Kelly Brough, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, lamented the demise late Tuesday of bipartisan legislation that would have asked Colorado voters for a sales-tax increase to fund transportation needs, saying that lawmakers’ failure to fund infrastructure is harming the state’s economy.

“We know that Colorado needs a statewide funding source for transportation,” Brough said in a statement. “By killing (House Bill) 1242, members of the Legislature have taken the opportunity from Coloradans to speak for themselves and communicate their investment priorities through a vote on such a funding source.”

Three Republican senators — state Sens. Owen Hill of Colorado Springs, Tim Neville of Littleton and Jack Tate of Centennial — torpedoed the legislation in the GOP-controlled Senate Finance Committee, maintaining that they didn’t want to vote for a measure that included a tax increase. During the lengthy hearing that preceded the vote, some witnesses argued that the proposed 0.5 percent tax hike was destined to fail at the ballot box, too.

The bill, sponsored by Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Cañon City, and House Speaker Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, along with the chairs of both chambers’ transportation committees, state Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, D-Steamboat Springs, and state Sen. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulphur Springs, passed earlier this month out of the Democratic-controlled House.

Brough maintained that the state’s crumbling roads put Colorado at risk of losing its edge over other states when it comes to attracting and retaining businesses.

“Our inability to fund infrastructure has very real impacts on our state’s economy and on quality of life for all of us in Colorado,” she said. “As a business community, such investments are vital to maintaining our competitive advantage over other states that are undoubtedly investing more and marketing their transportation and infrastructure investments to companies and workers across the country.”

She cited polling supporters of the legislation say means a referendum would have a shot with voters.

“We can’t afford to ignore what almost 70 percent of voters in every corner of the state believe: that investing in infrastructure and funding transportation is critical. And today, we lost an important avenue that could have allowed Colorado to invest in infrastructure and transportation,” she said.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com