JCBL Legislative Update: Transportation and Housing Costs Dominate Talks Under the Golden Dome by Jeff Weist, Jefferson County Business Lobby

Legislature’s top priorities for the 2017 legislative session should be fixing the state’s transportation

funding crisis and the construction litigation abuses that have contributed to a lack of affordable housing

options. And, in fact, those two topics have dominated discussions at the highest levels of leadership in

both the Democrat-controlled State House of Representatives and the Republican State Senate.

Colorado’s frenetic growth has lead to record unmet transportation needs as congestion worsens and

maintenance lags behind. Colorado is one of the few states not spending general funds on roads, instead

relying almost exclusively on declining state and federal gas tax revenues. One emerging proposal with a

chance for bi-partisan support would dedicate an increase in the state’s sales tax to transportation. Some

portion of the increased sales tax revenue could be used to issue bonds to front-load construction spending

in the near term. But a number of contentious issues still need to be worked out. How much of the

additional revenue should be dedicated to transit versus pavement? Will the gas tax be reduced to mitigate

some of the impact of increasing the sales tax? Will the voters even approve such tax increase? Those and

other issues have yet to be resolved and could scuttle any potential deal.

Another impact of Colorado’s strong growth is quickly rising home prices. While affordable condos and

other multi-family housing units often provide a more attainable option for many, very few such units

have been built in Colorado over the last decade because of out-of- control lawsuits against developers and

contractors. As a result, insurance for such projects are often unaffordable or even unavailable. A number

of bills – some with bi-partisan support – have been floated. Some attempt to speed the resolution of such

lawsuits through arbitration, while another seeks to reduce contractor insurance rates by streamlining the

costly defense process in a lawsuit. The only thing clear at this point is that no one bill will solve this very

complicated problem. But the legislature does have a chance to take a few small steps forward in 2017.