Colorado voters in November will face a ballot measure that would require state agencies to spend all motor vehicle and gas tax revenue on fixing the state’s roads, the said Tuesday.
The measure, which was submitted as Initiative 175, would cement road-spending requirements in the state constitution and divert more than $500 million a year from other priorities. It would also reduce the amount of money now set aside for transit and other non-road uses.
The proponents of the initiative, which include construction industry groups, submitted the required number of valid signatures from each state Senate district to appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot, with a total of 143,112 valid signatures, state elections division officials confirmed.
Because the measure would change Colorado’s constitution, the petitions were required to include at least 2% of the total registered electors in each Senate district, in addition to the 124,238 total signature threshold for all proposed initiatives.
Voters will decide whether state revenue collected from transportation-related sources should be used only on “road transportation,” defined as building and fixing roads and bridges, improving driver safety, covering road planning and engineering costs, and funding the Colorado State Patrol.
If the measure passes, motor vehicle sales tax and gas tax revenues, and two-thirds of the taxes on sales of vehicle parts, would go into the state’s Highway Users Tax Fund. The would spend 60% of the funds. County and municipal governments would spend 40%.
In recent months, state lawmakers and transportation advocates appealed unsuccessfully to the backers of Initiative 175 to drop the measure. In the final days of the legislative session last month, lawmakers passed a bill that will rework some state funding and reduce the gasoline tax if voters pass the measure in an attempt to neutralize its effects on the state budget.
The new law also includes the creation of a road repair and maintenance enterprise funded by fees on oversized vehicles — an addition that was intended to try to mollify the initiative’s supporters.
