It’s said that Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

Today, that old saw might aptly be repurposed to read, GOP lawmakers fiddle while Colorado’s roads crumble.

We refer, of course, to the unceremonious demise last week of House Bill 17-1242, which would have asked voters to approve or reject a plan to raise billions of dollars in transportation funds through the next 20 years by way of a .5 percent increase in the state’s sales tax.

The bipartisan bill was sponsored by Republican Senate President Kevin Grantham and Democratic House Speaker Crisanta Duran, joined by Republican State Sen. Randy Baumgardner and Democratic State Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, the latter of whom chair the transportation committees in their respective chambers.

Read more at Steamboat Today.