(1) In addition to any other powers granted to the district by this article 22, the district has the following powers: (a) To have perpetual existence; (b) To sue and be sued; (c) (I) To enter into contracts and agreements with any person, including the United States department of transportation and Amtrak, as necessary to exercise its powers and fulfill its duties. The power to contract includes but is not limited to: (A) The power to enter into memorandums of understanding and intergovernmental agreements with other governmental entities, including states that border Colorado, and to enter into public-private partnerships; (B) The power to contract with third parties for the operation of passenger rail service; and (C) The power to negotiate and enter into agreements with any person or public entity for the provision of retail and commercial goods and services to the public at or adjacent to passenger rail stations or for the provision of residential uses or other uses at or adjacent to such facilities. (I.5) Except as otherwise provided in section 32-22-105 (1)(a)(VIII), the board may, to the extent that it deems appropriate, delegate to its officers and employees its power to enter into contracts and agreements on behalf of the district. (II) Any development of any portion of a passenger rail station or adjacent property made available by the district to a third party for the provision of retail or commercial goods or services or for the provision of residential uses or other uses is subject to all applicable local zoning ordinances. (d) To deposit and invest district money as authorized by part 6 of article 75 of title 24; (e) Subject to section 32-22-109, to borrow money and issue district securities evidencing the borrowing; (f) To receive federal money and grants and collaborate with Amtrak and the United States department of transportation; (g) To research, develop, finance, construct, operate, and maintain an interconnected passenger rail system that coexists with transportation of freight by rail within the district. This power includes but is not limited to the power to: (I) Enter onto land within the district to conduct necessary surveys, borings, soundings, and examinations subject to the requirement that entry onto any land owned by the Union Pacific Railroad or the BNSF Railway must be done in accordance with their respective authorization and approval protocols; (II) Construct, manage, operate, and maintain integral buildings, works, and improvements; (III) Hold public hearings at which testimony from interested members of the public is allowed; (IV) Consult with the department of transportation, the counties and municipalities of the state, affected metropolitan planning organizations and regional planning commissions, and affected transit providers; and (V) Consider context-sensitive solutions. (h) The board, with collaboration of local governments and in compliance with land use authority, permitting requirements, and real property rights of such local governments with respect to specific locations, shall determine route and station locations of a passenger rail system; (i) To specify structural and performance specifications, including but not limited to safety standards consistent with federal and state laws, regulations, and rules, for a passenger rail system; (j) To evaluate and select appropriate technologies for a passenger rail system; (k) To purchase, lease, lease with an option to purchase, condemn, or otherwise lawfully acquire, to sell, lease, lease with an option to purchase, concession lease, or otherwise lawfully dispose of, and to mortgage or pledge real or personal property and any interest therein, including easements, rights-of-way, and concession leases; (l) To accept real or personal property and other conveyances upon such terms and conditions as the board may approve; (m) To issue requests for proposals and award contracts to private sector business entities for performance of any component of the design, development, financing, construction, operation, or maintenance of a passenger rail system; (n) To establish timelines for the development and construction of a passenger rail system; (o) To establish and collect fares and other user fees for the use of a passenger rail system without the fares and fees being subject to any supervision or regulation by any board, agency, commission, or official; except that any fees, tolls, rates, and charges imposed for the use of any passenger rail system shall be fixed and adjusted so that the fees, tolls, rates, and charges collected, along with other revenue, if any, of the district are at least sufficient to repay any bonds issued pursuant to this article 22; (p) Upon a majority vote of the registered voters of the district voting on the issue as required by section 32-22-109, to exercise taxing authority common to special districts as specified in section 32-1-1101 (1)(a) and (1)(b); (q) (I) [Editor's note: This version of subsection (1)(q)(I) is effective until July 1, 2025.] Upon a majority vote of the registered voters of the district voting on the issue as required by section 32-22-109, to levy a sales tax or a use tax, or both, throughout the district at a maximum rate of eight-tenths of one percent upon every transaction or other incident with respect to which a sales or use tax is levied by the state. The executive director of the department of revenue shall collect, administer, and enforce the sales or use tax, to the extent feasible, in the manner provided in section 29-2-106. The executive director shall make monthly distributions of the tax collections to the district, which shall apply the proceeds solely to the development, financing, construction, operation, or maintenance of a passenger rail system. The department shall retain an amount not to exceed the net incremental cost of the collection, administration, and enforcement of the sales tax or use tax, or both, and shall transmit the amount to the state treasurer, who shall credit it to the front range passenger rail district sales and use tax fund, which fund is hereby created. All money so retained is hereby continuously appropriated from the fund to the department to the extent necessary for the department's collection, administration, and enforcement of this subsection (1)(q). Any money remaining in the fund attributable to taxes collected in the prior fiscal year shall be transmitted to the district; except that, before the transmission to the district of such money, any money appropriated from the general fund to the department for the collection, administration, and enforcement of the tax for the prior fiscal year shall be repaid. (q) (I) [Editor's note: This version of subsection (1)(q)(I) is effective July 1, 2025.] (A) Upon a majority vote of the registered voters of the district voting on the issue as required by section 32-22-109, to levy a sales tax or a use tax, or both, throughout the district at a maximum rate of eight-tenths of one percent upon every transaction or other incident with respect to which a sales or use tax is levied by the state. (B) The executive director of the department of revenue shall collect, administer, and enforce the sales or use tax as specified in part 2 of article 2 of title 29. The district shall apply monthly distributions received from the department of revenue pursuant to section 29-2-207 solely to the development, financing, construction, operation, or maintenance of a passenger rail system. (C) The department shall retain an amount not to exceed the net incremental cost of the collection, administration, and enforcement of the sales tax or use tax, or both, and shall transmit the amount to the state treasurer, who shall credit it to the front range passenger rail district sales and use tax fund, which fund is hereby created. All money so retained is hereby continuously appropriated from the fund to the department to the extent necessary for the department's collection, administration, and enforcement of this subsection (1)(q). Any money remaining in the fund attributable to taxes collected in the prior fiscal year shall be transmitted to the district; except that, before the transmission to the district of such money, any money appropriated from the general fund to the department for the collection, administration, and enforcement of the tax for the prior fiscal year shall be repaid. (II) A sales or use tax, or both, levied pursuant to subsection (1)(q)(I) of this section shall not be levied on the sale of tangible personal property: (A) Delivered by a retailer or a retailer's agent or to a common carrier for delivery to a destination outside the district; or (B) Upon which specific ownership tax has been paid or is payable if the purchaser resides outside the state or the purchaser's principal place of business is outside the state and if the personal property is registered or required to be registered in a county of the state that does not include any area that is part of the district or outside the state. (r) To directly provide retail and commercial goods and services at passenger rail stations, including but not limited to the sale of passenger rail tickets, tokens, passes, and other items directly and necessarily related to the operation of a passenger rail system, subject to the limitation that any development of any portion of a passenger rail station for the provision of retail or commercial goods or services by the district is subject to all applicable local zoning ordinances; (s) To accept gifts, grants, and donations, whether cash or in-kind in nature, from private or public sources for the purposes of this article 22; (s.5) In accordance with an implementation plan developed as required by section 32-9- 107.7 (4), to enter into a standalone intergovernmental agreement with or create a separate legal entity pursuant to sections 29-1-203 and 29-1-203.5 or pursuant to articles 121 to 137 of title 7 with the department of transportation, the high-performance transportation enterprise, created in section 43-4-806 (2)(a)(I), and the regional transportation district, created in section 32-9-105, to implement the completion of construction and operation of the regional transportation district's northwest fixed guideway corridor, including an extension of the corridor to Fort Collins as the first phase of front range passenger rail service; (t) To exercise any other lawful rights and powers necessary or incidental to or implied from the specific powers granted by this article 22. The specific powers shall not be considered as a limitation upon any power necessary and appropriate to carry out the purposes and intent of this article 22. (2) If the state contributes funding for the construction of a passenger rail system, the construction bidding provisions of article 92 of title 24 shall apply, but nothing in this subsection (2) affects the ability of the district, the state, or any other entity to enter into design-build contracts as permitted by state law.
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