Likely if you fail to pay the Texas speeding ticket you will have your license suspended in both Texas and your home state of Colorado. Colorado and Texas are both members of the Drivers License Compact (DLC) and Non-Resident Violator Compact (NRVC).

The DLC requires member states to report moving violations convictions back to the licensing state of the motorist. The NRVC allows the home state of a driver to suspend a motorist's license if they fail to pay, or otherwise take care of, a moving violation ticket they received out of state.

So if you fail to pay / fail to appear for your Texas speeding ticket the courts will normally convict you of the offense and then put out a warrant for you since you did not comply with the ticket by either paying the fine or appearing in court to contest the charge.

One Texas municipal court notes that failure to appear or failure to pay fines may result in (1) Denial of renewal of your Driver’s License (2) Denial of your renewal of your vehicle registration (3) The filing of an additional charge of Failure to appear and the issuance of a warrant for your arrest. Since Texas cannot deny your license renewal since you are from out of state likely they would instead just suspend your driving privileges in TX until the ticket was taken care of.

We have also read TX courts can add on an extra fee for Failure to Appear fee and a 30% collection service fee added to the total. So if you want to pay the ticket and get the issue taken care of so it does not harm your right to drive in Texas and keep your license from being suspended in your home state than it would be better to do so before the court date so you do not incur more fees.

If you fail to pay the ticket and thus fail to appear or comply with the citation then TX courts would inform the Colorado DMV which then should suspend your CO driver's license until you properly have taken care of the Texas speeding ticket. CRS 24-60-2101 is where the NRVC is listed and under Article IV it states that:

Upon receipt of a report of a failure to comply from the licensing authority of the issuing jurisdiction, the licensing authority of the home jurisdiction shall notify the motorist and initiate a suspension action, in accordance with the home jurisdiction's procedures, to suspend the motorist's driver's license until satisfactory evidence of compliance with the terms of the traffic citation has been furnished to the home jurisdiction licensing authority.

The licensing authority of the home jurisdiction shall maintain a record of actions taken and make reports to issuing jurisdictions as provided in the compact manual.

The Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) summarizes the legal speak of the NRVC by noting that if you receive a ticket in a state that is not your state of residency and you fail to pay the fine the state were you received the ticket will notify your home state. Your home state, Colorado, will suspend your driver’s license until the ticket has been paid.

To clear an NRVC suspension that CO places you under, you will need to pay the fine for the ticket to the out-of state court in which it is due. Once the fine is paid and you have received a receipt back from that court you will need to provide the receipt with a completed Application for Reinstatement DR 2870 (if mailing) and pay a $95.00 reinstatement fee to the CO DMV.

If you think by not being convicted of the ticket you will be able to keep the TX ticket off of your Colorado driving record this is incorrect. If you decide to take care of the Texas speeding ticket by paying the $165 fine then if you have a regular Colorado driver’s license (not a CDL) then according the CO DMV as long as you pay an out of state citation it will not go onto your Colorado driver's record. Since it will not go on your Colorado driving record it will not be assigned points either. It thus appears that if you fail to pay the ticket it does go on your CO driving record and you will also end up with a license suspension that will be recorded on your motor vehicle record.

As we mentioned earlier Colorado will not take adverse action regarding minor traffic infractions in regards to your CO driving record as long as you pay the ticket or otherwise legally take care of it. So to keep yourself from getting your license suspended in both Texas and Colorado (your licensing state thus making your license suspended in all states) and being required to pay extra fees when you do take care of your Texas speeding ticket it would be advisable to either pay the TX traffic ticket before the due date or go to court in Texas and fight it. Just take care of the ticket before it becomes a very big problem for you in both Texas and your home state of Colorado. 

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