Face The State Staff Report
After the 2008 legislative session failed to yield a solid strategy for addressing Colorado's crumbling roads and highways, a number of legislators are offering their own solutions for the state's transportation woes.
At the forefront of recent legislative memory is Gov. Bill Ritter's 2008 Blue Ribbon Transportation Commission. The panel produced recommendations so politically unpopular that even Ritter distanced himself from the ideas, which included a proposal to raise the average cost of registering a vehicle by about $100.
But by November, when a trio of respected GOP lawmakers took their own recommendation to voters, they also came up short. Listed sixth on the nation's longest ballot this year, Amendment 52 failed like almost every other initiative to garner the support of a majority of Colorado voters. If passed, it would have redirected severance tax revenues to fund greater maintenance and construction along Interstate 70.
At the core of the debate over transportation funding has been the state's severance tax, a mandate on Colorado's energy producers that raised more than $200 million for state coffers last year. While Democrats proposed raising the tax, Republicans, including those backing Amendment 52, believe that existing revenue from the tax could be utilized to help meet lagging transportation funding.
As both parties began strategizing in earnest for the upcoming session, which begins in January, many were shocked late last month by the Ritter's latest budget proposal, which shows a reduction in overall transportation funding.
But according to a recent poll, public demand for better roads remains stagnant and according to Rep. Glenn Vaad, R-Mead, it is difficult to get the public to focus on transportation as a critical issue. “People see lots of road construction and think what’s the problem?” said Vaad. “It happens so slowly they don’t realize it’s a big deal. You also have lots of people moving in from California who are use to worse traffic and don’t recognize it as a problem.”
Earlier this year, a survey conducted by Move Colorado, an organization devoted to encouraging increased funding for transportation needs, found that 63 percent of Coloradans don’t consider transportation a problem.
Vaad, respected around the Capitol for his knowledge on transportation-related issues, held a post with the Colorado Transportation Commission before being elected to office and now also serves on Ritter's blue ribbon panel. While he sees the need for a comprehensive statewide strategy, he also believes that local, regional and urban areas need to take more responsibility for maintenance and development of local roads.
Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, expressed cautious optimism about the parties' abilities to work together to find solutions. “There is room to do things with people like [Sen.] Josh Penry in leadership, who has said publicly we need more money,” said Rice. “There is agreement in both chambers with both parties and the governor’s office.”
Rice said some lawmakers were deterred from tackling transportation funding issues in 2008 because proposed solutions included tax or fee increases, and lawmakers didn’t want to have those saddled against them going into an election season.
Penry, a Grand Junction Republican, together with Reps. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, and Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, were the lead backers of Amendment 52. They maintain that greater funding of roads can take place without a tax increase. While Democrats have pointed to increased transportation funding through new revenue sources, McNulty insists it should be done with existing funds.
"Voters expect transportation to be one of the key things the state government does," he said. "We need to continue to look for ways to be creative about tackling maintenance issues, like Amendment 52 attempted to do."
McNulty remains upbeat and says he is not discouraged by the defeat of his proposal. “I think the severance tax is still on the table,” he said.
“Let’s come back and do [a proposal similar to Amendment 52] statutorily, not constitutionally," he added, referring to the fact that opponents to the measure, including the Rocky Mountain News, expressed concern that it imposed a new spending structure into the state constitution instead of into state statute.
According to Tony Gagliardi, Colorado director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, his 7,500 small business members remain concerned that greater transportation funding will come in the form of more taxes or new fees. “Every time states look for more money it ends up on the shoulders of small business,” he said.
Gagliardi said his members vote internally on different issues and are currently being polled on whether Colorado should implement a vehicle miles traveled tax, which would require that mileage be read when a person stops to fill up at a gas station for a tank of gas. The state would then tax individuals based on how many miles they travel. “It’s very controversial and raises a lot of privacy questions, but it’s catching on and being discussed,” Gagliardi said, who added the idea is also being considered in Oregon.