The joint committee received the final report of the RTD Accountability Committee, established under SB25-161, which recommended replacing RTD's 15-member fully elected board with a 9-member hybrid board of 5 elected and 4 governor-appointed members — a proposal that drew sharp dissent from two committee members who filed a minority report, and skepticism from several legislators over governor appointments and Denver representation.
Miller Hudson argued the proposed 5-elected/4-appointed board is 'a mongrelized hybrid board, of which there is not another one like it anywhere in the United States' and stated he believed 'investing full self governing powers afforded to every other special transportation district in the state would be the most significant reform that could be adopted.' He also drew an analogy stating 'How do you explain your faith in the judgment of voters to return you here, but judge them too ignorant to elect competent representatives to the RTD board?' The Accountability Committee majority, represented by Garcia Berry and Abramson, argued a 5-4 split was a compromise after considering motions ranging from 7 to 11 members and that a fully appointed board could not achieve consensus.
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“I would argue that the decision to support this mongrelized hybrid board, of which there is not another one like it anywhere in the United States, entails an inherent contradiction, particularly if you're running for reelection. How do you explain your faith in the judgment of voters to return you here, but judge them too ignorant to elect competent representatives to the RTD board?”
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Sign in to subscribeOkay. Good afternoon. Senate. Excuse me. Joint Transportation Committee will now be called. Order. Ms. Forbes, can you please take the roll? Senators and Representatives. Basley, Ball. Bassinecker. Here. Brooks. Excused. Catlin. Excused. Exum. Good afternoon. Jackson. Here. Lindsay. Excused. Lind? She's online. Okay. Linstead. Present. Malika. Here. Wynn. Present. Pascal. Here. Pelton. Phillips. Excused. Richardson. Excused. Stewart. Here. Sukla. Sullivan. Here. Velasco. Here. Weinberg. Excused. Froelich. Here. And Madam Chair? Present. Okay. Thank you. So today we are here to hear from the RTD Accountability Committee and their final report presentation. So our first panel is going to be Kelly Blinn, senior policy advisor at Colorado Energy Office. Barrick Abramson, president at Confluence Policy and Strategy. David Bragdon, principal at Hudson Skycomish. Maria Garcia Berry, who is the RTD Accountability Committee chair, and Jamie Lewis, the RTD Accountability Committee Vice chair. So I assume some of them are online or is okay? One is yes. Okay. Is there anyone else that needs to join the panel? Okay. Please. Okay. If you're not. If I didn't call you, we'll. We'll have you up later. Okay. Whenever you guys are ready to begin, please introduce yourself and go right ahead. Welcome.…
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