Colorado Treasurer Dave Young announced Wednesday the state has wrapped up the final of four $500 million sales of certificates of participation intended to help finance transportation projects across the state.

Certificates of participation are akin to bonds, but under Senate Bill 17-267, the state is putting up as collateral state buildings, under lease-purchase agreements.

Wednesday’s sale resulted in $500 million in COPs, with $2 billion now raised for transportation projects since 2019.

“Creating well-paying jobs across the state, these projects have had a transformational change in the lives of farmers, ranchers, workers, and families across Colorado,” Young said in a statement. “These infrastructure improvements are the economic engine of our state, easing commutes, making it easier to visit parts of our beautiful state, and allowing Colorado products to reach far and wide across the country.”

According to Young’s office, SB 267 helped fund 129 projects across the state: paving miles of rural roads, adding billions of dollars into local communities and economies across the state, creating local jobs, and easing traffic congestion points. 

The COPs have been the primary funding source for CDOT’s progress on their 10-year plan for capital construction. The treasurer’s office said 41% of the 10-year plan has been completed as a result of the legislation, which was sponsored by Sens. Lucia Guzman, D-Denver, and Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, and in the House by the unrelated Reps. K.C. Becker, D-Boulder and Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan.

Proceeds will fund state strategic transportation projects that are designated for priority funding on CDOT’s program project list, with at least 25% of such proceeds being expended to fund projects located in rural counties. At least 10% of the proceeds must be expended for transit purposes or for transit-related capital improvements.

SB 267 also raised the dollar amount small businesses could claim for business personal property tax purposes, hiked the client copay for certain Medicaid services and created enterprise status – akin to a state-run business- for the hospital provider fee, which pools a fee levied on outpatient and daily patient bed counts at hospitals, combines it with federal dollars and then redistributes it to hospitals in Colorado to pay for uninsured health care services or Medicaid services.