Governor’s wish list won’t be addressed in special session

    After more than a week of speculation, Gov. John Hickenlooper Friday, May 19, put to an end the idea that he might call lawmakers back for a special session.
    The day after lawmakers called it quits for the 2017 General Assembly, Hickenlooper raised the possibility that he could ask lawmakers to come back to deal with transportation funding, rural broadband, the Colorado Energy Office and health care transparency issues.
    But transportation was clearly at the top of the governor’s priority list.
    In January, Hickenlooper pleaded with the General Assembly to come up with a bipartisan transportation plan that would cover about $3.5 billion in road and bridge repairs, as well as transit and mobility issues. He got that solution, with a bill sponsored by the Democratic Speaker of the House, Crisanta Duran of Denver, and the Republican Senate President, Kevin Grantham of Cañon City.
    The measure would have asked voters to approve a hike in the state’s sales tax from 29 cents on a $10 purchase to 34 cents. But it never gained traction with the more conservative Republicans in the state Senate, and a committee controlled by those conservatives killed the bill in April.
    The governor did get some of the $3.5 billion he wanted for transportation funding, through passage of the bill that would save rural hospitals. That measure, backed by Rep. Jon Becker of Fort Morgan and Senate President Pro Tem Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling, puts $1.1 billion into the transportation list developed by the Colorado Department of Transportation. It also puts more than $450,000 into transportation projects for rural counties with populations of 50,000 or less.

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