(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsections
(1)(b)(V), (2), and (3) of this section, after paying the costs of the Colorado state
patrol and any other costs of the department, exclusive of highway construction,
highway improvements, or highway maintenance, that are appropriated by the
general assembly, money in the highway users tax fund shall be paid to the state
highway fund and expended for the following purposes:
(a) The state highway fund shall be subject to the sinking fund and bond lien
provided by part 2 of article 3 of this title.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section, all money
in the state highway fund not required for the creation, maintenance, and
application of the highway anticipation or sinking fund and all money in the state
highway supplementary fund are available to pay for:
(I) All salaries, wages, and necessary traveling and other expenses of all
persons connected with the department of transportation;
(II) All equipment, furniture, and supplies for officers, division offices, and
laboratories as may be established by the director of the highway maintenance
division;
(III) All incidental office expenses, including telegraph, telephone, postal,
express charges, and expenses for printing, stationery, and advertising and for the
publication of the quarterly bulletin;
(IV) All machines, tools, or other equipment necessary for the furtherance of
the work of the department of transportation and also land and buildings for the
housing and use of the same;
(V) The construction, reconstruction, repairs, improvement, planning,
supervision, and maintenance of the state highway system and other public
highways, including any county and municipal roads and highways, together with
the acquisition of rights-of-way and access rights for the same. Any proceeds of
financed purchase of an asset or certificate of participation agreements executed
as required by section 24-82-1303 (2)(a) that are credited to the state highway fund
pursuant to section 24-82-1303 (4)(b) shall be used only for qualified federal aid
highway projects that are included in the strategic transportation project
investment program of the department of transportation and that are designated
for tier 1 funding as ten-year development program projects on the department's
development program project list, with at least twenty-five percent of the money
being used for projects that are located in counties with populations of fifty
thousand or less as of July 2015 as reported by the state demography office of the
department of local affairs. No more than ninety percent of the proceeds shall be
expended for highway purposes or highway-related capital improvements, and at
least ten percent of the proceeds shall be expended for transit purposes or for
transit-related capital improvements.
(V.5) Repealed.
(V.7) (A) The payment of statewide indirect costs in accordance with section
43-1-113 (8).
(B) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2005, p. 297, � 62, effective August 8, 2005.)
(VI) All land damages incurred by reason of establishing, opening, altering,
relocating, widening, or abandoning portions of any part of the state highway
system;
(VII) The payment of just compensation for advertising devices required to be
removed under the provisions of section 43-1-414 (2).
(2) (a) Revenue accrued to and transferred to the highway users tax fund
pursuant to section 39-26-123 (4)(a) or appropriated to the highway users tax fund
pursuant to House Bill 02-1389, enacted at the second regular session of the sixty-third general assembly, and credited to the state highway fund pursuant to section
43-4-205 (6.5) shall be expended by the department of transportation for the
implementation of the strategic transportation project investment program:
(I) No more than ninety percent of such revenues shall be expended for
highway purposes or highway-related capital improvements, including, but not
limited to, high occupancy vehicle lanes, park-and-ride facilities, and transportation
management systems, and at least ten percent of such revenues shall be expended
for transit purposes or for transit-related capital improvements.
(II) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2000, p. 1741, � 1, effective June 1, 2000.)
(b) Notwithstanding section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), beginning in 1998, the
department of transportation shall report annually to the transportation committee
of the senate and the transportation and energy committee of the house of
representatives concerning the revenue expended by the department pursuant to
subsection (2)(a) of this section and, beginning in 2019, any net proceeds of
financed purchase of an asset or certificate of participation agreements executed
as required by section 24-82-1303 (2)(a) that are credited to the state highway fund
pursuant to section 24-82-1303 (4)(b) and expended by the department pursuant to
subsection (1)(b)(V) of this section. The department shall present the report at the
joint meeting required under section 43-1-113 (9)(a), and the report shall describe
for each fiscal year, if applicable:
(I) The projects on which the revenue and net proceeds are to be expended,
including the estimated cost of each project, the aggregate amount of revenue
actually spent on each project, and the amount of revenue allocated for each
project in such fiscal year. The department of transportation shall submit a
prioritized list of such projects as part of the report.
(II) The status of such projects that the department has undertaken in any
previous fiscal year;
(III) The projected amounts of revenue and net proceeds that the department
expects to receive under this subsection (2) and section 24-82-1303 (4)(b) during
the fiscal year;
(IV) The amount of revenue and net proceeds that the department has
already received under this subsection (2) and section 24-82-1303 (4)(b) during the
fiscal year; and
(V) How the revenue and net proceeds expended under this subsection (2)
and subsection (1)(b)(V) of this section during the fiscal year relate to the total
funding of the federal aid transportation projects that are included in the strategic
transportation project investment program.
(c) Beginning with the 1997-98 fiscal year, the department of transportation
shall report annually to the joint budget committee at the department's hearing to
review the department's budget request. The report shall contain for each fiscal
year, if applicable, the reporting requirements specified in subparagraphs (I) to (V)
of paragraph (b) of this subsection (2).
(d) Repealed.
(3) The revenue allocated to the state highway fund pursuant to section 43-4-205 (6)(b)(I) and (6.3) must be expended by the department of transportation only
for road safety projects, as defined in section 43-4-803 (21); except that the
department shall, in furtherance of its duty to supervise state highways and as a
consequence in compliance with section 43-4-810:
(a) Expend ten million dollars per year of the revenue for the planning,
designing, engineering, acquisition, installation, construction, repair,
reconstruction, maintenance, operation, or administration of transit-related
projects, including, but not limited to, designated bicycle or pedestrian lanes of
highway, crossing improvements, and infrastructure needed to integrate different
transportation modes within a multimodal transportation system that enhance the
safety of state highways for transit users; and
(b) (I) Allocate, for state fiscal year 2025-26 and each succeeding state
fiscal year, after accounting for critical safety-related asset management surface
transportation infrastructure projects eligible for funding pursuant to section 43-4-803 (21)(a) and as determined by the transportation commission, at least ten
percent of the remaining revenue but no less than seven million dollars, as adjusted
pursuant to subsection (3)(b)(II) of this section for state fiscal year 2026-27 and
each succeeding state fiscal year, for the types of road safety projects described in
section 43-4-803 (21)(b).
(II) For state fiscal year 2026-27 and each succeeding state fiscal year, the
minimum dollar amount of allocation required by subsection (3)(b)(I) of this section
is seven million dollars, adjusted for the cumulative percentage change in the
amount of revenue actually credited to the state highway fund pursuant to section
43-4-205 (6.3) from state fiscal year 2024-25 through the prior state fiscal year.
Source: L. 53: p. 503, � 6. CRS 53: � 120-12-6. C.R.S. 1963: � 120-12-6. L. 65: p. 930, � 5. L. 71: p. 1135, � 5. L. 79: IP(1)(b) amended, p. 1608, � 1, effective May 18;
IP(1) amended, p. 1471, � 3, effective July 6; IP(1) amended, p. 1667, � 141, effective
July 19. L. 85: (1)(b)(VII) amended, p. 1371, � 48, effective June 28. L. 87: IP(1)
amended, p. 1556, � 6, effective July 1; (1)(b)(V.5) added, p. 1548, � 3, effective July 3. L. 89, 1st Ex. Sess.: (1)(b)(V) amended, p. 66, � 23, effective August 1. L. 91: (1)(b)(I),
(1)(b)(II), (1)(b)(IV), and (1)(b)(V.5) amended and (1)(b)(V.7) added, p. 1126, � 200,
effective July 1. L. 93: IP(1) amended, p. 1798, � 108, effective June 6. L. 97: IP(1) and
IP(1)(b) amended and (2) added, p. 1533, � 3, effective July 1. L. 98: (2)(d) amended,
p. 906, � 5, effective May 26. L. 99: (2)(d) repealed, p. 562, � 3, effective May 7. L.
2000: (2)(a) amended, p. 1741, � 1, effective June 1. L. 2002: IP(2)(a) amended, p. 146,
� 4, effective March 27; (2)(a)(I) amended, p. 738, � 9, effective August 7; (2)(a)(I)
amended, p. 718, � 9, effective August 7. L. 2003: IP(1) amended, p. 1702, � 12,
effective May 14. L. 2005: (1)(a) and (1)(b)(V.7)(B) amended, p. 297, � 62, effective
August 8. L. 2006: IP(2)(a) amended, p. 1604, � 7, effective July 2. L. 2009: (3)
added, (SB 09-108), ch. 5, p. 55, � 19, effective March 2; IP(2)(a) amended, (SB 09-228), ch. 410, p. 2270, � 25, effective July 1. L. 2015: IP(1)(b) and (1)(b)(II) amended,
(HB 15-1209), ch. 64, p. 178, � 12, effective March 30. L. 2017: IP(1), IP(1)(b), (1)(b)(V),
IP(2)(a), (2)(b), and (3) amended, (SB 17-267), ch. 267, p. 1473, � 31, effective May 30. L. 2018: IP(1), IP(2)(b), (2)(b)(III), and (2)(b)(IV) amended, (SB 18-001), ch. 353, p.
2099, � 6, effective May 31; IP(2)(b) amended, (HB 18-1137), ch. 84, p. 683, � 2,
effective August 8. L. 2020: IP(2)(b) amended, (HB 20-1402), ch. 216, p. 1059, � 73,
effective June 30. L. 2021: IP(2)(b), (2)(b)(III), and (2)(b)(IV) amended, (SB 21-260), ch.
250, p. 1418, � 34, effective June 17; (1)(b)(V) and IP(2)(b) amended, (HB 21-1316), ch.
325, p. 2063, � 80, effective July 1. L. 2024: (3) amended, (SB 24-195), ch. 432, p.
3031, � 3, effective June 5.