Colorado Contractors Association Media Release

Colorado Senate Scheduled to Vote on Highway Robbery

By a vote of 38 to 27, the Colorado House of Representatives voted on April 2 to approve HB 10-1387, which seeks to annually divert approximately $20 million ̶ $200 million over the coming decade ̶ away from the Highway User Tax Fund (HUTF), which pays for bridge and highway repairs, to the Department of Revenue for administering/issuing driver’s licenses and associated examinations, renewals, permits, and State identification cards.

The Colorado Senate is scheduled to debate the bill on Second Reading tomorrow, Thursday, April 8, on the Senate floor.

“When legislators and Governor Ritter approved last year’s vehicle registration fee increase (SB 09-108 or the so-called “FASTER” bill), they did so recognizing that the State of Colorado owns $500 million in annual unfunded deferred maintenance backlog. That vehicle registration fee increase is a vital step toward repairing the State’s 128 structurally-deficient bridges and hundreds of miles of deteriorating highways,” said Colorado Contractors Association Executive Director Tony Milo.

“How do the Governor and those who voted for FASTER honestly tell their constituents that the number of structurally-deficient bridges and poor highways required a vehicle registration fees increase last year, but then turnaround this year and divert tens of millions away from those same structurally-deficient bridges and high-priority highway projects,” Milo continued. “Do legislators really believe the public and media will endorse diverting $20 million per year ̶ $200 million over the next decade ̶ away from road and bridge projects after they just approved FASTER? It’s fiscally reckless and wholly unnecessary,” said Milo.

“We respectfully, but in the strongest possible terms, urge every Senator and Governor Ritter to reject HB10-1387,” Milo concluded. “Approving that bill in any form will exacerbate Colorado’s challenges in addressing the state’s structurally-deficient bridge and highway maintenance.”