sandra hagen solin
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Colorado chambers, business groups tell legislature to put the pedal down
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Dear Colorado legislature, get on the bus, but don’t step on the gas. That’s the takeaway from a letter more than 20 chambers and other business organizations sent to lawmakers Friday urging them to support an ongoing source of revenue for transportation, meaning revenue from growth that’s locked into the state budget. Transportation funding is…
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Transportation got everyone’s attention on the opening day of Colorado’s legislature
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The transportation issue squealed its tires out of the gate on the opening day of Colorado’s legislative session. Transportation funding dominated last year’s session, but a bipartisan bill to ask voters for a sales tax hike hit a roadblock among senators in the Senate, who preferred the money come from existing taxes in the state…
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Counting down the Colorado politicos to watch in 2018
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10. House Speaker Crisanta Duran, D-DenverThe state’s first Latina speaker has a galaxy of political opportunities ahead of her, locally or nationally. She is term-limited in the House after this session. She hasn’t decided yet what she’ll do next,. Meanwhile, she must earn her reputation as a leader this session with a House caucus divided…
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Transportation is the best place to park a budget surplus, Colorado advocates contend
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Transportation leaders think the best places to spend any surplus in revenue next year is Colorado roads and bridges. A revenue forecast delivered Wednesday suggests the state might have a previously unforeseen $106 million to spend next year. “Policymakers should leverage the dividends being paid out by this growing economy to provide relief from its chief…
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Insights: Where does Colorado go next on transportation? The ballot or to gridlock
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It’s a long road from November to April, and the journey of a thousand political statements began on the first day of this month when Gov. John Hickenlooper rolled out his annual budget request. He sent a message, now I’m sending one, too. We’re headed for gridlock in every meaning of the word. The governor’s…
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Hickenlooper delays decision on special session for transportation funding, other topics
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Gov. John Hickenlooper hadn’t yet decided on Monday whether to call a special session to come up with more funding for the state’s transportation needs, among other topics he said were left unfinished in the General Assembly’s 120-day regular session. While Hickenlooper called it “the most productive legislative session” since he took office in 2011,…
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On the 2017 legislative session, transportation lobbyist sees hope in the wreckage
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Sandra Hagen Solin, spokesperson for the Fix Colorado Roads economic-development coalition, worked the legislative trenches all year to bring Capitol leaders to a place where they could make a deal to pass a major transportation funding proposal. After months of back and forth, leadership this session brought out House Bill 1242, which failed spectacularly. Critics…
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Hickenlooper: Let the public vote on transportation funding solution
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Gov. John Hickenlooper is calling on lawmakers to make good on pledges by legislative leadership on both sides of the aisle to find solutions to Colorado’s transportation funding needs by sending a ballot measure to voters. Bipartisan legislation that would ask voters to approve a sales-tax hike — originally it was 0.62 percent, but a Republican-controlled Senate…
