The Indiana legislature finished their biennial budget-making session late last week and it was a tough one for them to wrestle with. After several years of growth and seemingly free-flowing federal dollars coming into the state, legislators had to deal with their first budget challenges in a decade. Facing a $2B projected revenue drop over the next two years, leadership was looking everywhere they could to either raise revenue or cut costs, finally coming up with a compromise that did both. Tax increases on tobacco products, including a $2 per pack cigarette tax increase, and cuts to economic development programs, public health and higher education finally got the deal done and a budget on the Governor’s desk.
The good news for us was that infrastructure funding was largely already put to bed by the time these discussions occurred and, more importantly, was never considered as a component in budget negotiations. And future infrastructure funding was clearly the highlight of our legislative session.
HB 1461 (Pressel/Crider) will clear the way for a potential tolling expansion, bringing to fruition the long-term plan undertaken eight years ago with the 2017 funding bill. Under the bill, Indiana leaders can work with the federal government to create a plan to implement tolling in areas of the state. If the federal government greenlights the plan, any proposed tolling expansion would go to the State Budget Committee for consideration. Additional highlights of the bill include prompting local governments that haven’t done so to adopt a wheel tax to access excess Community Crossings funds through a formulaic distribution based on lane miles, rather than relying on individual grants; and providing Marion County and Indianapolis with strategies to raise funding for roads and bridges.
This bill should result in a major, positive change in how infrastructure is built in Indiana. Though we won’t see an immediate bump in revenue streams, the road map has been drawn and looks very positive for our industry. Big thanks to our partners with Build Indiana Council (BIC) for getting this ambitious package across the finish line.
Other bills of interest:
- SB 5 (Baldwin/Lehman) sent off alarm bills when it was introduced in January. Ostensibly aimed at getting more oversight on state contracts through legislative monitoring of contract amounts and alterations, the bill quickly turned into a debate about INDOT and change orders. After some pretty intense discussions over the next several weeks, cooler heads prevailed and all “horizontal construction” contracts were exempted from the bill. Another big win for industry.
- HB 1198 (Lawson/Crider) addresses inflation and cost increases by raising the dollar amount of work a local government can self-perform. Proponents originally sought to change the ceiling from the existing $250K to over $2M. Acknowledging inflationary impacts, we negotiated with the bill authors to bring the amount down to $375K, in line with the cost increases we have seen over the last few years.
- HB 1390 (Pressel/Crider) is the omnibus Bureau of Motor Vehicles bill. Tucked inside the bill is language that creates an exemption in existing law regarding the 60-foot length limit of two vehicles (truck and trailer) coupled together. The new language allows for longer lengths of “construction vehicles with a towbar connection used in connection with a trailer used to haul heavy equipment”. Let your fleet managers know!
- HB 1641 (Meltzer/Koch) was one of several bills addressing how local government bodies conduct executive sessions. Original language in the bill would have allowed local governments to meet in executive session to “review, receive, and discuss the terms and conditions of a proposed contract”. Though not the intent of the author, this could have allowed local governments to look at and discuss sealed bids before they were opened publicly. That line was stricken from the bill on the Senate floor.
Overall, it was a very successful session. Thanks to our new Government Affairs Committee and our BIC team.
