Colorado lawmakers reach the halfway mark of the legislative session

DENVER -- The 2017 session of the Colorado legislature is at the halfway point and lawmakers still have a lot they want to accomplish.

Marianne Goodland, the capitol reporter for the Colorado Independent, says months of negotiations have led to a transportation funding plan that voters may get a chance to decide in November.

“The bill intends to ask voters in November for a hike in our state’s sales tax, right now it’s at 2.9 percent. If voters approved this it would go to 3.52 percent and raise about $667 million,” Goodland told Anne Trujillo on this week’s Politics Unplugged. “They can bond against that and they want to raise about $3.5 billion in bonds to pay for a backlog of transportation projects.”

What lawmakers still need to do is balance the budget. Goodland says that could be a challenge after new revenue projections come out later this week.

“What I’m hearing at the capitol may cause them to have to come and find more money because they have to cover a budget gap,” Goodland said. “The budget the governor introduced back in November had a $500 million gap and I’m told that gap is going to get bigger with this next March revenue forecast.” 

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Politics Unplugged airs Sundays at 4 p.m. on Denver7.