Indiana Commits More Than $1 Billion for Transportation

Indiana’s Legislature got creative in allocating more than $1 billion for transportation in an election year as its 2016 session ended on March 10.

Legislators also managed to hold the line against tax increases opposed by Republican Gov. Mike Pence, the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic minority in the House.

Here’s how the lawmakers came up with the money:

• $430 million made available to localities from local option income taxes being held in reserve by the state. In a nod to Indiana’s agricultural community, half of that $430 million must go to counties with populations of less than 50,000.

• $228 million from long-standing excess state reserves.

• $186 million from 2016 excess reserves.

• $100 million from the Major Moves 2020 Trust Fund.

• $68 million from increasing the yield from fuel taxes from a penny to 1.5 cents per gallon.

“It’s been a long journey, even though it was a short session,” Indiana Motor Transport Association CEO Gary Langston said. “I’m encouraged by the fact the Legislature was able to work together with so many different proposals and come to an agreement on an amount of money that is going to significantly help support Indiana’s infrastructure going into the 2017 budget session, where we will revive the conservation and find ways for even more resources [for transportation].”

The House passed the bill 91-5 while the Senate issued a near-similar 46-4 approval as House Roads and Transportation Committee Chairman Ed Soliday, who had the support of Speaker Brian Bosma and IMTA, geared up to resume the battle for his proposed tax increases on fuel and cigarettes after the election this November. Soliday termed House Bill 1001 and Senate Bill 67 “the next step in the path to a long-range, sustainable road funding plan.”

Langston said he expects that Soliday’s efforts will get a boost from a just-formed transportation task force, Funding Indiana’s Roads for a Stronger, Safer Tomorrow, that includes both proposed tax increases and is charged with reporting back to Pence late this year.