Tag: HB 1002

BIC MATTERS: Ways & Means Committee to Hear HB 1002 Tomorrow

Posted on by admin_ici

TO: BIC Grassroots Network
FROM: Vicki Kitchin, Executive Director
DATE: February 7, 2017

SUBJECT: House Ways & Means to Hear HB 1002 Tomorrow

Chairman Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville) has scheduled the Ways & Means Committee to hear HB 1002 tomorrow. This is the bill that creates long-term, dedicated and stable road funding for Indiana highways, roads, streets and bridges. BIC strongly supports HB 1002. The committee will hear the bill on Wednesday, February 8 at 1:30 PM in Room 404. The chairman has posted it for “amend and vote only,” meaning he will allow very limited testimony. You can watch the hearing here.

NOTE: this is NOT a call out for members to attend the hearing. You will recall that we did that when the House Roads and Transportation Committee and the Ways and Means Committee jointly heard the bill in January, and we had a great turnout from members. So, thank you, but that is not needed tomorrow.

We are asking you to attend Road Funding Day at the statehouse on February 21. We are lining up an impressive list of speakers and you won’t want to miss this event. Also, we need members from all corners of the state to attend so that we can impress upon legislators that their constituents back home support them on road funding legislation. Please sign up today.

BIC Matters – This Week’s Town Hall Schedule and HB 1002 Update

Posted on by admin_ici

TO: BIC Grassroots Network
FROM: Vicki Kitchin, Executive Director
DATE: January 26, 2017

SUBJECT: BIC Matters – This Week’s Town Hall Schedule and HB 1002 Update

Much to update you on this week – we will be as succinct as possible.

Attend a Town Hall Meeting – Use this Updated Schedule to Find One in Your Area
Use this updated list of town hall meetings to find one in your area. Local legislators typically attend. Road funding advocates (specifically BIC members) need to attend these meetings to offer legislators encouragement and positive affirmation about HB 1002, the long-term road funding plan working its way through the House of Representatives. Keep in mind that opponents will attend these meetings so it’s critically important that supporters attend to counter their negative messaging. This week’s list includes Carmel, Jeffersonville, Shelbyville, Delphi, Kokomo, South Bend, Richmond, Fort Wayne, Rochester, Vincennes, Greensburg, Vevay, Frankfort, Columbus and Danville. Your mission: Attend and talk to your local legislator about why passage of HB 1002 is important and encourage them to support it. After you attend, send an email to vkitchin@buildindianacouncil.org so we can track what is happening in each legislator’s local community.

Coalition Toolbox
Our coalition has posted tools to a drop box account including Twitter graphics and other items you can use to promote the passage of HB 1002. We encourage you to use Twitter and Facebook to send positive messages about our effort. Also, follow BIC on Twitter at @BuildINCouncil.

Register for Road Funding Day at the Indiana State House
Over 60 people have signed up for the February 21, 2017 event. We will invite all legislators to attend the lunch portion of the program and we’ll all go to the Statehouse after lunch to talk with those legislators who could not attend the lunch. Sign up today at the Road Funding Day registration site.

House Roads Committee Passes Long-term Road Funding Bill
At the conclusion of about 6.5 hours of testimony yesterday, the House Roads and Transportation Committee passed HB 1002 on a vote of 8-5. It was nearly a party line vote with all but one Republican (Rep. Bob Morris – Fort Wayne) voting in favor of the bill, and all Democrats voting against. While this was a joint hearing with the Ways and Means Committee, only the Roads and Transportation Committee voted. Committee Chairman Ed Soliday presented the bill and talked about the years that he and the committee have studied this issue and said that now is the time to act. The committee did amend the bill including capping indexing at one cent per year after the initial tax increases. Commissioner Joe McGuinness and Chief of Staff Chris Kiefer testified for INDOT. They clearly illustrated the funding shortages that INDOT faces if additional funding is not approved this year. Testifying from BIC were Jeff Mulzer of Mulzer Crushed Stone and J.H. Rudolph & Co., John Brand of Butler, Fairman & Seufert and BIC lobbyist Dennis Faulkenberg of APPIAN. By BIC’s count, 34 testifiers supported the bill while six were opposed. Supporters included truckers, mayors, commissioners, county highway engineers, chambers, manufacturers, logistic companies, labor and others. Opponents were conservative anti-tax groups.

A big THANK YOU to Chairman Soliday and the members of the Roads and Transportation Committee who voted in favor of HB 1002. Also, THANK YOU to all the BIC member companies who attended the hearing. We all wore “Road Funding Yes!” stickers and filled the House chamber at the beginning of the hearing.

HB 1002 will now be recommitted to the House Ways and Means Committee. We don’t know yet when Chairman Tim Brown will hear the bill. Stay tuned.

INDOT BUDGET HEARING
On Tuesday, INDOT testified at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing about their budget for the upcoming biennium. Commissioner Joe McGuinness, CFO Dan Brassard and COS Chris Kiefer presented the budget and answered committee questions. It’s important to note that their presentation was based on known revenues at this time, rather than a presumption that the legislature will approve additional funding in this legislative session.

That’s it for this week. Keep us posted on what you’re hearing out there.

BIC MATTERS: CALL-OUT TO ROAD FUNDING ADVOCATES – ATTEND JANUARY 25TH HEARING ON HB 1002

Posted on by admin_ici

HB 1002, the comprehensive road funding bill that BIC strongly supports, will get its first hearing this Wednesday, January 25 at 9:00 AM during a joint meeting of the House Roads and Transportation Committee and the Ways and Means Committee. BIC and our road funding partners are coordinating testimony in support. We are also asking members to attend the hearing wearing “Road Funding Yes!” stickers to indicate wide support of the bill.

ACTION REQUIRED:  Attend the hearing this Wednesday, January 25. The hearing begins at 9:00 a.m. in the House Chambers (3rd floor of Statehouse). Plan to arrive early since you’ll need to go through security to get into the Statehouse.

Note, we are NOT asking you to testify; rather, we are asking you to be part of the crowd observing the hearing and wearing “Road Funding Yes!” stickers to show support. We expect attendance by groups in opposition to tax increases. So, your attendance in support of the bill is important. Also, the hearing may last a few hours. Stay as long as you can, but if you have to leave before it concludes, that’s okay.

Please send me a note if you are planning to attend, so we can get an idea of how many supporters to expect. Also, look for me and other members of our lobbying team on Wednesday morning. We’ll be handing out “Road Funding Yes!” stickers.

Thanks and hope to see you there.

BIC Matters: Email, Twitter, Town Hall Campaign to Support HB 1002 – CALL TO ACTION

Posted on by admin_ici

Build Indiana Council is joining a broad coalition to urge passage of HB 1002 (long-term road funding) while also countering anti-tax efforts aimed at defeating the bill.

We ask all BIC members to do the following:

1. Call/email your state representative and senator.
2. Share your support on social media.
3. Attend a town hall.
4. Report back to BIC.

Toolbox:  The coalition has provided all the tools you need to carry out these steps and you can find them here.

Step 1
Call/email your state legislators with messages of support for HB 1002. A sample script and the list of House Republicans, including links to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, is included in the toolbox. To determine your legislator, go to “Find My Legislator”. Ask your employees to make contact and report back to someone within your organization when they have completed the assignment. That will incentivize them to take the action. Your designated person should then contact BIC with results from your company’s contacts. We need to call Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate.

Step 2
An anti-tax group has plans to bombard the Twitterverse with messages opposing HB 1002. To counter this, the coalition has prepared 33 sample tweets that you and your employees can use to show SUPPORT for HB 1002. It only takes about five negative tweets to make a legislator feel uncomfortable about supporting an issue. So, we must use social media to counter this. Activate those in your company who use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and have them post messages in SUPPORT of HB 1002. The toolbox provides sample tweets and graphics to share on social media. If your legislator is on social media, tweet them directly or post to their Facebook wall. Be sure to use the hashtag #Roads4OurFuture or #ReformRoadFunding so that we can monitor the success of our campaign.

Step 3
Our coalition is tracking local “town hall” or “cracker barrel” meetings. Each week we’ll publish a list of upcoming meetings and the House members that might attend. We expect anti-tax groups to show up; so we must have people there in support. This week’s list includes meetings in Muncie, Spencer, Greencastle, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Elkhart and Columbus. Check out this week’s list in the toolbox and be sure to attend if a meeting is in your area.

Step 4
Contact BIC when your company completes any of these steps. We will report back to the coalition.

Never before have we had a better opportunity to achieve long-term road funding. We will be asking you to be VERY ACTIVE throughout this legislative session. Thank you for your support.

BIC MATTERS: Action Required

Posted on by admin_ici

Contact Your Indiana State Representative Before January 25

“Despite our standing and our ongoing momentum, we can’t afford to get complacent or take our eyes off the ball.” – Governor Eric Holcomb, during his inaugural address on taking Indiana to the next level.
 
“I need every one of your members to be involved!” – Speaker Brian Bosma, during remarks at an industry lunch earlier today.

BIC NOTE: As highway funding advocates, we must heed the advice from Governor Holcomb and Speaker Bosma. The stars are aligning as never before, but we cannot take the outcome for granted. As we begin this legislative session, we ask you to take action when the need arises. We seek long-term, dedicated, stable and adequate funding for Indiana’s state and local highways, roads, streets and bridges. Your contacts to legislators during the next four months will be critical to our industry’s success. Please watch for BIC MATTERS alerts and take action. We will only ask for action when we truly believe it’s warranted. And now for this week’s update…

In the last two weeks, leaders in both the Indiana House and Senate and Indiana’s newly elected Governor, Eric Holcomb, have announced long-term road funding as a top priority for the 2017 legislative session.

Indiana House Republican Leadership Announces Road Funding Plan (HB 1002)
Republican leaders in the Indiana House of Representatives have introduced a comprehensive and bold road funding bill (HB 1002) that would provide new annual road funding of at least $1.2 billion per year. HB 1002 includes new revenue as follows:

  • increases the gasoline tax, special fuels tax and motor carrier surcharge tax each by 10 cents to restore lost buying power since the taxes were last raised,
  • indexes all fuel tax rates annually using a formula that incorporates CPI-U and Indiana personal income growth,
  • transfers, over three years, the remaining 4.5 pennies of the sales tax on gasoline from the General Fund to the State Highway Fund,
  • implements a $15 annual statewide infrastructure improvement fee on all vehicles registered in Indiana,
    implements a $150 annual statewide infrastructure improvement fee on all electric vehicles registered in Indiana and increases the current alternative fuel vehicle fee to $150,
  • requires INDOT to further study tolling and submit a waiver to the federal government to allow tolling on existing interstates,
  • lowers the minimum population threshold applicable to the municipal wheel tax/surtax from 10,000 to 5,000.

You can access a fiscal summary of HB 1002 here, including how the bill allocates funds to INDOT and local governments.

The Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Representative Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville) and the Roads and Transportation Committee, chaired by Representative Ed Soliday (R-Valparaiso) will hear the bill in a joint committee meeting on Wednesday, January 25 at 9:00 a.m. in the House Chamber. BIC is working with our road funding partners to coordinate testimony in support of the bill.

ACTION REQUIRED: BIC strongly supports HB 1002. House members in both the Republican and Democrat caucuses are discussing this bill in private meetings. House members have various concerns. Anti-tax groups that oppose the bill have already been contacting legislators. It is important that ALL House members receive a phone call or email from supporters of this bill before it is heard in Committee on January 25. Obviously, members of the two committees are very important to this first step, and you can see the lists of committee members at these links: Ways and Means Committee and Roads and Transportation Committee. However, ALL House members need to receive a contact from supporters of HB 1002. Please contact your State Representative, regardless of political affiliation, by January 25 and express your strong support for HB 1002. Also, send me an email if you get a response from your legislator. For a link to your State Representative, click here. Remember, we will focus on House members only at this time; we will focus on Senate contacts later in the session.

Governor Eric Holcomb’s Priorities Include 20-year Plan to Fund Roads and Bridges
At a press conference last week, Governor Eric Holcomb announced that his legislative agenda for the 2017 session includes creation of a 20-year plan to fund roads and bridges (click here). He noted the importance of funding for both state and local roads and bridges. He said that funding options include fuel taxes, indexing, P3s, new tolling options and fees for alternative vehicles.

Senate Leaders Say It’s Time to Address Long-Term Road Funding
In a press conference on Tuesday, Senate Republican leaders said that their priorities for the 2017 session include implementing a long-term road funding plan. President Pro Tem David Long (R-Fort Wayne) and Senator Mike Crider (R-Greenfield) spoke about the issue. Senator Long acknowledged that while it’s hard for his caucus to talk about increasing taxes, they cannot continue to fund roads from the state general fund. He noted that U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said the same about the federal budget, and that states are going to have to implement solutions to address road funding shortfalls. Senator Long said Indiana is $1 billion short annually and that he wants to find a solution for 20 years. He expects the final plan will include a mix of new revenue and fees. He also said that gas tax is the accepted method to pay for road improvements and that he could support tolling for new roads or new lanes.

Bottom Line
We are thankful and encouraged that our state leaders have made this a priority. However, we cannot be complacent. Everyone must engage during this legislative session. Please take the action requested above. Call me or send an email if you have any questions, and with any feedback you get from your legislator. Thank you.