Lawmakers drop controversial board overhaul

Colorado lawmakers are abandoning plans to overhaul t he Regional Transportation D istrict’s governing board and change how its members are selected after transit officials blasted the plan.

Reps. William Lindstedt and Meg Froelich said Wednesday that they are still set to pursue other RTD reforms through House Bill 1447. But they said they plan to drop the bill’s most contentious provision: a plan to eventually reduce the board’s from 15 elected, voting members to seven v oting members — with five elected and two appointed by the governor.

Froelich a nd L indstedt told fellow legislators they wanted to further discuss board reform over the coming months.

“We ultimately feel that those sections o f the bill should come out, a nd we will w ant a longer p rocess,” said Froelich, an Englewood Democrat.

“We understand t hat emotions have run hot on that, and if t here i s any apologies t o be m ade, we certainly are making them.”

Lawmakers on t he House’s Transportation, Local Government and Housing Committee were set to give a first vote on the bill Wednesday, b ut F roelich and Lindstedt, a B roomfield Democrat, asked that the committee hear t estimony but delay the vote on the bill. The amendment to strip the board provisions also will come later.

The lawmakers defended the need t o reform RTD, given i ts r idership c hallenges and personnel shortages. The bill still seeks to increase coordination between RTD and the Denver Regional C ouncil o f Governments, i ncentivize specific routes for special e vents like c oncerts, improve f inancial t ransparency, a nd a ddress t he shortages of drivers, operators and other key workers.

But it was the proposed board overhaul that drew the most c riticism from current, former and aspiring board members, some of whom are running for election t his year. Director Paul Rosenthal c alled the reform a “hostile takeover” in a r ecent Denver Post story, and some critics accused lawmakers of disenfranchising voters a nd communities of color.

Initially, legislators planned to p ropose t hat most o f the board be a ppointed, w ith only o ne member elected t o represent R TD’S m ulticounty service area. They l ater scaled that back t o a mix of e lected a nd a ppointed members before deciding to drop it entirely.

Lindstedt said he wanted to discuss board reform further this summer and fall, possibly through an interim legislative committee, and potentially to return with a revised plan next year.

“Most stakeholders wanted reform, and no one could agree on what that looks like,” h e said. “We thought we put forward a proposal that was reasonable. After hearing from stakeholders, to make such a big change, we wanted it to be more baked.”