A proposal before the Colorado Senate would require the residents of the state to give up all or part of their potential tax refunds in two years to fund roads and state buildings. Voters would get the final say-so in November.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Dave Owen, R-Greeley, was approved 5-2 by the Senate Transportation Committee Feb. 10. It now heads to the full Senate for debate.

SB164 would ask voters to funnel up to $600 million a year from fiscal 2005-2006 to fiscal 2019-2020, first for transportation needs, then for building repairs.

“We’re asking people to give up their refund … to help us with our roads and, while they’re at it, to please help us with our crumbling state buildings,” Owen told The Denver Post.

Some projections show that Colorado will begin collecting more revenue than it is constitutionally allowed to keep – called a TABOR surplus – as early as fiscal 2005-06. That money would be returned to taxpayers in the form of a refund the next fiscal year unless voters decide otherwise.

Owen said road conditions were a factor in 30 percent of the fatalities in Colorado; the state has a 10-year backlog of highway projects.

“All I want to see are dollars moving into infrastructure,” he said. “And I don’t see that on the horizon” without the bill.