Senate committee advances bill to let owners transfer license plates, orders DOR contingency planning

Senate Finance advanced House Bill 26-1053 on a unanimous committee vote after sponsors and county clerks said the measure will let Coloradans keep and transfer license plates when they change vehicles and require the Department of Revenue to strengthen contingency planning for motor vehicle services.

Sponsor Senator Pelton presented the bill as a set of technical updates from county clerks, saying it repeals a requirement that forced automatic replacement of plates on ownership transfer and instead allows owners to request plate transfers. "This is a cost saving issue, especially in our small communities," the sponsor said during opening remarks.

The bill’s chief witnesses were Molly Fitzpatrick, Boulder County Clerk and motor vehicle legislative chair of the Colorado County Clerk’s Association, and Sherry Davis, a county clerk. Fitzpatrick told the committee the changes would make transactions "faster, simpler, and less burdensome for Coloradans," and that counties support the transfer ability and additional contingency planning. Davis recounted recent incidents that exposed local service gaps, including a firebombing in Archuleta County and wildfire-related outages, and said counties need the ability to support one another when offices go offline.

A Division of Motor Vehicles representative, Benjamin Whittier, said the Department of Revenue already maintains continuity-of-operations plans that focus on state systems and resources but acknowledged county-specific logistical gaps—bandwidth at alternate sites, hardware and user setup, and inventory logistics—that the bill aims to address. "We view continuity of operations as a critical component of government service, and are happy to partner to ensure that we're considering any options available to help make that happen," he said.

Committee members questioned whether statutory language was needed for contingency plans or whether existing departmental planning sufficed. Clerks and DOR representatives described ongoing collaboration and noted section 2 of the bill (technical/API provisions) was being removed for further work between clerks and DOR; the sponsor offered amendment L003 to strike that section and the committee adopted it without objection.

After the witness and amendment phases, Vice Chair Marchman moved the bill, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations. The chair recorded the committee vote as unanimous.

The bill now proceeds to the Appropriations Committee for further fiscal review and consideration.