DENVER -- Transportation will be on the agenda for lawmakers when they meet for a special session next month.

Gov. Bill Owens added transportation to the special session agenda, saying that he considered it part of the growth debate.

There's no question that more money is needed to keep up with Colorado's transportation needs, but how does the state pay for it?

Owens said that he can do it by transferring money from the general fund capital budget and by increasing the amount of sales tax that is put into transportation.

"My plan adds nearly $1 billion over the next five years to Colorado's transportation needs, while protecting education, without raising taxes," Owens said.

Senate president Stan Matsunaka, D-Loveland, has suggested a gas tax hike to pay for transportation needs. The governor said that wouldn't be wise, and started referring to him as "Senator Tax-sunaka."

Soon, Matsunaka is expected to announce plans to challenge Owens next year and called the governor's plan "a fiscal shell game." He said that it does little to address a projected $32 billion shortfall in transportation funding over the next 20 years.

Matsunaka said that the money Owens proposes to spend would come at the expense of public education and higher education. He also said the state needs to identify multiple revenue sources to build highways for a projected 6 million people by the year 2020.

The governor plans to call lawmakers into session Sept. 20 to deal with congressional redistricting, growth management and cancer treatment funding.

The session shaping up to be as contentious as the regular session and a special session in May where lawmakers failed to agree on the best way to control growth.

More Information:

• State Legislature