The Senate suspended debate on the omnibus transportation bill this morning but not before making significant changes and promising to vet more amendments this afternoon.
Tolling existing roads and pilot programs to charge by miles traveled — gone.
A doubling of permit fees for Colorado’s largest commercial trucks — gone.
Automatic registration-fee increases tied to inflation — gone.
The amendments partially appeased Republicans who Tuesday said bipartisan negotiations had halted. But they succeeded on the backs of a handful of Democrats such as Denver Sen. Paula Sandoval, who voiced concern about the economic impacts.
She helped oust provisions that would boost registration fees with inflation.
“To raise them every year without discussion, I am very much against,” Sandoval said. “It’s almost adding insult to injury.”
The bill also shifted trucking fees from in-state companies to out-of-state fleets passing through Colorado.
Bill crafters lauded the changes as good-faith concessions that do not attack the heart of the proposal, dubbed FASTER.
Read much more about this story, including how high the FASTER transportation plan would raise car-registration fees at .
