Funding for Motor Vehicle Collision Prevention

Section 1 of the bill creates the crash prevention enterprise (enterprise) in the department of transportation (CDOT) for the purpose of lowering automobile insurance costs by providing funding for transportation system infrastructure improvements and other data-driven strategies that reduce the number of collisions that involve a motor vehicle, particularly collisions between a motor vehicle and a vulnerable road user or wildlife (eligible projects). Beginning January July 1, 2026, the enterprise is authorized to impose a crash prevention fee (fee) of up to a specified maximum amount on the policyholder of each automobile insurance policy issued in the state on a per-policy basis for each vehicle insured under an automobile insurance policy other than a motor vehicle that weighs 26,000 pounds or more or a motorcycle. Each insurer that issues an automobile insurance policy must collect the fee from the policyholder and pay the fee to the enterprise. Fee revenue is credited to a newly created crash prevention enterprise fund (fund) and continuously appropriated to the enterprise. The specified maximum amount of the fee adjusts annually on July 1, 2027, and on each July 1 thereafter for inflation, as measured by the rolling 5-year average of the national highway construction cost index published by the federal highway administration in the United States department of transportation. Fee revenue is credited to a newly created crash prevention enterprise fund (fund) and continuously appropriated to the enterprise. The enterprise is authorized to expend 80% 70% of its available revenue the money in the fund to issue grants to eligible entities, which are local governments, state or federally recognized tribal entities, public entities that are not part of the state, and private entities, for eligible projects that reduce motor vehicle collisions with vulnerable road users, as defined by the bill, and 20% 30% of its available revenue the money in the fund to fund eligible projects that reduce motor vehicle collisions with wildlife. In addition to an annual reporting requirement, the enterprise is required, no later than January 31, 2031, to present a report to specified legislative committees that includes, at a minimum, any recommendations that the enterprise may have for statutory changes with respect to the imposition of the fee and the funding of eligible projects; assessments as to whether the bill's definition of "vulnerable road user" remains appropriate and whether the fee is being imposed on the correct types of motor vehicles; and a cumulative account of the enterprise's revenue, applied for and awarded grants, and projects funded and completed between July 1, 2026, and June 30, 2030. Section 2 authorizes the division of insurance in the department of regulatory agencies, upon receiving notice from the enterprise of an insurer's failure to collect the fee from its automobile insurance policyholders and pay the fee to the enterprise, to institute an enforcement proceeding and seek specified civil penalties from the insurer. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)