Colorado’s 2024 legislative session is a win for the climate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2024

Contact:
Josh Valentine, SWEEP | jvalentine@swenergy.org

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[DENVER, CO] – Even with some bill defeats and hard compromises, Colorado’s 2024 legislative session achieved meaningful progress on climate and clean energy, transportation, and land use issues, with lawmakers passing a flurry of bills in the waning days before sine die. 

“The 2024 legislative session was a win for the climate, for Colorado consumers, and for equity,” said Elise Jones, Executive Director of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP). “In particular,  lawmakers approved unprecedented funding for bus and rail service across the state, and adopted a package of climate-friendly land use bills to enable more affordable and abundant housing opportunities in Colorado’s cities along transit lines, while reducing transportation pollution and traffic congestion.”

One of the biggest victories of the session was achieving a broad agreement between conservation groups, Governor Polis, the oil and gas industry, and legislative leaders to pull down a set of damaging industry-supported ballot initiatives that would have rolled back a decade of climate progress, and to support legislation to reduce ozone pollution and generate new funding for transit operations, rail service, and land protection and remediation. 

• Senate Bill (SB) 24-229 will strengthen air quality enforcement, require emissions controls for oil and gas operations, create new community liaison positions, and close orphaned and low-producing wells in disproportionately impacted communities. 
• SB24-230 charges a new fee on oil and gas companies, which will generate hundreds of millions of dollars to mitigate the impacts of fossil fuel production on air quality, climate, and land.
• SB24-184, separate from this compromise, also expands Colorado’s investment in transit by generating $50 million annually via a fee on rental cars to be spent on rail projects, leveraging federal infrastructure grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for new passenger rail service; and ensuring that the High Performance Transportation Enterprise and its public-private partnership projects align with state climate and multimodal transportation goals.

Another notable success was the passage of a handful of land use and housing measures designed to increase housing and affordability within existing cities and along transit corridors, as a way to lower transportation emissions and reduce the amount Coloradans spend driving between their homes and jobs. 

• House Bill (HB) 24-1152 will enable the construction of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in urban communities across the state, requiring local governments to update their codes with ADU best practices, while providing financial assistance for ADUs that are affordable for low and middle-income families. 
• HB24-1313, the Transit-Oriented Communities bill, aims to increase multifamily and affordable housing opportunities along transit corridors by requiring certain Front Range communities to meet residential zoning capacity targets near frequent bus and rail routes, and also creates a $35 million infrastructure grant program to enable development near transit. 
• HB24-1304, the parking reform bill, will remove local minimum parking mandates for residential development in urban communities near transit stops to prevent the overbuilding of parking spots, reduce housing costs, and encourage investment in more sustainable and efficient transportation options. 
• SB24-174 provides planning grants for local governments to complete Housing Needs Assessments and Housing Action Plans, and requires them to prioritize urban infill development within existing developed areas before considering greenfield development and exurban sprawl. 
• HB24-1007 prohibits any limits on the number of individuals living in a home except for those based on public health and safety, which helps provide additional legal housing availability within existing communities.
• These housing and land use measures were paired with complementary legislation to help Coloradans address housing instability and affordability challenges by increasing the rights and resources available to renters.

“Colorado cannot achieve its climate and air quality goals without the combination of smart land use and better transit service to reduce car dependence and daily driving,” said Matt Frommer, Senior Transportation Associate at SWEEP. “With the passage of groundbreaking legislation to enable more affordable housing near frequent transit service, Coloradans will have the opportunity to live in more climate-friendly, walkable, and transit-rich communities.”

Another set of important bills help set the stage for Colorado’s clean energy future through better planning for the energy infrastructure needed for the electrification of the building and transportation sectors, and the transition to  using efficient, electric appliances in our homes and businesses. 

• HB24-1370 facilitates partnerships between Xcel Energy and local governments interested in avoiding costly investments in new gas pipelines by piloting neighborhood-scale alternative projects relying on clean electricity.  
• SB24-218 improves the planning and buildout of the electricity distribution system by ensuring timely interconnection of new loads necessary to meet Colorado’s decarbonization goals, supporting consumer demand for retail distributed generation and beneficial electrification measures, and expanding aligned workforce training. 
• SB24-214 accelerates building efficiency and electrification by directing a study to lay the foundation for a statewide retail standard for two-way heat pumps (that cool and heat) in place of new or replacement residential air conditioning systems; ensure new state-funded building construction uses the most efficient appliances; and also improves the effectiveness of the existing state tax credit for heat pumps. 

“Together this package of bills will continue Colorado’s leadership in the energy transition by providing a pathway to slow investments into the gas distribution system and require electric utilities to proactively invest in the electric system to more quickly interconnect new loads that result from building and transportation electrification,” said Justin Brant, SWEEP’s Utility Program Director. “These important policy changes will speed the transition to the use of efficient, electric alternatives to fossil fuels, reducing emissions and improving public health.”

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The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) is a public interest organization promoting greater energy efficiency and clean transportation in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. swenergy.org