Colorado House Republicans mounted a furious effort Tuesday to stop, or at least slow down, a measure backed by Gov. Jared Polis that would ask voters to hike the state’s tobacco taxes in order to pay for youth behavioral health and after-school programs.

Nevertheless, the House gave preliminary approval to the measure on a voice vote. The bill is on target for final House action  on Wednesday, two days before the legislature adjourns. It would then need to head to the Senate.

House Bill 1333 was introduced just six days ago following a Polis news conference and has since won party-line approval from the House Finance and House Appropriations committees in the past few days.

The measure would seek voter approval for boosting taxes on cigarettes from 84 cents to $2.59 per pack.

The bill also adds a tax for nicotine liquids used in vaping, to be set at 62 percent of the manufacturer’s list price. The measure could generate as much as $300 million per year. 

Polis has said the measure would take Colorado from 37th in the nation on state tobacco taxes to between 15th or 20th, according to a Legislative Council report,.

Tuesday, Republicans spent about two hours trying to throw roadblocks in the measure’s way, asking that the bill be sent to another committee, asking for the 41-page bill to be read at length, and trying to adjourn the House for a couple of hours.

They accused Democrats of failing to follow the chamber’s own rules; 10 Republicans signed a request for a new fiscal note after the measure was amended by its sponsors.

While the amendment to seek a new fiscal note was denied because it came too late under the rules, House Majority Leader Alec Garnett, D-Denver said a new fiscal note would be ordered.

“This is not the last stop in this bill’s journey,” he said. 

Republican Rep. Larry Liston of Colorado Springs proposed an amendment to hike the tax to $50 per pack. “Let’s stop dilly-dallying around,” he said. “I’m sick and tired of these incremental steps. … Just think of all the money we’ll raise!”

That amendment failed.

Later in the day, Rep. Shane Sandridge, also of Colorado Springs, tried but failed to attach an amendment that would send the funds raised to the state’s Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) program for construction of school facilities. 

Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Thornton, who is a pediatrician, said she’s seen has seen first hand the impact of what she called the vaping epidemic. It was first tobacco use, she said, but now she hears from kids that they’re using vaping products or are in classrooms with other kids who vape.

Colorado leads the nation in the number of high school students — twice the national average —  who have tried vaping, Caraveo said. 

The voters will be given the choice as they have in the past, Democratic Rep. Jonathan Singer of Longmont pointed out, and suggested lawmakers “hug it out.”

“We need to get kids to stop vaping, but there’s a better way” than this bill, said Republican Rep. Rod Bockenfeld of Watkins, who noted that businesses are concerned that they will be hurt financially by the measure.

Some opponents also argue that vaping provides a safer alternative to lighting up a cigarette and helps some to stop smoking.

After Wednesday’s expected final vote in the House, the measure will hurry off to the Senate in an attempt to get through that chamber before adjournment midnight Friday.

It could be heard in its Senate committees as soon as Wednesday and on to the Senate floor later in the day.