ACP Pubs

One Last Shot at Road Funding
April 29, 2008

The only active highway funding measure before the Colorado Legislature, Senate Bill 213, Sen. Andy McElhany’s proposal to toll portions of I-70 in the mountains west of Denver, has been postponed by its sponsor until after the Memorial Day weekend (and the legislature hopes to adjourn on May 7), effectively putting the bill to rest for this legislative session. 

            “I want everybody in the Memorial Day traffic jam to think, ‘For five bucks I could have avoided this,” the senator quipped.

            There was but slight chance that McElhany’s bill would have passed both houses and been signed by Gov. Bill Ritter (a vocal opponent of the measure), but it seemed to be the only highway funding measure receiving legislative consideration this year. That is, until Monday, April 28, when the Senate State Affairs Committee considered Senate Bill 244, a previously dormant proposal to increase annual vehicle registration fees by $25, add a $6 daily fee to car rentals and create an increase in the vehicle ownership tax ranging from zero to $72. The measure would raise an estimated $297 million a year, with $172 million to be spent on highway maintenance and improvement and $125 million on bridge repairs. 

            The last minute bill, its introduction delayed by “ongoing discussions with lawmakers, citizens and interest groups” according to Rep. Joe Rice (D-Littleton), has 19 co-sponsors in both houses – 18 Democrats and a single Republican. It got through its first Senate committee hearing on a 3-2 party line vote. But with time quickly running out, the bill seems doomed to failure – at least this year.

            SB-244 has more support than any other highway funding measure considered in Colorado this year, including the backing of the governor, the Colorado Contractors Association, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the trucking industry, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and the mayors or managers of a number of cities around the state. And the measure would not require voter approval. Nevertheless, it appears likely Coloradans will have to wait until next year, at best, for any additional funding for state highways and bridges.

            In another funding arena, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has announced he will support an initiative that would amend the state constitution to boost severance taxes on the oil and gas industry. The proceeds of the controversial increase would be used to fund college scholarships, wildlife habitat and clean energy subsidies, plus road improvements and water projects for areas impacted by energy development. The state can’t fund the education spending mandates of Amendment 23, but it can raise severance taxes to provide scholarships? Denver’s Rocky Mountain News was right on target when it asked, “By what logic do they [scholarships, wildlife habitat and clean energy subsidies] rise to the top of any list of underfunded needs of Colorado government, worthy as each might be in its own right?” 

            Signatures must still be obtained to get the measure on the November ballot, but unpopular as the oil and gas industry is with the public in this time of record oil prices, people are apt to jump at any opportunity to tax the industry, regardless of the reason – and the fact that the tax will surely be the cause of higher still energy prices.

Posted by Hol Wagner on April 29, 2008 | Comments (0)