Colorado Transportation Bond Issue (2021)

Colorado Transportation Bond Issue
Election date November 2, 2021
Topic Bond issues
Status Not on the ballot
Type Bond issue	Origin State Legislature

The Colorado Transportation Bond Issue was not on the ballot in Colorado as a legislatively referred bond question on November 2, 2021.

On June 17, 2021, Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) signed a transportation funding package bill, Senate Bill 260, which included a provision that removed the bond issue from the 2021 ballot.

Overview

What would the bond issue have done?

See also: Measure design

The bond measure would have authorized the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to issue transportation revenue anticipation notes (TRANs)—a specific type of bond debt—in the amount of $1.337 billion with no increase to any taxes. The maximum repayment cost of the bond debt would have been $1.865 billion, to be repaid fully within 20 years. Bond revenue would have been allocated 85% to the State Highway Fund and 15% to the Multimodal Transportation Options Fund. Proceeds would have been required to be used for qualified federal aid transportation projects deignated for tier 1 funding in the department of tranportation's strategic transportation project investment program. At least 25% of funds would have needed to be spent on projects in counties with populations of 50,000 or less as of July 2015. As of July 2015, 49 of Colorado's 64 counties had populations below 50,000.

If the 2021 bond issue measure passed, transfers from the State General Fund to the State Highway Fund from 2023 to 2040 would have been increased from $50 million to $79.5 million. If the measure was approved, $500 million of lease-purchase agreements under current law would have been canceled. Lease-purchase agreements are sales of state property to private investors in which the investor immediately leases the buildings back to the state, which assumes ownership of the buildings again after a 20-year period. The cancellation of the final lease-purchase agreement was expected to increase state transportation revenue by about $840 million. State-funded payments on the lease-purchase agreements would have been limited to a maximum yearly amount of $112.5 million.

Why was this measure put on the ballot and later removed from the ballot?

See also: Path to the ballot, Background, and Colorado 2018 ballot measures

Two citizen initiatives, Proposition 109 ("Fix Our Damn Roads") and Proposition 110 ("Let's Go Colorado") appeared on the 2018 general election ballot in Colorado and were both defeated. The measures were designed to authorize bonds for transportation projects. The Colorado State Legislature passed Senate Bill 1 in 2018, which was designed to present a transportation bond issue to voters on the 2019 ballot in the case that the 2018 citizen initiatives failed.

The 2019 bond measure was delayed to the 2020 ballot through Senate Bill 19-263, which was signed into law in May 2019. Legislators had concerns that the bond issue appearing on the 2019 ballot alongside Proposition CC (which was designed to allow the state to retain revenue for transportation purposes) could cause both measures to fail. The measure was delayed to the 2021 ballot through House Bill 20-1376 (signed into law in June 2020) due to the economic concerns surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic.

On June 17, 2021, Colorado Governor [[Jared Polis] (D) signed a transportation funding package bill, Senate Bill 260, which included a provision that removed the bond issue from the 2021 ballot.

Measure design

Conditional provisions

Approval of this measure would have required the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to issue transportation revenue anticipation notes (TRANs)—a specific type of bond debt—in the amount of $1.337 billion ($1,337,000,000) with no increase to any taxes. The TRANs would have been issued in three tranches of $445.7 million between FY 2021-22 and FY 2023-24. Of the $1.337 billion, 85% would have gone to the State Highway Fund, managed by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), to fund certain projects that qualify for federal aid.

A quarter of the funds going to the State Highway Fund would have been required to be used for projects within counties with a population of 50,000 or less as of July 2015. The remaining 15% of the TRANs revenue would have gone to the Multimodal Transportation Options Fund. Multimodal projects are defined as "capital or operating costs for fixed-route and on-demand transit, transportation demand management programs, multimodal mobility projects enabled by new technology, multimodal transportation studies, and bicycle or pedestrian projects." The maximum repayment cost of the TRANs debt would have been $1.865 billion ($1,865,000,000), and it would have to be repaid fully within 20 years.

If the 2021 bond issue measure was placed on the ballot and approvrd, transfers from the State General Fund to the State Highway Fund from 2023 to 2040 would have been increased from $50 million to $79.5 million. If the measure was put on the ballot and failed, transfers would have remained at $50 million annually. If the measure was passed, $500 million of lease-purchase agreements scheduled under state law for FY 2021-22 would have been canceled.

Counties with less than 50,000 people as of 2015

A quarter of the bond revenue going to the State Highway Fund would have been required to be used for projects within counties with a population of 50,000 or less as of July 2015. As of 2015, 49 of Colorado's 64 counties had populations of less than 50,000. Those counties are shaded in orange in the map below.

Unconditional provisions

House Bill 1376, the bill that moved the measure to the 2021 ballot, contained provisions that were designed to take effect whether or not the measure was approved by voters:

• cancel scheduled transfers of $50 million from the General Fund to the State Highway Fund in FY 2020-21 and FY 2021-22;
• decrease General Fund expenditures for lease payments by $12 million in FY 2020-21 and FY 2021-22 and increases State Highway Fund expenditures for lease payments by $12 million; and
• repeal the requirement under Senate Bill 19-239 that the Department of Transportation (CDOT) create rules and issue a final report regarding the impacts of new and emerging transportation technologies.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for the bond issue would have been as follows:

“

Shall state of Colorado debt be increased $1,337,000,000, with a maximum repayment cost of $1,865,000,000, without raising taxes, through the issuance of transportation revenue anticipation notes for the purpose of addressing critical priority transportation needs in the state by financing transportation projects, shall note proceeds and investment earnings on note proceeds be excluded from state fiscal year spending limits, and shall the amount of lease-purchase agreements required by current law to be issued for the purpose of financing transportation projects be reduced?

”

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2018

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The State legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure. The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 22, and the FRE is 13. The word count for the ballot title is 81, and the estimated reading time is 21 seconds. The FKGL for the ballot summary is grade level N/A, and the FRE is N/A. The word count for the ballot summary is N/A, and the estimated reading time is N/A. In 2018, for the 167 statewide measures on the ballot, the average ballot title or question was written at a level appropriate for those with between 19 and 20 years of U.S. formal education (graduate school-level of education), according to the FKGL formula. Read Ballotpedia's entire 2018 ballot language readability report here.

Full text

The full text of House Bill 20-1376 can be read here.

Background

CDOT reports funding levels

In 2016, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) reported that from 2016 through 2040 it would need $46 billion to cover transportation costs, which included $20 billion in projects to expand transportation infrastructure. The CDOT estimated that from 2016 through 2025, it would need $19 billion, with $8.6 billion of that going toward expansion. The anticipated funding levels for the CDOT at that time were $21.1 billion for the 25-year period and $10.2 billion for the 10-year period, leaving a funding discrepancy of $24.9 billion over 25 years and $8.8 billion over the following ten years, respectively.

2018 citizen initiatives

See also: Colorado 2018 ballot measures

Two citizen initiatives related to transportation funding and bond issues were on the 2018 ballot:

• One initiative was designed to authorize $3.5 billion in transportation revenue anticipation notes (TRANs) with a total repayment cost of $5.2 billion. It would have been repaid through the allocation of an estimated $350 million per year from the state's general fund. This initiative was sponsored by the Independence Institute.

• The other initiative, which had the backing of the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, was designed to issue between $3.72 billion and $9 billion in TRANs and repay the debt through a sales tax increase.

Both were defeated.

2018 compromise (Senate Bill 1)

Senate Bill 1 was approved by the legislature in the last days of the 2018 legislative session. Two initiatives, Proposition 109 ("Fix Our Damn Roads") and Proposition 110 ("Let's Go Colorado") appeared on the 2018 general election ballot in Colorado. Both measures were defeated.

Proposition 109 was designed to authorize $3.5 billion in bonds to fund statewide transportation projects including bridge expansion, construction, maintenance, and repairs, and require that the state repay the debt from the general fund without raising taxes.

Proposition 110 was designed to authorize $6 billion in bonds to fund transportation projects, establish the Transportation Revenue Anticipation Notes Citizen Oversight Committee, and raise the state sales tax rate by 0.62 percent from 2.9 percent (2018) to 3.52 percent for 20 years starting on January 1, 2019, through January 1, 2039.

SB 1 included different budget allocation and bond issue scenarios in response to whether...

• A: neither citizen initiative issuing TRANs was approved in 2018 (which turned out to be the case);
• B: an initiative to issue TRANs but without a tax increase (Proposition 109) or both initiatives were passed by voters in 2018; or
• C: an initiative to issue TRANs and increase taxes (Proposition 110) to fund the repayment of the notes was passed by voters in 2018.

The different scenarios involve the lease-purchase agreement funding provided by SB 267 in 2017, which is summarized below.

• In scenario (c), in which Proposition 110 (an initiative to issue TRANs with a tax increase to repay the TRANs debt) was passed, no 2019 referral would have taken place, and SB 1 would have dictated the allocation of $50 million per year to the State Highway Fund. The lease-purchase agreement funding provided by SB 267 in 2017 would have stayed in place.
• In scenario (b), in which Proposition 109 (an initiative to issue TRANs but without a tax increase is passed) or both were passed, no 2019 referral would have taken place, and SB 1 would have dictated the allocation of the $100 million per year from SB 267 (2017) to the repayment of the TRANs debt instead of pursuing the final three lease-purchase agreement batches of $500 million each.

• Since neither citizen initiative was approved in November 2018, Senate Bill 1 required the proposed $2.337 billion bond issue to go before voters in November 2019. In May 2019, the state legislature passed SB 19-263, which moved the measure to the November 2020 and made amendments including lowering the amount of TRANs to be issued and, in the case of approval, repeal two rather than three $500 million lease-purchase agreements. One of the following two scenarios would then occur:
  • bond issue approved: the provisions specific to the TRANs debt outlined in SB1 and amended by SB 263 would be enacted— $1.837 billion of TRANs would be authorized and two of three installments of the lease-purchase agreement funding provided by SB 267 in 2017 (with a value of up to $500 million each) would be repealed.
  • bond issue rejected, the lease-purchase agreement funding provided by SB 267 in 2017 would stay in place, and an additional $50 million would be transferred from the general fund to the State Highway Fund annually for 21 years.

Lease-purchase agreements (Senate Bill 267 in 2017)

In 2017, the state legislature passed Senate Bill 267 allowing for four installments of $500 million in lease-purchase agreements (totaling $2 billion). A lease-purchase agreement is a financing mechanism that uses mortgages on state-owned property. Under the agreements, the state is required to sell buildings valued at $500 million. The purchaser then leases the building back to the state for 20 years, at which point, ownership of the building returns to the state. About $1.88 billion of the total proposed lease-purchase agreement amounts from Senate bill 267 were earmarked for transportation, and SB 267 also allocated $100 million in general fund revenue to the repayment of the lease-purchase agreements. If the 2021 measure passes, $500 million of lease-purchase agreements scheduled under current law for FY 2021-22 would be canceled. The cancellation of the final lease-purchase agreement was expected to increase state transportation revenue by about $840 million.

Differences between SB 18-01, SB 19-263, and HB 20-1376

The measure was initially proposed in Senate Bill 18-01, which was passed by the state legislature during the 2018 legislative session. The measure was set to appear on the November 2019 ballot. The measure was delayed to the 2020 ballot and altered through Senate Bill 19-263, which was signed into law in May 2019. The measure was delayed to the 2021 ballot and altered through House Bill 20-1376, which was signed into law in June 2020. The following chart shows how the bond issue measure has changed with each bill.

Provision	SB 18-01	SB 19-263	HB 20-1376
Election year	2019	2020	2021
Bond amount	$2.337 billion	$1.837 billion	$1.337 billion
Repayment cost (20 years)	$3.250 billion	$2.560 billion	$1.865 billion
Annual general fund to highway fund transfers for debt repayment	$50 million (FY 2019-20 through Fy 2038-39)	$72.6 million (FY 2019-20 through FY 2038-39)	$79.5 million (FY 2023-24 through FY 2039-40)
Lease purchase agreements	Repeal agreements for FY 20, 21, and 22 ($1.5 billion)	Repeal agreements for FY 21 and 22 ($1 billion)	Repeal agreements for FY 22 ($500 million)

Past bond issues in Colorado

See also: Bond issues on the ballot

Following is a comprehensive list of bond issue measures appearing on the statewide ballot in Colorado from 1910 to 2018:

• Colorado Bonded Indebtedness to Pay Outstanding Warrants, Referendum 1 (1910)
• Colorado Bonded Indebtedness for State Highways, Measure 31 (1912)
• Colorado Moffat, Monarch and San Juan Tunnels, Measure 5 (1920)
• Colorado Bonds for Public Highways, Measure 8 (1920)
• Colorado Bonds for Public Highways, Measure 1 (1922)
• Colorado Bonds for Pay Bonus for Soldiers and Sailors, Measure 2 (1924)
• Colorado Bonds for Highway Construction, Measure 4 (1928)
• Colorado Prison Spending, Referendum A (1995)
• Colorado State Transportation Project Financing, Referendum A (1999)
• Colorado GOCO Bonds for Open Space, Referendum A (2001)
• Colorado Water Projects Bond, Referendum A (2003)
• Colorado State Borrowing Act, Referendum D (2005)
• Colorado Proposition 109, "Fix Our Damn Roads" Transportation Bond Initiative (2018)
• Colorado Proposition 110, "Let's Go Colorado" Transportation Bond and Sales Tax Increase Initiative (2018)

Path to the ballot

Senate Bill 1 of 2018

This measure was proposed in Senate Bill 1, which was passed by the state legislature during the 2018 legislative session. The bill proposed multiple provisions concerning transportation funding. One of the provisions was designed to require this bond referral on the ballot in November 2019 since no citizen initiative designed to issue transportation revenue anticipation notes (TRANs) was approved in 2018.

Senate Bill 1 was introduced on January 10, 2018. The Senate passed the measure unanimously as amended on March 28, 2018. The Senate version proposed a 2018 bond election date and an amount of $3.5 billion. The House amended the proposal to push the election date back to November 2019 contingent on the whether or not a citizen initiative to issue TRANs was approved in November 2018, and approved the amended version 36-29 on May 8, 2018, and the Senate unanimously concurred with the amendments the same day and was sent to the governor's office for his signature. The governor signed the bill on May 31, 2018.

2018 vote on Senate Bill 1:

Vote in the Colorado House of Representatives May 8, 2018
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 33  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	36	29	0
Total percent	55.38%	44.62%	0.00%
Democrat	36	0	0
Republican	0	29	0

Vote in the Colorado State Senate May 8, 2018
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 18  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	35	0	0
Total percent	100%	0%	0%
Democrat	16	0	0
Republican	18	0	0
Independent	1	0	0

Senate Bill 263 of 2019

This measure was originally certified for the 2019 ballot, but Senate Bill 263 proposed to move the measure to the 2020 ballot. The vote on SB 263 in the Senate was 32-3 and 49-14 in the House. In the Senate, all three no votes came from Republican Senators. In the House, Republicans were split with 11 voting in favor and 13 voting against. Thirty-nine of 41 House Democrats voted in favor except for two Democratic Representatives who were excused from voting.

Concerning the election date change, Democratic Senator Rachel Zenzinger mentioned the TABOR-related transportation funding measure which was referred to the 2019 ballot, saying, "If we were to move forward this year (with the bonding measure), the same thing we saw last fall — with two competing ballot measures on transportation — would sink them both."

2019 vote on Senate Bill 263:

Vote in the Colorado House of Representatives May 2, 2019
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 33  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	49	14	2
Total percent	75.38%	21.53%	3.07%
Democrat	39	0	2
Republican	10	14	0

Vote in the Colorado State Senate May 2, 2019
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 18  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	32	3	0
Total percent	91.42%	8.57%	0.00%
Democrat	19	0	0
Republican	13	3	0

2020 vote to delay measure to 2021 election (HB 1376)

House Bill 20-1376, signed into law in 2020, was designed to delay the measure to the November 2021 ballot instead of the November 2020 ballot and make other changes, including reducing the amount of bonds to be issued by $500 million.

On June 10, 2020, the Colorado State Senate voted 23-11 to pass the bill. All yes votes came from Democratic senators. Of the 16 Republican senators, 11 voted against, four voted in favor, and one was excused. The House approved the bill in a vote of 33-27 on June 12, 2020. Governor Jared Polis (D) signed the bill on June 30, 2020. All 33 yes votes came from Democratic representatives. Of the 27 no votes, six came from Democrats and 21 came from Republicans.

Vote in the Colorado State Senate June 10, 2020
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 18  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	23	11	1
Total percent	65.7%%	31.4%%	2.8%%
Democrat	19	0	0
Republican	4	11	1

Vote in the Colorado House of Representatives June 12, 2020
Requirement: Simple majority vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 33  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	33	27	5
Total percent	50.77%%	41.54%%	7.69%%
Democrat	33	6	2
Republican	0	21	3

Removal from ballot, 2021

On June 17, 2021, Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) signed a transportation funding package bill, Senate Bill 260, which included a provision that removed the bond issue from the 2021 ballot.

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Colorado

Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in Colorado.

How to cast a vote in Colorado

Poll times In Colorado, polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time for those who choose to vote in person rather than by mail. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote. Registration requirements Check your voter registration status here. In Colorado, an individual can pre-register to vote if they are at least 15 years old. Voters must be at least 18 years old to vote in any election. A voter must be a citizen of the United States and have established residence in Colorado to vote. Colorado voters can register to vote through Election Day. However, in order to automatically receive a absentee/mail-in ballot, a voter must register online, through the mail, at a voter registration agency, or driver's license examination facility at least eight days prior to Election Day. A voter that registers through a voter registration drive must submit their application no later than 22 days before the election to automatically receive an absentee/mail-in ballot. A voter can register online or submit a form in person or by fax, email, or mail. Automatic registration See also: Automatic voter registration Colorado automatically registers eligible individuals to vote through the Department of Motor Vehicles and certain other state agencies. Online registration See also: Online voter registration Colorado has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website. Same-day registration See also: Same-day voter registration Colorado allows same-day voter registration for individuals who vote in person. Residency requirements Colorado law requires 22 days of residency in the state before a person may vote. Verification of citizenship See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States Colorado does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual applying to register to vote must attest that they are a U.S. citizen under penalty of perjury. All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters. Verifying your registration The site Go Vote Colorado, run by the Colorado Secretary of State office, allows residents to check their voter registration status online. Voter ID requirements Colorado requires voters to present non-photo identification when voting in person. If voting by mail for the first, a voter may also need to return a photocopy of his or her identification with their mail-in ballot. Click here for more information. The following list of accepted forms of identification was current as of August 2025. Click here for the most current information, sourced directly from the Office of the Colorado Secretary of State. “ The following documents are acceptable forms of identification: A valid Colorado driver’s license or valid identification card issued by the Colorado Department of Revenue. (Note: documents issued to not lawfully present and temporarily lawfully present individuals under Part 5 of Article 2 of Title 42, C.R.S. are not acceptable forms of identification.) A valid U.S. passport. A valid employee identification card with a photograph of the eligible elector issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. government or of Colorado, or by any county, municipality, board, authority, or other political subdivision of Colorado. A valid pilot’s license issued by the federal aviation administration or other authorized agency of the U.S. A valid U.S. military identification card with a photograph of the eligible elector. A copy of a current (within the last 60 days) utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the elector. A Certificate of Degree of Indian or Alaskan Native Blood. A valid Medicare or Medicaid card issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. A certified copy of a U.S. birth certificate for the elector. Certified documentation of naturalization. A valid student identification card with a photograph of the eligible elector issued by an institute of higher education in Colorado, as defined in section 23-3.1-102(5), C.R.S.. A valid veteran identification card issued by the U.S. department of veterans affairs veterans health administration with a photograph of the eligible elector. A valid identification card issued by a federally recognized tribal government certifying tribal membership. Any form of identification listed above that shows your address must show a Colorado address to qualify as an acceptable form of identification. The following documents are also considered acceptable forms of identification for voting: Verification that a voter is a resident of a group residential facility, as defined in section 1-1-104(18.5), C.R.S. Verification that a voter is a person committed to the department of human services and confined and eligible to register and vote shall be considered sufficient identification of such person for the purposes of section 1-2-210.5, C.R.S. Written correspondence from the county sheriff or his or her designee to the county clerk indicating that a voter is confined in a county jail or detention facility. ” Note: SB 1, signed into law on May 12, 2025, specified that tribal IDs issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Indian Health Service, or another federal agency were also valid identification. }}

See also

2021 measures

• 2021 ballot measures
• Bond issues on the ballot

Colorado

• Colorado ballot measures
• Colorado ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Senate Bill 18-001
• Senate Bill 19-263
• House Bill 20-1376
• Senate Bill 17-267
• Colorado Transportation Handbook, 2020
• Colorado 20-year transportation plan (updated August 2020)