By John Ingold The Denver Post
Posted: 02/24/2009 07:48:32 PM MST
Senate Bill 108, known as FASTER, won initial approval in the House, over the objections of every House Republican and four Democrats, including the House majority leader. It must still receive another vote in the House.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, urged his colleagues to pass the bill, saying it is critical the state invest money to repair its aging infrastructure. He said the work generated by the bill would preserve as many as 8,000 jobs in Colorado and generate new ones.
"The cost to doing nothing is much greater than the cost of this bill," Rice said. " Things wear out. The infrastructure wears out. This is an important part of the solution. It's something we can do now."
Republicans, meanwhile, continued to blast at the bill's registration fee increases and complained that their suggestions to fix the bill went unheard.
"We have a fundamental difference that this is a fee bill instead of a broader bill," House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, said. " We don't have a solution together for Colorado. We have a bill that we feel like we have had minimal input on the process."
State representatives Tuesday argued into the evening over the bill, and the vote on the bill followed a by now familiar pattern for FASTER, which sponsors once hoped would be a bi-partisan effort but has seen a string of largely party-line votes since it was introduced.
Lawmakers from the two parties squabbled over registration fees, rental car fees, mass transit funding, eminent domain, tolling and just about any other issue the bill potentially touches in an exhaustive debate that lasted several hours.
Things got so contentious that Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, offered an amendment out of frustration that "no one shall have any power to charge anybody anything to support the transportation system."
"Let's vote yes and go home," Pommer joked.
FASTER would ultimately raise vehicle registration fees by $41 for the average car — an amendment Tuesday phases in the fee increase over three years instead of two — generating more than $250 million a year for road and bridge fixes. The bill would also charge a $2-a-day fee on rental cars and would give local governments the authority to put tolls on existing roads if the governments get the buy-in of all communities that would be impacted by the tolls.
In one of the more bi-partisan moments of the debate, a group of Democrats and Republicans fought unsuccessfully to take the tolling provision out of the bill. Rep. Edward Casso, D-Thornton, said Colorado residents shouldn't have to pay to use roads they've already paid for with taxes.
But Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, said the debate over FASTER shows the state has not adequately paid for its existing roads and bridges.
"We've got to be creative with how we fund our transportation system," she said.
Posted: 02/24/2009 07:48:32 PM MST
I think we were hoping for a headline more along the lines of "Disaster Averted! House Rescues Failing Bridges." Oh, well.A major bill to raise annual vehicle registration fees to pay for road and bridge improvements squeaked through another vote today at the state Capitol.
Senate Bill 108, known as FASTER, won initial approval in the House, over the objections of every House Republican and four Democrats, including the House majority leader. It must still receive another vote in the House.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, urged his colleagues to pass the bill, saying it is critical the state invest money to repair its aging infrastructure. He said the work generated by the bill would preserve as many as 8,000 jobs in Colorado and generate new ones.
"The cost to doing nothing is much greater than the cost of this bill," Rice said. " Things wear out. The infrastructure wears out. This is an important part of the solution. It's something we can do now."
Republicans, meanwhile, continued to blast at the bill's registration fee increases and complained that their suggestions to fix the bill went unheard.
Unheard? We listened to them ranting about the bill for hours. Personally I think it's an awful bill, but not for the reason most Republicans opposed it. They seem to think we can maintain the transportation system for free. We can't. But we should do a better job of managing it before we impose a regressive fee to repair it.
"We have a fundamental difference that this is a fee bill instead of a broader bill," House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, said. " We don't have a solution together for Colorado. We have a bill that we feel like we have had minimal input on the process."
They wanted to spend General Fund money on transportation. That would mean cutting higher ed, K-12, Judiciary, or some other service. And they would oppose those cuts, I assume, since they opposed a lot of the cuts this year.
State representatives Tuesday argued into the evening over the bill, and the vote on the bill followed a by now familiar pattern for FASTER, which sponsors once hoped would be a bi-partisan effort but has seen a string of largely party-line votes since it was introduced.
Lawmakers from the two parties squabbled over registration fees, rental car fees, mass transit funding, eminent domain, tolling and just about any other issue the bill potentially touches in an exhaustive debate that lasted several hours.
Things got so contentious that Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, offered an amendment out of frustration that "no one shall have any power to charge anybody anything to support the transportation system."
"Let's vote yes and go home," Pommer joked.
I don't like the bill and initially wanted to vote against it. Not because we don't need the money, but because I think we should be doing more to manage the demand for transportation.
During the debate, reps from both parties ran amendments to take away options that could pay for transportation. They opposed a fee based on the amount you drive, tolls and, of course, the registration fee that's the point of the bill. Most legislators oppose a tax increase. Yet everybody agrees the transportation system is falling apart.
FASTER would ultimately raise vehicle registration fees by $41 for the average car — an amendment Tuesday phases in the fee increase over three years instead of two — generating more than $250 million a year for road and bridge fixes. The bill would also charge a $2-a-day fee on rental cars and would give local governments the authority to put tolls on existing roads if the governments get the buy-in of all communities that would be impacted by the tolls.
In one of the more bi-partisan moments of the debate, a group of Democrats and Republicans fought unsuccessfully to take the tolling provision out of the bill. Rep. Edward Casso, D-Thornton, said Colorado residents shouldn't have to pay to use roads they've already paid for with taxes.
But Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, said the debate over FASTER shows the state has not adequately paid for its existing roads and bridges.
"We've got to be creative with how we fund our transportation system," she said.
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