The top Republican priority in the 2018 legislative session debuted Tuesday and immediately met resistance from the Democratic governor.
Gov. John Hickenlooper’s administration testified against , a measure sponsored authored by Senate GOP leaders to spend $350 million in tax dollars to create a transportation bond of up to $3.5 billion.
The administration’s envoys from three state agencies testified in a Senate hearing that diverting that much tax dollars indefinitely could squeeze other government services that need money. The full-court press drew a sharp retort from the transportation committee chairman presiding at the meeting.
“It would be helpful if you gave us solutions instead of roadblocks,” said Sen. Ray Scott, R-Grand Junction.
The back-and-forth didn’t alter the predictable outcome — the Republican-led committee approved the measure on a 3-2 vote — but it bolstered suggestions that the measure will face defeat when it arrives in the Democratic-controlled House.
Democrats remain committed to asking voters for a sales tax increase to raise money to expand highways and improve roads like the failed bipartisan measure from 2017 led by House Speaker Crisanta Duran, a Denver Democrat, and Senate President Kevin Grantham, a Canon City Republican.