Colorado lawmakers pass hospitals, roads bill in final stretch

The governor is expected to sign the ambitious bill.

DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s Legislature has passed an ambitious bill to spare hospitals severe budget cuts while generating $1.8 billion for transportation.

The House on Wednesday sent the complex legislation to the governor, who’s expected to sign it.

The bill was initiated by GOP Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg. In a break from Republican orthodoxy, Sonnenberg exempted from state income limits payments that hospitals make to obtain federal matching funds.

Those funds are crucial to rural hospitals’ survival. And the need was acute this year: Colorado hospitals stood to lose $528 million because of cuts in those subsidies that were made to balance the state’s $26.8 billion budget.

By increasing recreational marijuana taxes and leasing state buildings, the bill also raises $1.8 billion for roads over the next 20 years. It’s the only roads funding measure this session. Both parties’ leaders had deemed transportation a top priority this year.

The Legislative session ends Wednesday.

— The Associated Press