The Colorado legislature moved closer to banning certain kinds of hidden fees common in rental agreements Tuesday after the House passed a price transparency measure, sending it to the Senate.
House Bill 1090 — part of House Democrats’ pitch to curb costs in the state — would broadly require retailers and companies to detail the full price of a good or service in their advertising. It would also ban fees common in apartment buildings and other rental housing, like those charged for common-area maintenance, for making rental or utility payments, or for pest control.
Charging those so-called “junk fees” would be a deceptive trade practice under the bill.
“The idea behind the bill is that if you’re going to sell a good or service in Colorado, you need to be transparent about the fees and the true cost of what this good or service will be,” Rep. Naquetta Ricks, an Aurora Democrat who’s sponsoring the bill, said during earlier debate Friday. Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat, is also sponsoring the bill.
The bill passed on a 41-21 party-line vote, with the House’s Republican caucus opposed. The measure now heads to the Senate, where it will restart the process. Sirota said Tuesday that the measure would likely undergo additional minor amendments but was on a path to passage.
Should it clear the Senate, it would head to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk for signature into law.
While the bill would require transparency for a variety of fees, it includes specific bans targeted at common housing charges. The bill would prohibit landlords from charging fees for services that ensure housing is safe and habitable, such as pest-control charges.
Landlords and housing groups have said those fees are needed to cover expenses and that banning them would just result in property owners moving the costs into rent. Still, housing advocates have said that shift would be preferable because it would give tenants a clearer understanding of their monthly bill.
Last year, roughly 50 Colorado renters described to The Denver Post the variety of extra fees they pay, including one tenant who said he paid a fee to calculate the rest of his fees. Before the bill was introduced in January, a Federal Trade Commission official wrote a letter to Polis and to legislators urging them to adopt housing-specific fee regulations.
House Republicans opposed the measure and said it would harm businesses. The caucus, which is in near-superminority status in the House, has pursued a different path to cutting costs this year that focuses on eliminating state fees, like the plastic bag charge.
Several of those bills, which would have in turn cut funding for various state services, have already been defeated amid Democratic opposition.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but (the hidden fees) bill makes it harder for them to survive,” Rep. Jarvis Caldwell, a Colorado Springs Republican, said in a statement. “It is nothing more than another government mandate that will lead to higher costs, more legal battles and fewer opportunities for entrepreneurs in Colorado.”
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