The Metro District Education Coalition, a nonprofit that says metro districts are “vital form of local government in Colorado,” held a virtual press briefing to discuss the 2025 Colorado state legislative session’s impact on metro districts.

Executive Director Kristi Pollard discussed four bills from the 2025 legislative session, three of which passed and have been or are expected to be signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis.

The first, HB25-1079, did not make it through the session, as it was delayed until a date after the session ended. The bill has to do with oversight and would expand the jurisdiction of the Independent Ethics Commission to include special districts like metro districts.

Colorado voters approved the creation of the commission in 2006, and Pollard said she thinks it does not have jurisdiction over things like special districts or school boards because those board members, while elected, are not paid.

This was the third year the legislature considered the bill. Pollard said the coalition took a neutral position on it because, while it supports holding elected officials to high ethical standards, it had concerns that the bill allowing Coloradans to make ethics complaints against metro districts would grant “the ability to weaponize this tool to sully good people’s names.”

“Our concern is that there would be an ability to file a claim, put out a press release and potentially sully a good man or woman’s name,” Pollard said, “and that person does not ever get the ability to respond.”

Pollard said many claims made to the ethics commission under its current jurisdiction end up being labeled frivolous. The coalition asked lawmakers to include something in the bill to deter or penalize frivolous claims, she said.

The next bill Pollard discussed, HB25-1211, concerned tap fees imposed by special districts. Developers or property owners pay tap fees to connect their properties to water and wastewater systems, and Pollard said the bill looks to create more transparency and fairness in their pricing. The bill passed the legislature and became law.

HB25-1219 has yet to be signed but passed the legislature. Pollard said it strengthens the transparency of metro districts by creating new requirements for what information they must include on their website.

The bill also mandates that service plans include a maximum term for imposing a mill levy, requires districts to notify residents of annual town hall events and necessitates the disclosure of metro district information during a residential resale, Pollard said.

“On the homepage of the website now, metro districts have to talk about the services that they will be providing, give an explanation about the district’s debt and how that works and (give) an explanation of how residents can serve on the board,” Pollard said.

The final bill, HB25-1289, creates uniformity in how metro districts apply to county assessors for property tax exemption on any properties that serve a public good, Pollard said. It passed the legislature and has yet to be signed.

For more information on the nonprofit, visit MetroDistrictEducation.com.