Denver – A proposal to invest revenue from oil and gas severance taxes for road and bridge projects has succeeded in getting on the November ballot in Colorado.
The Colorado Secretary of State's office said organizers of the measure submitted sufficient signatures to create what will be known as Amendment 52 for voters in November. If approved, severance tax funding for the Department of Natural Resources would be capped at the 2007-08 level, and the surplus collected annually would be used for transportation projects. The change would be permanent.
Proponents say the plan would create better roads without new taxes, and DNR funding would be allowed to grow with inflation. According to proponents of the measure, DNR severance tax funding grew from $16 million in 2003 to more than $85 million in 2008.
