As the legislature wraps up its 120-day session this week, ruling Democrats are working to undermine the will of Colorado voters — before they even vote — on a much-needed ballot proposal to fund the state’s roads.

House Bill 26-1430 attempts to preempt a pending ballot initiative that would make lawmakers use transportation dollars on the highways and roads they were supposed to fund all along.

Initiative 175 — whose supporters are now gathering signatures from the public to place the proposal on the fall ballot — would direct $700 million in current revenue from transportation-related taxes and fees to roads, highways and bridges. 

In anticipation, the lawmakers’ treacherous HB 1430 would cut those very gas taxes and vehicle fees by that same $700 million. The bill is sponsored by Democratic Reps. Andrew Boesenecker of Fort Collins and Emily Sirota of Denver, and Democratic Sens. William Lindstedt of Broomfield and Judy Amabile of Boulder.

A real tax cut would be welcome, of course. This faux tax cut undermine is a money grab in disguise that would keep roads underfunded. 

“By moving this bill now, legislators are telling Coloradans their votes don’t matter,” said Tony Milo, president and CEO of the Colorado Contractors Association, which authored 175. “If politicians can rewrite the rules to get around a citizen initiative for road funding before it even reaches the ballot, they’re not just undermining transportation policy, they’re overriding the will of the voters and setting a dangerous precedent for every future statewide campaign.”

The bill’s sponsors insist they’re willing to talk with 175’s proponents about fixing our roads — but only if they withdraw their initiative.

That sounds an awful lot like Boesenecker and Co. are making voters an offer they can’t refuse. Some are calling it outright blackmail. And so it is.

Initiative 175 only came about because the legislature can’t be trusted to fund roads adequately. Lawmakers would rather fund mass transit and environmental mitigation projects — neglecting the roads and highways that are the backbone of our state’s transportation grid.

HB 1430 will slash the revenue sources protected by Initiative 175, should it pass, shrinking the total pot of highway funds while enabling lawmakers to keep TABOR surplus money they’d otherwise have to give back to taxpayers.

Meaning, no road improvements or TABOR refunds, either.

Asked if Gov. Jared Polis would sign such a bill, a spokesman told The Gazette: “The price of gas is now over $4 a gallon thanks to President Trump and his war on Iran. Of course, the governor would support a bill to cut taxes and save Coloradans money, and that includes cutting the gas tax while protecting the state budget.” 

Oh, please. You could almost see the governor’s trademark smirk. Polis has always relished chances to claim the mantle of the “tax cutting Democrat” — and never has cared about roads.

On his watch, Colorado’s highways have fallen to #42 in the nation from #36 in 2019, according to the Reason Foundation, with rural and urban interstate pavement conditions ranking #46 and #45.

Coloradans will continue to be bottlenecked on pothole-pitted highways that mass transit can’t address. Then again, does Polis — ferried around by plane, helicopter or state trooper-chauffeured SUV — even know what gridlock feels like?

Fresh off robbing our TABOR refunds through other devious legislation, lawmakers now want to rob the voters of their vote by rendering a popular ballot issue moot.

It seems our legislators can’t stand the public thinking they know how to spend their own tax dollars better than the enlightened philosopher kings under the Golden Dome.