FASTER Heads Out of House Committee

A bill that would pay for repairs and improvements to the state's highways and dilapidated bridges by raising motor vehicle registration fees cleared a House committee Tuesday evening.

The FASTER proposal, which would raise more than $200 million per year, was approved on a party-line vote by the House Transportation and Energy Committee.

The bill cleared the committee despite continued strong Republican opposition to it.

"This bill needs a complete overhaul,” House minority leader Mike May, R-Parker, said. “We are well beyond the time for a simple tune-up. We just cannot support this massive fee increase during an economic downturn.”

But Democrats argue the FASTER proposal is essential to the state's economy and the safety of motorists.

“The bill may not be all things to all people but it does save jobs, create jobs, and repair bridges," Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, said. “It’s important that we do something, and after 17 years of delay, we literally cannot wait any longer. The cost of doing nothing is quantifiably higher than the cost of doing something.”

Rice said the bill could be expected to result in the protection of at least 5,000 new jobs in the next year and that it is the result of lengthy negotiations with local governments, business interests, and members of both major political parties.

GOP legislators have argued that some of the money needed for the state's transportation system should be taken from the general fund and that a portion of the state's tax on oil and gas extraction activities should also be made available for that purpose.

GOP legislators say they have been stymied in efforts to achieve a compromise by Gov. Bill Ritter's unwillingness to bend.

"If there is still a chance for a bi-partisan road and bridge funding measure, the governor will have to recognize the burden he is proposing for working families," Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, said. "He will have to back away from his hard-line partisan negotiating tactics.”

The bill now heads to the House Appropriations Committee.

GOP Offers Deal: Arveschoug-Bird Budget Growth Limit for Transportation Fee Hikes

Statehouse Republicans, who are steadfastly opposed to motor vehicle registration fees increases proposed as a means to pay for transportation improvements, have offered to support legislation that would eliminate the cap on the growth of the state budget if Democrats drop the fee hikes.

The proposal, which House minority leader Mike May, R-Parker, announced today, comes in the wake of the Senate's approval Thursday of the FASTER bill.

FASTER would result in the average person's motor vehicle registration fee rising by about $40 and provide more than $200 million per year for needed highway and bridge repairs and improvements throughout the state.

May also said Republicans want a portion of the state's general fund dedicated to transportation.

""Traditionally, Republicans have said: 'Thou shalt not touch the 6 percent limit,' " May is quoted as saying in a Rocky Mountain News article. "The important thing (about the new proposal) is it provides a predictable and continuous revenue stream for transportation."

The Democratic House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Joe Rice of Littleton, said he welcomes May's idea but doesn't see how it will provide the needed funds for the state's transportation system.

"That's a good mid- to long-term solution, but we still need something in the next six months," Rice told the Rocky. "And I don't know how you get away from fees not being a part of that."

The limit on the growth of the state's general fund is six percent per year. It was established in 1992 and provides that money over the limit can be spent on transportation and capital improvements.

Retired state supreme court justice Jean Dubofsky recently said that she believes the Arveschoug-Bird limit is not a constitutional constraint on spending, even though the 1992 Taxpayers Bill of Rights appears to place spending limits in the state's legal charter.

Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and Rep. Don Marostica, R-Loveland, cited that opinion in comments last week indicating they would introduce legislation to repeal the Arveschoug-Bird law limiting annual growth in the general fund.

FASTER Gains Initial Senate Approval With Tolls Provision

The Senate, in a surprising reversal, gave preliminary approval Wednesday to the controversial "FASTER" transportation funding bill, but only after first removing provisions that would open the door to additional use of tolls to pay for needed improvements and then adding that clause back to the bill.

SB 108 was approved on a party-line vote of 21-14.

The toll provision had been stripped earlier in the day by a coalition of Republicans and a few Democrats. But it was restored to the bill by the Democratic leadership before the vote.

The toll provision of the FASTER bill would authorize local governments to collect tolls to pay for the improvement, maintenance and repair expenses related to highways under their control.

Among other amendments agreed to by the chamber's ruling Democrats are provisions that remove a pilot project to study assessment of fees according to mileage driven, allow heavy trucks to pay a single-trip charge where tolls are in place, and that require 80 percent of the workforce on a highway project to employ Colorado workers and preference on contracts to be given to Colorado companies.

Republicans argued that the majority Democrats had not tried hard enough to compromise, while Democrats said they had gone as far as they could to accommodate GOP concerns over increased registration fees while preserving the amount of money needed to repair the state's crumbling highways and bridges. Democrats also argued that their willingness to phase in the fee increases was a significant compromise.

Senate president Peter Groff, D-Denver, also disputed GOP warnings that SB 108 could impose a political cost on Democrats in 2010.

"The numbers I care about are 47 and 12," Groff said. "47,000 Coloradans have lost their jobs in the last 12 months. The number I care about is 126. There are 126 structurally deficient bridges in Colorado that need to be fixed. The number I care about is 35. The I-35 bridge was the bridge that collapsed in Minnesota and we cannot allow that to happen in Colorado. We have a responsibility to get people back to work and that’s what this bill is about. It’s about putting Colorado back to work and making sure the roads are safe."

The measure, sponsored by West Slope Democrat Dan Gibbs, would raise motor vehicle registration fees by an average of $41 over the next three years in order to raise more than $200 million per year for transportation. The money would secure more than half of a billion dollars in bonds to pay for the improvements and repairs.

Under current law the state cannot spend any money on transportation until the general fund grows by six percent over the previous year. During a period of economic recession, when state revenues decline, transportation loses most or all of its funding.

Majority Democrats say a consistent funding source is needed both to expand the state's highway system and to repair more than 100 bridges deemed structurally unsound.

Republicans want some of the general fund allocated to transportation and have also suggested using a portion of severance taxes paid by energy companies to fund transportation.

Minority leader Josh Penry, R-Fruita, accused Democrats of displaying a lack of "common sense."

"This Senate is poised to impose hundreds of millions of dollars in new fees on motorists, but we can't reprioritize any money in our existing budget -- not a single penny -- towards safer roads and bridges?" Penry said.

The GOP idea to allocate severance taxes was nixed by voters in the November 2008 election.

The current law requiring transportation to be funded only after six percent growth in the general fund, known as SB1 funding, was enacted in 1997 during a period of Republican control of the statehouse.

Groff Says Toll, Mileage-Based Fee Study Provisions Will Be Removed From FASTER Bill

Two controversial provisions in a comprehensive transportation funding bill will be removed before the Senate votes on the measure, which is designed to raise more than $200 million per year to repair and improve Colorado's highways and bridges.

Senate president Peter Groff, D-Denver, announced the changes to the measure at a news conference this morning.

"We can run that in a separate bill. This bill is about putting Coloradans back to work," Groff said.

The Senate is due to consider SB 108 this morning.

Republicans announced Tuesday that they are pulling out of efforts to reach a compromise with majority Democrats on the measure.

Senate minority leader Josh Penry, R-Fruita, said the GOP was doing so because of the tolling and mileage-based fee provisions that are being removed from the bill at Groff's direction.

Penry also pointed to the bill's focus on using increased motor vehicle registration fees as the sole means of financing transportation system improvements.

"It's very hard to ask ordinary citizens to open their wallets when the General Assembly won't do the same," Penry said. "At the end of the day, we wanted to fix roads and bridges while this bill is still about tolling and tracking our cars with satellites."

Republicans want to dedicate some of the state's general fund to transportation needs, as well as a portion of revenue raised from severance taxes on energy development companies. Under current law that was enacted during the period of GOP control of the legislative branch of the government no general fund dollars are allocated to transportation.

Instead, the state begins to fund transportation once the general fund's revenues have grown by six percent over the prior fiscal year.

Voters rejected in November 2008 a GOP-supported ballot initiative that would have directed severance taxes to highways.

If given final approval by the Senate, the bill sponsored by Democrat Dan Gibbs of Silverthorne will move to the House.

FASTER To Hit Senate Floor

The bill that would raise motor vehicle registration fees to pay for improvements and repairs to the state's highways and bridges cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee this morning, opening the door for the whole Senate to consider the controversial proposal.

SB 108, sponsored by Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, was approved on a 6-4 party-line vote after the committee defeated GOP attempts to eliminate a study of alternative means to finance the state's transportation needs.

That alternative system, called "Vehicle Miles Transferred" or VMT, would, if adopted, require drivers to pay a fee based on the number of miles driven instead of a tax on each gallon of gasoline purchased.

The study would involve asking Coloradans to volunteer to participate. Gibbs said he thinks the study would be unlikely to have any significant impact on the way the state finances its transportation system for at least 20 years.

The measure now heads to the full Senate.

Democratic Transportation Bill Moves On

The comprehensive transportation funding bill that would raise motorists' registration fees to pay for highway and bridge repairs has taken another step forward on the road to law.

SB 108, which is known by the acronym "FASTER," cleared the Senate Finance Committee Thursday on a 4-3 party-line vote.

Sponsoring Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, said the committee's fast action, which followed approval by another Senate committee earlier in the week, is necessary because the bill will promote job creation.

"If we can create a safer environment while creating more jobs for people in Colorado, let’s do it and let’s do it now," Gibbs said. "The 'ER' in FASTER in for 'Economic Recovery’. We need a reliable, sustainable, responsible solution and a real plan for the future of Colorado now, and this is it.”

The measure will raise about $214 million in its first year if it becomes law and about $250 million in subsequent years. The money will come from increases to motor vehicle registration fees.

The average increase for an individual is expected to be about $2.50 per month, according to a Senate Democratic Caucus "fact sheet" released earlier in the week.

The measure now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

FASTER Bill Passes First Hurdle

A Democratic bill aimed at financing needed highway and bridge improvements and repairs in the state has cleared its first legislative hurdle.

The FASTER bill, which would raise motor vehicle registration fees and raise more than $200 million per year, was approved today by the Senate Transportation Committee on a 4-3 vote.

The measure's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Dan Gibbs of Silverthorne, welcomed the bill's advance as a way of helping revitalize Colorado's economy.

"If we can create jobs while at the same time making our roads and bridges safer, let’s do it," Gibbs said. "I’ve been working closely with the business community, local governments and my constituents to make sure we start creating these jobs now.”

Although SB 108 cleared the committee with no GOP votes in support, some influential business interests are in favor of it.

“Colorado and this country are in unprecedented times,” Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer Joe Blake told the committee. “At this moment we have a choice and a responsibility. We need to get Colorado back to work and Senate bill 108 provides stable and reasonable sources of funding to address the maintenance problems in our transportation system. This proposal will create needed jobs.”

The measure proposes to raise registration fees by about $30-40 year, raising $214 million in the first year of the program and $230 million each year thereafter. A press release issued by the Senate Democratic Caucus indicates that the average person in Colorado would pay $2.50 more to register their motor vehicle each year.

The money generated would be divided between bridge repairs and highway repairs and upgrades.

About $100 million would be dedicated to the bridge aspect of the program and would be directed toward repairing the 125 bridges in the state rated as structurally deficient. The money would enable the Colorado Department of Transportation to secure certificate of participation financing that in turn would permit needed repairs to proceed immediately.

According to the Colorado Contractors Association the bill, if enacted into law, would create as many as 30,000 jobs.

Gibbs has been working to secure Republican co-sponsorship of his proposal. However, according to a report in the Denver Post's Politics West blog, GOP Senate leader Josh Penry of Fruita said that Republicans want to use the effort to secure a permanent and stable source of transportation funding to secure "meaningful tax reform."

Republicans made their own proposal for transportation funding today. It would redirect tens of millions of dollars from the state's general fund plus 25 percent of severance taxes generated from oil and gas extraction activities into transportation.

Last year voters rejected a ballot proposition that would have authorized the use of severance taxes for transportation.

The General Assembly is considering spending cuts to close a shortfall this year, and an expected shortfall next year, in the general fund. The total amount of that shortfall is expected to be $639 million this year, according to Gov. Bill Ritter's budget director, and about $300 billion in FY 2009.

Current law specifies that no state money can be directed into transportation until the general fund has grown by 6 percent over the previous year.

SB 108 heads next to the Senate Finance Committee.