Colorado’s embattled Regional Transportation District is set for a sizable overhaul, as state lawmakers prepare to send Gov. Jared Polis a bill that would slash its governing board’s size by 40% while increasing how much those leaders are paid.
passed the House Monday on a 39-26 vote. The bill needs a final procedural vote in the Senate before it moves to Polis. The governor is expected to sign the measure into law.
The bill is the product of lawmakers’ recent and growing interest in RTD’s governance. SB-150 would trim the district’s currently all-elected board from 15 members to nine, with the new board selected in a hybrid setup. Five of those members would be elected to represent specific districts, while the remaining four would be appointed by the governor.
One of those appointees would be plucked from a nominee list drawn up by the Denver Regional Council of Governments, and another must be a current or former member of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents many RTD train and bus operators.
Those changes would take effect starting with the 2028 election.
The measure was born of the RTD Accountabilty Committee, established by lawmakers. It recently recommended shrinking the board and overhauling how members earn their place on it. It comes as lawmakers and Polis’ office have moved to build denser housing in transit-rich areas, largely along the Front Range.
That multiyear push is intended to solve the housing crisis — but it also seeks to boost the use of public transit while curbing emissions from cars.
But doing that, in turn, is dependent on a robust transit system.
“Our bill is about providing a strong transit system for all parts of the metro area for workers, youth, seniors and people with disabilities,” Rep. Meg Froelich, an Englewood Democrat sponsoring the bill, said in a statement. “RTD has unfortunately not been able to bounce back since the pandemic the way that other transit agencies around the country have, and it is clear that change is needed to deliver reliable transit for Coloradans.”
When the accountability committee released its recommendations, Miller Hudson, a retired public policy consultant, dissented from most other members of the committee. He said a hybrid board of elected and appointed members “would be the first step toward destroying RTD” because it would reduce the agency’s responsiveness to residents of the agency’s service area, which reaches eight counties.
In addition to overhauling the board, SB-150 as passed would increase the pay for board members, from $12,000 to $36,000, with the elected chair earning more. It would also direct RTD to contract with a third party to study paratransit services, and it would more clearly spell out members’ duties in state law.
The bill would explicitly prohibit conflicts of interest, and the bill would give the governor the authority to remove members who miss two consecutive meetings without cause or for other “malfeasance” in office.
