CO Legislators Need to Hear From You Today, Sunday 3/8/20, or Monday morning – And Insight from CO Senators Against the EV Bill.

Two bills to speak up on here. Sorry for the late notice! One is HB 20-1155, which requires home builders to offer buyers of newly constructed homes options to install electric wiring for EV chargers and solar. No one is making anyone actually DO anything – just making sure buyers of new homes are reminded to consider if they want these facilities at the moment when it would be easiest to add the wiring to their homes. Write to your State Representative in this case – You can find them at: https://leg.colorado.gov/findmylegislator

The second is SB20-167, which creates a new exception that allows the ownership, operation, or control of a motor vehicle dealer if the manufacturer makes only electric motor vehicles and has no franchised dealers of the dealer’s line-make. This exception should appease Senators, such as the one quoted below, that this bill won’t hurt existing car dealers. Both bills are described in the pdf below. This bill is now headed to the House. See Bob Andersen’s comment below for who to contact.

After I wrote my State Senator, Don Coram of CO senate district 6, I got the response below from Senator Ray Scott, of senate district 7, which covers Mesa County, CO. I assume it also reflects Mr. Coram’s views, because he didn’t respond to me independently.

A main reason why I believe this bill is unnecessary is that Tesla, with a Colorado dealers license, has done just fine. I do believe there is a future for electric vehicles in certain markets, but they leave much to be desired for rural consumers and commercial applications. With so many current dealers already selling electric vehicles I see no need to destroy the current franchise agreements. That being said, the way that SB20-167 is currently written, I do not believe it would be in the best interest of the motoring public. 

Ray Scott, Colorado Senator SD 7

Even if you don’t make the deadline to comment on the bills above, it would be worth contacting your rural Colorado senator to let them know you are a rural consumer, their constituent, and that an electric vehicle meets your needs well and you’d appreciate more EV choices from dealers and local support for charging infrastructure. Unless you drive a Tesla with their distinctive look, most people and senators probably don’t even recognize your car as an EV. They likely are not aware of how many EV drivers reside in their districts.

Contact Senators Don Coram at [email protected] and Ray Scott at [email protected]. Write them both since they seem to be voting as a block on this one.

Thanks go again to J. David McNeil of the Denver Electric Vehicle Council for keeping an eye on the Colorado state legislature!