DENVER—A proposal to hike registration fees to pay for bridge and highway repairs passed its first test at the state Capitol on Tuesday, but it still has a long way to go.
The Senate Transportation Committee voted 4-3 to send the measure (Senate Bill 108) to the Finance Committee. All Democratic members voted for it, and all Republican members voted against it.
If it passes the Finance Committee, the measure will have to be reviewed by another committee before it would make it to the full Senate for a vote. In the meantime, sponsor Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, said he would continue to meet with Republican leaders to try to win their support.
Under the bill, the owners of passenger cars and many sport utility vehicles would have to pay an extra $32 next year and then $41 the following year. The owners of larger vehicles and trucks would pay more according to their weight.
Those registration fees would be tied to inflation and start increasing from there in 2011.
Rental car users would also have to pay $2 a day to support the construction work, and overweight permits for trucks would be doubled.
The aim is to bring in about $250 million a year to repair the state’s worst bridges and highways.
Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, said she supported finding new money to pay for transportation but doesn’t want to ask taxpayers to pay more during the recession.
“I just have to come down on the side of the citizens who are struggling with their family budgets,” she said.
Rental car companies and the trucking industry oppose the current version of the bill. Contractors support it, saying it would help create thousands of jobs for laid-off workers.
The proposal also opens the door for drivers to pay more for transportation in the future. It would allow tolling on existing state highways and would set up a study to charge drivers based on the number of miles they drive.
Republicans unsuccessfully tried to remove that study from the bill, saying it would discriminate against people who travel long distances because they live in rural areas or who must commute from suburbs into the city.
Rep. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, said gas tax revenue isn’t keeping up with the cost of road repairs, and 10 other states, including Oregon, are looking at charging based on miles traveled as a possible solution.
