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Amendment 52:
Use of Severance Tax Revenue for Highways





Summary

The state legislature currently determines how severance tax revenue is spent. Severance tax is paid by companies that extract coal, natural gas and oil from Colorado soil. Amendment 52 would reallocate a portion of severance tax revenue from the Department of Natural Resources and put it toward a legislature-controlled trust fund that would give priority to highway projects without raising taxes.

Amendment 52 would allocate $90 million next year and as much as one billion over the next decade for highway and bridge projects. Several state programs would receive less money under Amendment 58. Money for water projects is expected to drop by $45 million in 2009 and other projects including wildlife conservation, low-income energy assistance, bark beetle control and soil conservation would see a total reduction of $2 million from budgeted amounts in 2009.

According to the Colorado Legislative Council, both Amendment 52 and Amendment 58 would change how the state spends severance tax revenue, but each measure proposes different uses for the money. If both pass, the courts would have to decide how these conflicting measures take effect. Amendment 58, however, does increase taxes and Amendment 52 does not.


Position:  Neutral
Provided by: Legislative Council of the Colorado General Assembly
Amendment 52 proposes amending the Colorado Constitution to:

  • require the state legislature to spend a portion of state severance tax collections on highway projects.


Vote NO on Amendment 52 if:
  • You want to leave the severance tax funding the way it currently functions.
  • You believe that giving constitutional budgeting authority for this money to the state legislature could result in the legislature selecting specific transportation projects based on political considerations.
  • You believe that Amendment 52 hurts the state’s ability to meet long-term water supply needs by shifting money away from water projects and toward highway projects.

Vote YES on Amendment 51 if:
  • You want to change the current severance tax funding to spend more on highway projects.
  • You believe that safe bridges and highways are important and we need to create a new and permanent revenue stream to fund these projects.




RMFC position:
VOTE XX
Vote NO
RMFC position:
Neutral