(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that: (a) The rapid growth of the economy of this state has prompted new and ever-increasing uses of public highways, roads, and other transportation infrastructure, and the existing transportation infrastructure of this state cannot accommodate such greatly increased uses; (b) One of the major concerns of the citizens of this state is the ability of the state and local governments to address the long-term transportation infrastructure needs of this state that are critical to the continued growth of the state's economy and the maintenance of citizens' quality of life; (c) In an attempt to address this concern, the state has significantly increased the amount of state revenues available in recent years to fund critical, priority transportation infrastructure needs, but current transportation funding mechanisms do not provide adequate revenues to keep pace with the increasing demands on transportation infrastructure statewide; (d) By utilizing revenue anticipation notes for the financing of transportation projects that may be financed, in whole or in part, with federal transportation funds, a significant amount of up-front revenues can be generated for such federal aid transportation projects which will enable the state to design and construct such transportation projects without using revenues available for other important transportation projects; (e) Utilizing revenue anticipation notes to finance federal aid transportation projects also results in significant cost savings to the state, since such transportation projects can be completed at present-day costs and at an accelerated pace, but the state needs to be able to act quickly to issue revenue anticipation notes in order to realize these cost savings; and (f) It is reasonable and necessary to utilize revenue anticipation notes for the financing of federal aid transportation projects. (2) The general assembly further finds and declares that: (a) The current and long-standing process of funding the transportation infrastructure needs of the state, which involves the continuous appropriation of certain state revenues to the department of transportation by the general assembly and the annual allocation of state and federal funds to specific projects and purposes by the transportation commission, is intended to ensure that such funding decisions are based on annual determinations of revenue availability and transportation infrastructure needs statewide; (b) Making the payment of revenue anticipation notes issued in accordance with this part 7 subject to annual allocation by the transportation commission is equivalent to making such payments subject to annual legislative appropriation, since the annual allocation process requires the transportation commission to make the same annual budgeting decisions that the general assembly makes through the appropriation process; (c) Revenue anticipation notes issued in accordance with the provisions of this part 7 that evidence the right to receive payments in subsequent fiscal years contingent upon funds for such payments being allocated on an annual basis in the sole discretion of the transportation commission do not constitute "a debt by loan in any form" under section 3 of article XI of the state constitution based upon the Colorado supreme court's decision in Submission of Interrogatories on House Bill 99-1325, Case No. 99SA108 (April 23, 1999), since the notes are not a legally enforceable obligation against the state in future years and the annual allocation of such funds for the payment of such notes is in the sole discretion of the transportation commission; and (d) In accordance with the Colorado supreme court decision in Submission of Interrogatories on House Bill 99-1325, Case No. 99SA108 (April 23, 1999), the proceeds of any transportation revenue anticipation notes issued in accordance with this part 7 are not included in state fiscal year spending for purposes of section 20 of article X of the state constitution and article 77 of title 24, C.R.S.
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