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Saturday, April 02, 2011
Ind. Gov't. - "Bill would remove legislature from toll road equation"
"Lawmakers' approval would not be required" is the subhead to this front-page story today by Heather Giller of the Indianapolis Star. Some quotes:
The governor would have the sole authority to create toll roads under a bill that has been quietly advancing through the Indiana legislature.The measure, which would expire in 2015, is up for a vote in the House Roads and Transportation Committee next week. It passed the Senate 37-12 in February.
"It's that whole thing about striking while the iron is hot," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne.
Private companies are "not going to invest a million bucks into a project and then have to wait for the General Assembly to approve it," he said. "They'll go to a state where they can do it (more expediently)."
For a four-year period, the bill would allow the governor and the Indiana Department of Transportation to launch public-private projects, including creating or converting existing highways to toll roads, without the approval of the legislature. Opponents worry it would shut voters out of government deals with private companies. * * *
The requirement that lawmakers sign off on such projects was a part of Gov. Mitch Daniels' Major Moves package, approved in 2006. The project marked the beginning of the state's use of public-private partnerships to launch major road developments.
The following year, the Commerce Connector project -- Wyss' push to create a second highway loop around Indianapolis' I-465 -- drew public opposition, and Daniels urged Wyss to pull the proposal rather than put it to a vote in the House.
The idea of the governor making private highway deals without consulting other elected officials troubles Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, who held hearings on the 2007 Commerce Connector proposal. If Wyss' measure had been in effect at that time, she pointed out, the governor could have simply ignored public opposition.
"This would basically remove any General Assembly oversight whatsoever," Austin said. "He just gets to say, 'I want to do that. This is how I want to do it.' "
Under Wyss' bill, any proposal for a public-private road project would get a review -- but not a vote -- by the State Budget Agency, which includes the state budget director and one representative from each of the four caucuses: the House and Senate Republicans and Democrats. Before that, the proposal would undergo feasibility and economic impact studies, and the public could comment on it in a hearing -- all special requirements for public-private partnerships that lawmakers approved last year. * * *
The measure allowing public-private partnerships is tucked into a larger transportation bill, Senate Bill 473, and has mostly escaped public attention. It passed the Senate Feb. 22, the first full day of the House Democrats' walkout.
Wyss said he hopes the House amends out the 2015 expiration date, making the exclusion of legislators from the process permanent. The expiration date was inserted to appease lawmakers who are lukewarm to the measure, he said.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 2, 2011 12:54 PM
Posted to Indiana Government