State House Speaker Crisanta Duran on Tuesday morning in a statement urged Senate Finance Committee Republicans to advance to the Senate floor the major bipartisan transportation bill she has sponsored with Senate President Kevin Grantham. The bill’s prospects of making it past the committee have grown dark and darker over the last week.

House Bill 1242 would send a proposal to voters this November, asking them to approve a state sales tax hike to pay for $3.5 billion in bonds to update roads and transit across the state. It would also dedicate going forward an annual $100 million of general fund money to transportation.

“Today, [the committee] has the opportunity to show true leadership and advance the plan one step closer to a final decision by the voters this November,” wrote Duran. “Seizing this opportunity would honor our bipartisan partnership with the dozens of organizations, advocates, business leaders and local governments, and the many thousands of Coloradans across the state who have endorsed the plan.”  

The bill has already passed the House, and Senate Democrats are committed as a bloc to join at least the two GOP sponsors and pass the bill. But, in addition to passing the Finance committee, the bill also must pass one more Republican-controlled Senate committee.

As the Finance hearing got underway just after 2 p.m., witnesses from business groups, regional and county organizations and city mayors testified in support of the bill. They said they had been working for years to put forward a proposal roughly like HB 1242. “Let’s not kick the can down the road any longer,” more than a couple frustrated witnesses said.

In the event, Republican committee members Tim Neville from Littleton, Owen Hill from Colorado Springs and Jack Tate from Centennial revealed little about where they stood on the bill. In the days leading up to the hearing, they all in different ways signaled they planned to vote against the bill.

Duran, a Denver Democrat, and Grantham, a Canon City Republican, joined forces on the topic even before the legislative session began in January. They worked to weigh input on and drum up support for something like the bill that eventually emerged. A large coalition of supporters formed around the idea as it took shape. When the bill was introduced, however, Republican lawmakers and small-government groups groaned, lamenting the fact the plan was built upon a tax increase. They thought more current budget resources should be shifted from other programs to secure the loans. Their opinion hasn’t changed significantly as the bill has moved through the building.

Transportation infrastructure has been underfunded in Colorado for years, especially as the state’s population has exploded. Going into the legislative session, the widely shared feeling was that, no matter what else was accomplished, leaders would make certain that some transportation-funding plan would pass.

“This plan fits well into the state’s constitutional framework – asking the voters to decide whether to accept a new revenue stream,” Duran wrote in her Tuesday morning release. “It’s a choice the voters deserve to make. It’s a choice the legislature should provide.”

“Unless the Senate majority steps up today, the people of Colorado face a future of potholes and traffic jams,” she said. “Colorado’s businesses will face increasing difficulty getting their goods to market. The House has delivered a strong, viable solution with bipartisan support. The Senate majority should do the right thing and let the people decide.”

— john@coloradostatesman.com