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.

Memo to gubernatorial candidates: If you’re coming to talk at a convention of Colorado road builders, expect to be asked what you would do to address the crisis in funding transportation improvements.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, the Democratic candidate for governor, and former Congressman Scott McInnis, seeking the Republican nomination, appeared separately at the convention of the Colorado Contractors Association. During Q and A sessions following their talks, each one missed opportunities to lay out specifics about what they would do for transportation funding.

Nevertheless, both Hickenlooper and McInnis said the straightforward solution to providing stable, predictable and reliable funding to transportation infrastructure is simply to put together your best package of taxes, fees or other revenue measures to accomplish the mission, and then make the case to voters that it’s all necessary.