Tardy Coloradans who pay a penalty as high as $100 for registering their vehicles late would face a flat $20 fee under a proposal a House committee considered Wednesday.
Witnesses split on whether to keep the higher fee, which has raised more than $50 million for Colorado’s crumbling roads since it was instituted by lawmakers in 2009.
“I do hear from constituents who don’t like late fees … but I hear more from constituents with concerns about road maintenance and repairs,” said Rep. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon.
If the late fee were reduced, the state estimates it would have $12 million less in the first year for bridge and road repairs, Hamner noted.
But Greg Fulton, president of the Colorado Motor Carriers Association, said a late fee intended to get slackers to register on time is penalizing those making business decisions.
He said trucking companies have vehicles sitting idle because of the down economy. As soon as they register the vehicles they have to pay insurance on them. Fulton said he’d rather see a higher penalty for those driving with expired plates.
“We need to define a difference in terms of saying what is a good business decision versus someone truly trying to avoid the law,” he said.
The House Transportation Committee heard testimony but did not taken action on the measure, House Bill 1014 by Rep. Randy Baumgardner, R-Cowdrey.
“I’m trying to help Coloradans,” he said.
Prior to the 2009 bill, Coloradans paid either nothing or $10 for registering late, depending on if their county imposed a late fee.
The fine was increased to $25 a month with a cap of $100 as part of FASTER, a Democratic-backed bill that hiked vehicle-registration fees to raise money to repair roads and bridges. At the time, witnesses testified they were tired of people driving for months with expired plates.
When the higher penalty went into effect, Coloradans were outraged. Lawmakers for the last two years have tinkered with the measure; boat trailers, for example, now are exempt from late fees.
The Colorado Department of Revenue reports the number of late registrations has dropped. The average late fee now is $38 with approximately 500,000 late registrations per year.
The Colorado Municipal Leagueand Colorado Counties Inc. testified against the bill.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327 or lbartels@denverpost.com
