colorado lawmakers have been
trying to solve the problem of the state’s limited transportation funding for years, proposing tax hikes and bonding and committing more existing money from the state budget to the problem. But the efforts to find money in the couch cushions to supplement a 22-cent gasoline tax that hasn’t increased since 1992 have either not been successful or not been sufficient to tackle the breadth of the issue. Senate Bill 260 was Democrats’ solution to the funding gridlock, allowing them to raise money without voter approval. Fees under the measure begin next year. They include: • 2 cents per gallon on gasoline and diesel fuel starting in July 2022 that increases 1 cent every year up to 8 cents • 27 cents on deliveries, including those from Amazon, FedEx and Grubhub • 30 cents on Uber and Lyft rides starting in 2022 that would increase based on the federal Consumer Price Index. The fee would be cut in half for people carpooling in a rideshare, or riding in an electric
Gov. Jared Polis announces Colorado’s new transportation law while standing in the PHOTO BY JESSE PAUL/THE COLORADO SUN shadow of Interstate 70 on June 17.
vehicle. In addition to the funding mechanisms in the measure, there are also requirements that the Colorado Department of Transportation take greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals into account when planning future projects. State officials also must consider the impact of transportation work on communities where low-income people, minorities or housing-cost-burdened families make up 40% of the population
under the new law. Finally, the bill emphasizes — and spends money on — an electric-vehicle future, as well as mass transit, including a potential Front Range passenger rail system. This story is from The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. Used by permission. For more, and to support The Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com.
