In an effort to jump-start long-idled transportation funding amid plummeting state revenue, Republican legislative leaders today proposed leveraging the state's considerable assets to fund backlogged upgrades to Colorado's highways. The plan's advocates say it could be used immediately to address the most pressing repairs to roads and bridges--amounting to an estimated $500 million--but also could be used to raise even more revenue to expand the state's bottlenecked transportation grid.

Senate GOP leader Josh Penry, of Grand Junction, and House Republican chief Mike May, of Parker, called the plan the only viable and "realistic" approach to funding urgent transportation needs, given a recession in which voters rejected assorted tax proposals last November and are unlikely to support a tax hike for transportation now.

"Conventional funding sources for transportation have dried up as state revenue has taken a nosedive," Penry said in remarks before a media briefing on the proposal. "Yet we cannot afford to wait. We have to try a different approach--one that's innovative, realistic and gets the job started immediately."

Noting that time is of the essence and that the legislature has "a lot of other heavy lifting to do" on this year's and next year's budgets, Penry called on colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together, embrace a transportation plan and forward it to the governor by Feb. 2.

Penry and May say many state and local governments around the country, including in Colorado, have addressed funding shortfalls by making use of the equity in government assets--like buildings--in order borrow up-front cash from investors to meet a variety of immediate and long-term needs. 

In Colorado, state and local governments have used the approach to fund large capital projects such as a new University of Colorado medical center, as well as new prisons and a number of elementary, middle, high-school and college buildings.  And Gov. Bill Ritter signed several pieces of legislation just last year using the financing method.

"This plan puts existing assets and resources to work for the traveling public," May said. "Colorado has billions of dollars in capital assets in the form of state buildings that are simply sitting idle. By leveraging these existing assets in a way that pays dividends to state taxpayers, we can attack Colorado’s transportation problems without raising taxes or imposing new fees during these difficult economic times."

Penry said tapping into state government assets is a tried, tested and proven approach that not only has been used by the state to underwrite a variety of capital projects but also has been validated by the courts.

"This is the only financing method that would immediately generate the kind of resources needed to begin addressing our road and bridge safety needs," Penry said. "Many analysts believe that if the General Assembly were to adopt a plan by the end of January, funds would be available to CDOT for construction as early as late spring or early summer of this year – providing immediate economic stimulus and job creation.