Tag: road funding

BIC MATTERS – Ways and Means Committee Passes HB 1002

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TO: BIC Grassroots Network
FROM: Vicki Kitchin
DATE: February 8, 2017

SUBJECT: 1) House Ways and Means Committee Passes HB 1002; 2) Upcoming Town Halls

House Ways and Means Committee Passes HB 1002
Today the House Ways and Means Committee passed HB 1002 on a vote of 14-9. Two Republicans (Reps. Clere and Davisson) and all Democrats present at the time voted against the bill (Rep. Klinker was excused). The committee did approve an amendment offered by Chairman Tim Brown that moves all the sales tax collected on fuel purchases to the highway accounts beginning in FY 2018, rather than phasing this in over four years. This is a positive amendment as it means more funds will be available sooner for road and bridge improvements. While this is a key component of the House Democrat proposal to fund roads, none of the Democrats on the committee supported the amendment.

Representative Ed Soliday, chairman of the Roads and Transportation Committee, explained the bill and Chairman Brown also allowed limited testimony. BIC, local government representatives, Indiana Farm Bureau, Indiana State Building and Construction Trades and the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce all spoke in favor of the bill. No one testified against the bill.

HB 1002 will be eligible for amendment by the full House of Representatives next week. We do not know yet when the bill author will call it for this step, known as “2nd Reading.”

We still have a long way to go in the legislative process, but today’s vote by the House Ways and Means Committee is significant. HB 1002 provides long-term, dedicated, stable funding for Indiana roads and bridges. BIC thanks Chairman Tim Brown, Chairman Ed Soliday and all those members of Ways and Means who voted in favor of this bill today. If your legislator was one of those voting in favor, please reach out to them with a big “Thank You.”

Town Hall Meetings for this Weekend
Speaking of showing support to our legislators, we’ve been getting good feedback from several of you on the Town Hall meetings from around the state. Legislators very much appreciate it when supporters of HB 1002 attend these meetings. We need BIC members at every one of these meetings. On this week’s list you’ll find meetings on Friday, February 10 in Fishers, LaPorte, Elkhart and Terre Haute. On Saturday, February 11 meetings are in Lebanon, Evansville, Huntington, Martinsville and Fort Wayne. On Monday, February 13 there’s a meeting in Anderson and on Tuesday, February 14 there’s one in New Palestine. Attend these meetings, share your support for HB 1002, and contact BIC with feedback.

Finally, remember to register for Road Funding Day at the Statehouse on February 21. Thank you.

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

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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

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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

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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 – Register Now for Road Funding Day at the Indiana Statehouse

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ROAD FUNDING DAY AT THE INDIANA STATEHOUSE
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Indianapolis Marriott Downtown

CALL TO ACTION
Now more than ever, we need to urge legislators to enact a long-term road funding plan that will keep roads and bridges safe, boost economic development and help create Hoosier jobs.

SCHEDULE
10:00 to 10:30 a.m. — Registration and Networking
10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. — Legislative Briefing
12:00 to 1:30 p.m. — Road Funding Luncheon with Legislators
1:30 to 4:00 p.m. — Legislator Visits at the Statehouse (enter through the west doors)

REGISTRATION
While there’s no fee to participate, please RSVP, so we can prep for the event and assist you in making connections with your elected officials. Register here.

ROAD FUNDING PARTNERS
Check out the registration site for a list of all the sponsoring organizations, including all of the BIC member associations.

SIGN UP TODAY
In the near future, our coalition will send an invitation to all state legislators inviting them to attend the lunch portion of the program. Be sure to talk with your local legislators and local government officials and encourage them to register.

CALL BIC IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS
(317) 634-4774

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

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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.