Only weeks after a Ritter administration panel talked of doubling the state gasoline tax and raising vehicle-registration fees to pay for transportation, legislative Republicans are proposing to secure and expand highway funding--without hiking taxes or fees.

In a transportation plan unveiled today , Senate and House Republicans would stop annual legislative raids on transportation funding by asking voters to protect all auto-related sales tax revenue in the state's constitution for use on transportation.

"That is the only sure way to prevent the General Assembly from siphoning off the money that is supposed to be going to highways," said Senate Republican leader Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs. "We have to end the highway robbery, not only because it is the right thing to do but also because the public is in no mood to fork over even more than it already does."